McLaren W1 unwrapped: tech secrets of new hybrid hypercar
Producing a worthy successor to the McLaren F1 and P1 is a challenge akin to, well, winning the F1 Constructors’ World Championship. McLaren has already achieved the latter, beginning the 2025 season as the Formula 1 team to beat. Will its new roadgoing flagship, the £2 million W1, also lead the field?
With 1,275hp and 988lb ft of torque from its petrol-electric powertrain, this hybrid hypercar gets off to a flying start. Zero to 62mph takes 2.7 seconds, a quarter-mile flies past in 9.6 seconds and top speed is limited to 217mph. Accelerate to 186mph and the W1 has already gained three car-lengths on the next fastest McLaren ever made.
However, according to Alex Gibson, vehicle line director for the W1: “The emotional aspects of a supercar are just as important as the facts and figures… Extreme acceleration alone is exciting, but we have learned from pure EV powertrains that drivers want more.”
From the MP4-12C of 2011 onwards, the cars produced by McLaren Automotive have never been short of speed. Yet delivering this alongside what Gibson calls “authentic theatre” required more than simply turning the engine up to 11. We joined some of Woking’s senior engineers for a deep dive into the W1’s state-of-the-art powertrain – and what potentially makes it the greatest McLaren ‘1 car’ yet.
New V8 revs to 9,200rpm
The W1’s pounding heart is a 4.0-litre, flat-plane crank V8, mounted in the middle of its carbon fibre Aerocell chassis. While the mechanical recipe sounds familiar, this MHP-8 engine is a clean-sheet design, unrelated to the M840T V8 found in the McLaren 750S, with a smaller 92mm bore and longer 75mm stroke.
Four years in the making, the new engine produces an incredible 233hp per litre, for 928hp in total – more than the P1 managed with hybrid assistance on top. It also has up to 30 percent more torque than the M840T from just 2,500rpm, and revs higher than any McLaren engine to date. “We have a power curve that urges the driver to chase the redline at 9,200rpm, then do so again and again,” says Gibson with a grin.
The V8 also uses “technology derived from the highest levels of motorsport, taking advantage of McLaren’s expertise in Formula 1, Indycar and Formula E”. A combination of both direct and port fuel injection helps to deliver Euro 7-compliant emissions and “epic power” respectively, with twin-scroll turbochargers to quicken throttle response.
As chief powertrain engineer Richard Jackson explains, much effort was expended to reduce the engine’s weight, including the use of sodium-filled intake valves, plasma-spray cylinder liners, hollow camshafts, closer bore spacing and a shorter chain drive. Mounting the turbochargers outside the engine, rather than inside a ‘hot vee’ also helped lower the powertrain’s centre of gravity.
Stealth mode to Sprint mode
The other key components of the W1’s drivetrain are a brand new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, a “motorsport-derived” radial flux electric motor and a 1.4kWh battery evolved from that used in the McLaren Speedtail. In total, the hybrid system contributes 347hp and 324lb ft of torque. “That’s 90 percent more power in a 40kg lighter package than the P1,” adds Jackson. “It really shows how we’ve managed to push the technology on in a relatively short time”
Where the hybrid tech in the McLaren P1 was focused on ‘torque fill’ – i.e. compensating for lag from the twin-turbocharged engine – here it is mainly about providing more power. In Comfort mode, drive comes primarily from the petrol engine, but switching into Sport releases all 1,275 wild horses.
Arrive at a circuit in your W1 and you can also press a switch in the overhead console to engage Race mode. Illegal for road use, this lowers the front suspension by 37mm and the rear by 17mm, also extending the ‘Active Long Tail’ spoiler rearwards by 300mm to generate up to 1,000kg of downforce.
Drivers can then choose between GP mode, which conserves battery charge for an extended track session, or Sprint mode, which throws everything at a single, go-for-broke qualifying lap. There’s also a ‘Boost’ button on the steering wheel to temporarily deploy maximum power for overtaking.
Lastly, if all the excitement gets too much, EV mode (Gibson calls it “stealth mode”) offers a fully electric range of around 1.6 miles – enough for a quiet getaway without disturbing your neighbours.
The soundtrack of a supercar
According to Marcus Waite, head of performance and attributes, the W1 shouldn’t only be capable of compressing your internal organs. It should also provide a “a fully immersive experience”, including a soundtrack that gets your endorphins rushing.
Part of the “pure driver connection” that Waite and his team aimed for stems from rear-wheel drive, which sets the W1 apart from its 4WD hypercar rivals: the Ferrari F80 and Aston Martin Valhalla. In addition to saving 60-80kg in weight, having an undriven front axle means McLaren can retain its trademark hydraulic power steering – renowned for its fabulous feedback.
Additionally, many hours have been spent on acoustic tuning. Long, equal-length runners for the manifolds help generate a sense of crescendo as the revs rise, plus Waite promises plenty of “exhaust crackling on downshifts”. Both intake and exhaust sounds are piped into the cabin, but there is no artificial enhancement via the speakers. Quite right, too.
McLaren W1: already an icon?
Many hypercars spend their lives posing in city traffic – or simply locked away in dehumidified garages. The proof will be in the driving, of course, but the W1 clearly deserves more. The engineers at McLaren are passionate about creating a car that is not only blisteringly quick and crushingly capable, but also visceral, engaging and incredibly exciting.
Only 399 examples of the W1 will be made, priced at £2 million each including taxes but before options and MSO personalisation – and all are already allocated to customers.
Time will tell if the car achieves the revered status of the 1992 F1 or 2013 P1. However, with time running short for combustion powertrains, we may never see its like again. Let’s hope McLaren’s ‘once-in-a-generation 1 car’ goes out on a high.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research