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This Is The Long-Awaited McLaren Speedtail

It’s been a long time in the making and truths, lies and myths have been thrown around like infidelity at an office party. But finally, after begging McLaren to show us, they’ve finally released images of their f1 spiritual successor, the Speedtail.

Inside you’ll find the central seating position that separated the F1 from the rest of the market, and in front of you sits a full-width digital display. It leaves little to be desired, blending McLaren’s previous interiors with a much more futuristic and simplistic feel. But the exterior is what’s going to form a line in the sand.

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It’s sleek, curvy – an aerodynamic masterpiece… but that doesn’t mean it’s very pretty. Much like the Senna, this is a function over form machine, with the design already coming under fire. But peel away the body panels and you’ll find a powertrain that’s waiting to take the Bugatti Chiron to school.

It will use the current 4.0-litre V8, but tuned to create a whopping 1,035bhp with the aid of electric motors. This will propel it to 128mph (not 60) in just 12.8 seconds and take it to 250mph – it’s current top speed. Although to get the car to those speeds, McLaren had to infuse it with some of the latest technologies.

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Much like the Audi E-Tron, it has no wing mirrors. Instead it uses exterior cameras which pop out of the A-pillar. Look towards the rear of the car and you’ll find active rear ailerons which are flexible to give it its slippery shape. And sun visors are the last thing you want to think about when piloting this machine, so at a touch of a button, the front windscreen will darken itself to block high levels of sunlight. It also boasts rather ugly looking wheel covers at the front, but these enable the wheels to be almost turbulence free. Thankfully for the owner, these are removable for normal driving (and cleaning).

While this car is about its top speed, it’s also about comfort and luxury, and even despite this, its as a dry weight of only 1450kg. But the big question, how much will you have to pay to own one of the 106 that are being built? £2.1million. At least. But think about it this way, that’s only £8,400 per mile an hour – bargain!

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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