Final McLaren P1 rolls out. What could possibly replace it?

IF YOU had a budget of about $20,000 to spend on a sporty coupe in the 1960s you could have got into a number of vehicles including the Ford GT40, Lamborghini Miura or a Ferrari 250 GTO.

While 20 grand wasn’t exactly a pittance 50 years ago, anyone who invested the capital would be very happy with the return today, with any of those three models skyrocketing into the multi-million dollar price bracket these days – if you can find one at all.

So what is today’s equivalent of the ultimate supercar investment? Like the sports coupes of the mid-1960s, McLaren’s P1 might not fit everyone’s budget, but if you managed to scrape together the $1.3 million asking price, your piece of McLaren history would already be appreciating.

McLaren’s final P1 has been completed, bringing to a close an era that created the company's fastest and most powerful road car to date.

This month, the iconic British car-maker announced it had finished the very last P1 hyper hybrid, with the planned run of just 375 cars drawing to a close after more than 300,000 build hours.

Finished in lurid Volcano pearlescent orange and wearing silver wheels, P1 number 375 has more paint coverage than most of its older siblings, with only the bare splitter, skirts and diffuser revealing the car’s extensive carbon fibre construction.

With more paint coverage than almost all the P1s before it, the final car is more discreet than its older siblings, which show off more raw carbon fibre.

On the inside, the interior is decorated with gloss black trims for the switches, instrument bezels and airvents, while the two carbon fibre bucket seats are upholstered in black and orange Alcantara to match the steering wheel and paintwork.

But if you were hoping to snap up a run-out sale bargain, then think again; when it comes to cars as exclusive as McLaren, models don’t gather dust on showroom floors, and every one of the P1s had been spoken for before number one had even been delivered.

Quite where the historic car is heading is not widely known, but it is likely the Woking-based manufacturer will keep the final P1 at its headquarters in the south of England, as it did with another milestone model.

With more power than the GTR race cars but less weight than the road car, McLaren’s F1 LM was the ultimate version of the ultimate car.

With fewer than 80 road versions produced, the McLaren F1 rewrote the road car rulebook in the late 1990s, but the company sent its vicious model out with a bang, and a ridiculously exclusive run of just 5 F1 LMs.

The final F1 LM still resides on the Boulevard inside McLaren’s inner sanctum in the UK, alongside many other priceless vehicles from the company’s past.

But with what do you replace the company’s fastest and most potent model to date? McLaren has not announced a successor to the P1, leaving its Ultimate Series without a representative for now.

Until something does breathe life back into the production line, there is one other possibility to keep McLaren fans tantalised, with a new convertible joining the mid-range Super Series.

Under its lurid orange skin, P1 number 375 shares all of the oily bits of the cars before it, including its 673kW/900Nm V8 turbo hybrid powertrain and extensive carbon fibre construction.

When McLaren introduced its manic 650S-based 675LT, customers begged the car-maker to match the limited run of 500 coupes with a topless Spider version, and McLaren obliged.

But if you are interested in owning your own convertible 675LT, then you will need to get the runners on, because when the 15 coupes were officially announced for the Australian market, they had already been promised to Australia’s most loyal McLaren customers.

If the Spider is as popular, then it is very likely McLaren has already engaged another set of aficionados even before Australia’s allocation is made public.

A unique wheel design, Solis paint and the absence of a roof sets the 675LT Spider apart from its fixed-top sibling.

Like the coupe, the Spider uses the McLaren 650S Spider as its basis but chops 100kg from the less potent version, squeezes another 19kW from its 3.8-litre turbocharged V8 and adds a more aerodynamic body.

The result is a convertible with zero to 100km/h acceleration of just 2.9 seconds, 0-200km/h in 8.1 seconds and a blustery top speed of 326km/h.

Its three-piece folding hard-top can be operated at speeds of up to 30km/h for “a new level of open-air exhilaration,” without compromising on driving dynamics thanks to its ultra-stiff carbon fibre monocoque construction.

We were lucky enough to see the P1s being born during a visit to the top secret McLaren manufacturing centre last year.

A unique 20-spoke wheel design measures 19 inches in diameter at the front end and 20 inches at the rear, while a special Solis paint tone sets the Spider apart from its coupe sister, in addition to the cabriolet roof.

McLaren says its newest model is its “most focused, fastest and exhilarating open top model to ever wear a McLaren badge,” which gives us an idea.

The P1 was only ever offered as a fixed top coupe in the name of outright performance, but could McLaren be planning a P1 Spider? Surely a drop-top P1 would be the ultimate version of the Ultimate Series.

Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au

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