McLaren Speedtail – 250mph ‘hyper-GT’ revealed

McLaren has officially unveiled one of the most highly-anticipated cars of 2018 – the new Speedtail.

The Speedtail is a spiritual successor to McLaren’s iconic 90s road car, the F1, which for a long time was the fastest car in the world.

Limited to just 106 examples to preserve exclusivity, the price of the Speedtail will start from £1.75 million, plus taxes – but an extensive options list and limitless scope for personalisation should mean almost every car breaks the £2 million barrier.

The car McLaren has pictured in its official release has options worth £475,000 fitted to it.

The Speedtail packs a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine bolstered by an electric motor, which boosts power up to a remarkable 1,036bhp. It’s able to reach a top speed of 250mph, and although McLaren hasn’t revealed a 0-60mph time, it will sprint from 0-300km/h (186mph) in just 12.8 seconds.

The hybrid system is exclusively used to boost performance, and the Speedtail won’t be capable of electric-only running.

On the surface, one of the Speedtail’s biggest talking points is its interior with its bold, three-seat layout. That’s another homage to the F1, which had a similar set-up – allowing the driver to sit centrally for the best and most natural view out. Unlike the F1, though, the Speedtail doesn’t have a gearshift or physical handbrake to accommodate, so the driver can get in from either side of the car.

The Speedtail’s sweeping bodywork is an evolution of standard McLaren design cues, but stretched out across a huge, 5.2-metre long body. There’s an incredibly clean silhouette, thanks to a lack of side mirrors – the Speedtail uses cameras instead – and there are no hinges to interfere with the workings of the active aerodynamics.

Instead, McLaren’s taken advantage of the natural flexibility of carbon-fibre to shape the bodywork for aerodynamic manipulation under load.

Other eye-catching aerodynamic features are the covers for the front wheels, which McLaren says help air pass seamlessly along the car’s flanks – but can be removed if the owner wishes.

The Speedtail is designed to be the ultimate road car rather than a track weapon, hence the ‘hyper-GT’ moniker, so the interior is considerably more plush than the likes of the brand’s own Senna hypercar.

Its super-long tail even incorporates plenty of luggage space for its three occupants.

Clearly, with all 106 examples of the Speedtail being spoken for, you’re unlikely to see it on your local McLaren dealer’s forecourt anytime soon.