What's the news?
After a few weeks of teasing us with technical details and artists' impressions, McLaren has fully revealed its track-focused P1 GTR at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance event in California.
The track-focused version of the P1 will be built from June 2015, once all 375 road-going models have left the factory. It will produce 1,000hp and is launched to commemorate the 20th anniversary of McLaren winning the Le Mans 24 Hours. It will be built by McLaren Special Operations (MSO), although the car shown in the US was said to be a concept that previews the final model - more development is on the way.
So what has MSO done? Well, the front track of the GTR is 80mm wider than on the normal P1, and there's a GT-style front splitter. MSO has kept the active aerodynamic flaps in the floor ahead of the front wheels, but new additions include re-profiled low temperature radiator ducts in the leading edge of the flared front arches.
Everything about the GTR is designed to channel air around, over and under its body in the cleanest possible fashion. There's a new aero blade running from behind the front wheelarch along the bottom of the doors, with an additional side panel at the rear that ducts extra air into the high temperature radiator. The car also features a wealth of active aero beyond the aforementioned front flaps.
McLaren hasn't given us much detail on the mechanicals but does say the car is 'hunkered down on race-prepared suspension', which has a fixed ride height that is lower than the standard P1's. The snorkel air intake on the roof is inspired by the McLaren F1's item, while the door mirrors have been repositioned to the A-pillars, better siting them in the driver's eye line and reducing drag at the same time. The rear edge of the door-mounted radiator channel is further back down the car, to boost engine cooling.
The wheels are 19-inch lightweight motorsport items with centre-locking quick release nuts and bespoke Pirelli slicks wrapped around their circumference. The alloys are 10.5 inches wide at the front and a massive 13 inches wide at the rear. There's an on-board air jacking system, as seen on the 650S GT3 racer, to speed up tyre changes.
At the rear, there's a huge carbon fibre diffuser at the bottom of the car that draws your eye, but then you clock the giant, fixed twin-element wing perched on carbon fibre pylons. No need to tell you what purpose this serves on a track car - but while it doesn't fold away as on the road car, the wing does feature a hydraulically operated Drag Reduction System, similar to the type seen in Formula One.
The final thing to note is the centrally mounted exhaust, here in an all-new design exclusive to the GTR. It now has straight-cut twin pipes at the rear, instead of a single-exit item, and is made from Inconel and titanium alloy. This system is said to maximise the noise of the 1,000hp 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. Oh, and the livery the design concept wears? That harks back to the McLaren F1 GTR, as the test model for that car (chassis #01R) wore orange and silver paint; it was chassis 01 that won the 1995 edition of Le Mans, hence the P1 GTR's door number.
Anything else?
Launched alongside the P1 GTR design concept was the McLaren P1 GTR driver programme. This allows potential owners access to the McLaren racing simulator, as well as having bespoke, specialist driver training and human performance data-logging (i.e. making sure you're fit enough to drive this thing to the limit).