'D-Day' For McLaren Automotive

England rejoice (and all that!) as McLaren takes the lid off the 12C's performance

If you're not excited by the new MP4-12C from McLaren Automotive, you might want to go and do something else. (But do come back tomorrow.) Why? The embargo on the MP4-12C's final performance data lifted at 6am this morning, so we can all now 'officially' be blown away by these awesome stats:

0 - 200kph (124mph) in 9.1s (8.9s on optional Corsa tyres)
CO2 emissions of 279g/km (equating to 24.2 EU mpg combined)
0 - 100kph (62mph) in 3.3s (3.1s with optional Corsa tyres)
Top speed: 330kph (205mph)
100 - 0 kph (62 - 0mph) in 30.5 m (100 ft)
¼ mile: 10.9s @ 135 mph
Dry weight (with lightweight options): 1301kgs / 2868 lbs
Carbon MonoCell chassis weight: 75kgs / 165 lbs
Power:weight (lightweight options): 461PS / 455bhp per tonne
Power: 600PS (592bhp) at 7,000 rpm
Torque: 600Nm (443lb ft) between 3,000 – 7,000 rpm

According to the company, the MP4-12C has 'redefined high performance sports car benchmarks', and had the following key segment targets from the off:

Lowest CO2output and best fuel consumption
Highest power with fastest acceleration and braking across all typical benchmark speed and distance parameters
Lightest weight, and therefore highest power to weight ratio

All this, with a package of more subjective, but equally important, benchmarks they say: comfort, practicality, driveability, and ownership costs. And presumably they've cracked the lot, or they wouldn't be sharing... makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?

McLaren has also lifted the lid on first drive stories today, and you can read Steve Sutcliffe's take on the mighty Macca here. The lucky blighter got to thrash a final Production Prototype around Portimao a few days ago. Then he got to drive it back to the UK - enough experience behind the wheel to get to know the 12C inside-out. (Jealous? We feel your pain...)

That being the case, we've also pinned Steve down for first thoughts on the battle between 12C and Ferrari's 458 Italia - and to say that's a verdict the performance world has been on tenterhooks for, would be the understatement of the year.

The 12C development programme has just been completed following a four car, 1000 mile drive to Portugal where engineers undertook final 'sign-off' tests before Steve got invited to bring one of the cars home.

Since 2007, four generations of prototypes - over 50 cars - have been tested around the world, and the final production prototypes (PP) are entering the high mileage durability phase now. This fleet has been tested in every regional market where the car will be sold, including Bahrain and Nevada in the summer, and the Arctic in winter. The simple aim, they say, is to achieve unprecedented levels of performance but also guarantee the levels of quality, reliability and durability with which McLaren expects to delight future customers.

As well as road miles, the 12C has undergone novel laboratory development, including with a 'virtual reproduction' of the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife.

The Nordschleife in Germany (as any fule kno) is regarded as the world's ultimate test circuit due to its combination of challenging surfaces and 12.93m length. McLaren went there periodically to test, but with the circuit being closed during winter months, the development team went virtual instead.

"We have a permanent test base at the Applus IDIADA proving ground in Northern Spain, " says Technical Director Dick Glover. "Our team of engineers took data from the Nordschleife circuit including lateral g performance, vertical road inputs, engine throttle position and gearing, and created a programme which can then be run at IDIADA, which we call the 'Idischleife Concept'.

"This programme allows us to undertake challenging and aggressive testing to the level experienced at the Nordschleife but at a location where we can run testing literally twenty-four hours, seven days a week and quickly move the 12C closer to its development targets,"

Glover also reckons (perhaps unsurprisingly), that McLaren's F1 simulation technology has helped to give the McLaren Automotive team a major boost.

"Having the McLaren simulator at our disposal from the start of the 12C development programme has been a tremendous asset. We were able to accurately predict the dynamic performance of our very first concept-phase vehicle and ensure that it was suitable for extreme testing from day one. It would be incredibly difficult to achieve similar results if you were designing and building a car without simulation.

"We use professional racing drivers in our development team. Throughout the real-world testing programme we continually schedule time for them in the simulator to fine tune the performance and driving characteristics of the 12C. This experience is then validated back against real-world conditions at one of the test facilities we use around the world. It is an ongoing, dynamic, feedback process that mixes the best of technology with the best hands-on track work."

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richardaucock

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