It is truly incredible how far McLaren Automotive has come in just a decade of existence. While there’s some history of building road cars with the F1, that was put together by a bespoke team in the 1990s. Today’s modern outfit utilises the latest technology to take on Formula 1 rival Ferrari in the supercar arena. McLaren is further sharpening its focus on lightening its cars to boost performance.
Mike Flewitt, McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer, has said that McLaren will continue its work on developing advance lightweight materials for future models. Today’s McLarens are far from porkers, but models such as the Senna highlight just how much weight can be shaved from a modern car through the used of carbon composites. Its seats weigh just 3.36kg and the door assembly only 8.8kg!
McLaren are moving into a new era of hybridisation, with the potential for a fully electric supercar on the horizon if technology permits it in the future. However, boosting performance with battery power means added weight, something that McLaren has worked hard to reduce. By researching and developing new materials at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre in Yorkshire, the British marque wants to become amongst the very lightest in its class.
Mike Flewitt said: ‘Reducing vehicle weight is at the centre of our strategy for the next generations of McLaren supercars. We are already class-leading and committed to further driving down weight in order to be in the best possible position to maximise the efficiency and performance of hybridised models to be introduced by 2025.’ He continues: ‘vehicle mass is the enemy of performance whether a car has a conventional internal combustion engine or a fully electrified powertrain, so winning the weight race is an absolute priority for us – and one of the reasons McLaren Automotive has invested heavily in the McLaren Composites Technology Centre, our own UK composite materials innovation and production facility.’
The new McLaren 765LT already demonstrates some of the marque’s ingenuity when it comes to weight saving. It is some 80kg lighter than the 720S on which it is based, and its carbon skeleton is 40% lighter than what a steel equivalent would be. The combination of being light and packing a 754bhp twin-turbo V8 not only allows for a 0-124mph sprint of 7.2 seconds, but also boosts agility and braking performance.
McLaren are already hard at work on their first Hybrid model.
Keyword: McLaren vows to win the supercar ‘weight race’