The McLaren P1 at the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, UK - McLarenMcLaren's hybrid halo car took its first bow in prototype form at the Paris Motor Show to mark the 20th anniversary of the brand's iconic F1 hypercar. Going toe to toe with hybrid machines from Porsche and Ferrari as a relatively new brand was never going to be easy, but McLaren delivered a 903-horsepower carbon monocoque knockout with advanced active aero and a high-9-second quarter-mile time. The monster Macca's swooping curvaceous body was designed by the legendary Frank Stephenson, who says he took inspiration from nature while penning the car's look. A smidge of biomimicry found its way into the P1 by way of a Caribbean sailfish Stephenson saw on vacation. The sailfish, more specifically istiophorus platypterus, is the fastest waterbound animal on the planet, capable of swimming up to 68 miles per hour. The long hydrodynamic shape slices through the water with ease, and it can fold its dorsal fin for an extra burst of speed. These fish can get up to 11 feet long and weigh as much as 1,500 pounds, making their rapid swim all the more impressive. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe story goes that Stephenson saw one hanging on the wall of the resort he was staying in and admired the shape. The head of the resort regaled Stephenson with the tale of the catch, commenting that he'd been proud of his ability to reel it in, considering its speed. On his way back to the UK, Stephenson stopped off to buy a sailfish of his own to have stuffed, mounted, and shipped to Woking for fluid dynamics research. He later had it hung on his office wall.It makes sense that he would look at every single day at the fish that had inspired his magnum opus. Thus, the P1 was born.Read more: 11 Factory Cars That Can Hit 60 MPH In 3 Seconds Or LessFrank's fishFrank Stephenson's McLaren-inspiring sailfish, mounted on his wall - Frank Stephenson/YouTubeStephenson told the BBC in a 2014 interview that he had the fish sent to McLaren's aerodynamics department for a full laser scan to try to work out nature's hydrodynamic intricacies and speed secrets. Sailfish scales, as it turns out, generate vortices of turbulence that let a fish essentially develop a pocket of air around itself to reduce its hydrodynamic friction. Stephenson had an artificial replica of the scaly texture applied to the P1's engine inlet ducts to help it suck in a higher volume of air more efficiently. The McLaren's 727-horsepower twin-turbo V8 needs as much air as it can get, of course. AdvertisementAdvertisementStephenson also said that the scans uncovered a tricky little pair of foil-shaped bumps on its body right in front of its tail, helping to smooth out a turbulent flow of water over the fin for maximum forward thrust efficiency. In an effort to smooth out rough air ahead of the P1's windows, keeping buffeting and wind noise to a minimum, he modeled up a few of these bumps and installed them on the support arms for the exterior mirrors. The result was better than expected. In another instance of nature inspiring the car's design, he has also said that the P1's shape was somewhat inspired by a running cheetah. He was going for an organic-looking shape, essentially vacuum sealing the bodywork around the important components of the car, in the way a cheetah's skin stretched tightly over all of the muscle and sinew. Every piece of the P1 is shaped with speed in mind.Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.
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