Quite a P1 review by Chris Harris

Just tell me your Instagram username if you have one and I will send it to you over Direct.

 

Kevin2772! Think i started following you after I saw Raj post something of you filling up the P1

Or they could have designed it to be versatile to begin with. Pump gas in parts of Europe is 98. Some areas of the U.S. 91 is about it. Pretty big swing. If I was buying a car that had a mode that could only be used at a track (P1) I would hope I could run gas that was specifically made for race cars. That is what the car is touted and designed for correct? Not taking advantage of the possibility just seems like they're leaving some potential on the table. Doesn't seem logical in a car without carpet. I think the same about the 918, La, Veyron, etc. If I'm already invested I would want to put the best gas possible in such a machine.

 

Awesome pics and video Vahid.

 

98 RON in Europe is equivalent to 94 octane in the US. It isn't racing fuel

great pics! ty

98 RON in Europe is equivalent to 94 octane in the US. It isn't racing fuel

I was talking about the shell V power that is rated at over 100 RON. It's advertised as 98+ octane. Yes, still not race gas. Never said it was. 108,116, and 120 octane would be race gas. I was just implying that the same model will see a few different octanes from a global perspective. Not nearly the difference between pump gas and race gas, but I'm sure there is a small performance difference. Still has nothing to do with my original point.

Is the reasoning for not being able to drive in Race Mode on the street is that the car is too low?

Is the reasoning for not being able to drive in Race Mode on the street is that the car is too low?

Yes and technically its not legal. Potholes aside, little stones will damage the rear fenders as well as the front splitter.

Is the reasoning for not being able to drive in Race Mode on the street is that the car is too low?

 

From a legality standpoint in markets that care to legislate, the bumper and headlight heights would be too low.

 

Practicality wise, it has just 2.6" of ground clearance in Race Mode, so you'd be leaving bits of the bottom of the car everywhere.

 

>8^)

ER

the only thing i dont like about it, is that i cant buy one

From a legality standpoint in markets that care to legislate, the bumper and headlight heights would be too low.

 

Practicality wise, it has just 2.6" of ground clearance in Race Mode, so you'd be leaving bits of the bottom of the car everywhere.

 

>8^)

ER

 

Wow how utterly disappointing....... Cant use the car which differentiates itself from the 200k McLaren 12C on the road... for 1.15... Didn't expect that.

Not realistic or legal to drive it on the street in Race Mode. Takes 40 seconds for the car to adjust in and out of that mode as well and I am fairly sure that has to be done stationary.

 

You can run with the wing partially deployed and active on the street, but the car won't be sitting that 50mm lower and the wing has another 170mm it can deploy if I am remembering that number correctly.

 

>8^)

ER

 

Do you know this? Since you seem to be a McLaren guru... lol

 

If I park it in race mode and turn the car off... Does it stay in race mode for the hour or two its parked and continue to, when started up again?

 

Or does it reset every time the car turns off?

 

Asking because if I am in a part of town where clearance is not the issue, is it a hassle to keep putting it in race mode. Going to re-watch the Top Gear P1 review now to remember if it can be in the 900hp mode with the electric motor without being in Race Mode.

Wow how utterly disappointing....... Cant use the car which differentiates itself from the 200k McLaren 12C on the road... for 1.15... Didn't expect that.

 

The car is still quite capable when not in Race Mode - it gets a bit mental with the switch actually.

 

Do you know this? Since you seem to be a McLaren guru... lol

 

If I park it in race mode and turn the car off... Does it stay in race mode for the hour or two its parked and continue to, when started up again?

 

Or does it reset every time the car turns off?

 

Yes, you can park the car in Race Mode and it will remain that way until you return to it. I'm not 100% certain what happens when you restart the car - it probably has you clear through the warning screen again and remains in Race Mode - would not make sense for it to reset every time.

 

Here's one left parked up outside some shops in the Netherlands in 'Race Mode'. He's also my hero for disabling the auto-fold option on the side mirrors when the car is locked.

 

 

 

 

>8^)

ER

The car is still quite capable when not in Race Mode - it gets a bit mental with the switch actually.

 

 

 

Yes, you can park the car in Race Mode and it will remain that way until you return to it. I'm not 100% certain what happens when you restart the car - it probably has you clear through the warning screen again and remains in Race Mode - would not make sense for it to reset every time.

 

Here's one left parked up outside some shops in the Netherlands in 'Race Mode'. He's also my hero for disabling the auto-fold option on the side mirrors when the car is locked.

 

>8^)

ER

 

Oh my god... That is gorgeous and sooo much more aggressive and exotic when in Race Mode. Thanks for sharing!!

 

Jeremy drove it nice and slow through Belgium to showcase how driveable it is. Than took it to Spa and drove it really hard. But...

 

ER,

 

Do you know if NOT, in race mode, can you drive around with 900hp with going into a certain setting... Or do you only get the IPAS feature for the electric motor which bumps it to 900 and only for several seconds?

 

Sorry for bombarding with questions, your so much more convenient than a McLaren rep, haha!

Oh my god... That is gorgeous and sooo much more aggressive and exotic when in Race Mode. Thanks for sharing!!

 

Jeremy drove it nice and slow through Belgium to showcase how driveable it is. Than took it to Spa and drove it really hard. But...

 

ER,

 

Do you know if NOT, in race mode, can you drive around with 900hp with going into a certain setting... Or do you only get the IPAS feature for the electric motor which bumps it to 900 and only for several seconds?

 

Sorry for bombarding with questions, your so much more convenient than a McLaren rep, haha!

 

The only time you don't have direct access to all 903 HP is in E-Mode with the internal combustion engine switched off. In all other settings you have the ECUs managing the complexity of blending power from both the engine and the eMachine to give the acceleration requested through the throttle pedal in the most efficient and expeditious way possible.

 

The IPAS button is a bit of a gimmick really - by pressing the 'Boost' button on the center console it gives control of the torque generated by the eMachine to the driver when they choose to press the IPAS button on the steering wheel.

 

For a better understanding of this from someone who has actually driven the car, reference this paragraph from the linked article written by Chris:

 

Duncan now selects a button marked boost. This disables the automatic deployment of the KERS system and transfers it to a button marked iPAS (Instant Power Assist) on the wheel for manual operation. Now we have just 727hp. Children of my generation will have yearned for the moment Michael Knight hit KITT's turbo boost button, and the P1 realises that dream. Push it with your right thumb and the P1's extra kick is yours to control. I can see no reason why you'd not have it delivered automatically other than in the name of theatre, but it's a hell of a party trick.

 

The car has Normal, Sport and Track modes for the Powertrain just as you'd find in a 12C, but those just settings change the throttle mapping, shift speed and other relative bits - it doesn't limit the total available power, just controls how aggressively it is delivered.

 

You never run out of power available from the electric motor - this has been ruled virtually impossible by McLaren's lead test driver Chris Goodwin. The car is constantly finding ways to restore the power to the battery in any opportunity it can, even if only very briefly. Chris has stated that in all the hours and miles of testing he has done on streets and on track that he's never run out of battery power (except in E-Mode where that's all it has to rely on) and that you would always run out of fuel/petrol before that would ever be the case. He very plainly told a few owners who came to test the car at Dunsfold that he's willing to put his own house on the line if someone could prove him wrong on that.

 

Calling this car and the other new hybrid hypercars 'game changers' isn't simply hyperbole - it really is the case, especially in the way the P1 deploys and restores its battery energy.

 

>8^)

ER

Adding to all of that, and perhaps painting a clearer picture are these posts from 'Max Torque' on PistonHeads. He works for McLaren and has been directly involved in the development of these systems for the P1.

 

A dual system of clutches allows various modes, and the Emachine to start the ICE. The Emachine itself, with it's inverter weighs well under 50kg (i'm not going to tell you the exact figure, sorry). During braking, KE is recovered from the cars mass and put back into the battery. This gives the systems a really hard time on track because it is either sucking high amounts of power from, or blowing high amounts of power into, the battery system. The Emachine is also used for gearshift engine synchronization, helping to speed up or slow down the ICE during rapid gearshifts (effectively acting to cancel engine inertia). There is a fully Electric only mode and a couple of blended modes, all of which vary with HV battery SOC. Once the driver has made his mode choice (via the dash selector) the amount of electrical torque is automatically blended with the torque produced by the ICE, including having the ICE make excess torque and absorb that with the Emachine to charge the battery system.

If the acronyms within are Greek to anyone:

ICE = Internal Combustion Engine | KE = Kinetic Energy | HV = High Voltage | SOC = State of Charge

 

 

In another thread I added these details in response to someone's question and he offered some further insight:

 

From Ten Things You Probably Didn’t Know—And Neither Did We—About McLaren’s P1

 

9. Start Me Up

 

The 177-hp electric motor has many roles. Aside from delivering torque to the wheels, it starts the V-8, charges both the high voltage (535-volt, 4.7-kWh hybrid battery), and via a DC-DC convertor, acts as an alternator by managing the standard 12-volt system. This setup simplifies the engine auxiliary layout. In fact, the engine lacks any belt-driven auxiliary altogether. Aside from the motor, there is an A/C compressor, but it is driven off the electric motor’s gearbox.

 

 

The Emachine also acts to negate the ICEs rotational inertia during high speed gearshifting, where the engine must be sped up, or slowed down very quickly to enable a smooth selection of the next gear ratio. With the Emachine geared by a ratio of 1:2 to the crank, something like 260Nm is available transiently to overcome the engine inertia, and because the electric motor can change it's torque very rapidly (~1kHz control bandwidth), even during very fast shifts (say 50ms) there is plenty of time to precisely control engine speed during that shift, maintaining a high shift quality, minimum gearbox wear, and practically no noticeable interruption or non linearity in drive torque!

 

 

This is also from him in a more recent thread where someone wanted more detail on the charging process:

 

Like all modern cars,the engine controller is Torque based, ie its primary control parameter is torque, and as such the accelerator pedal simply provides a driver demand torque. The engine speed is generally fixed by the vehicle speed and gear ratio, and gear changes that do not come from roadload changes (for example slowing down, going up a hill etc) are to be avoided as they feel "strange" to drivers (no one likes a car that changes gear for what feels like no reason). So, generally speaking, the transmission mapping is conventional, and has prime arbitration over engine speed, and the driver demand is then requested from the engine at that engine speed. At all times the engine reports to the hybrid controller it's maximum potential output available (ie. how much torque would max throttle be at any given moment, and this changes with things like coolant/air temp, fuel grade, engine bay temp, oil temp, exh/cat temps etc). The hybrid controller can then decide to use some or all of this extra torque to charge it's batteries, or to assist the transmission in gear changing for example. In this case, the engine ecu commands the engine to make more torque than the driver has requested, but it never gets to the wheels because it is absorbed by the electric motor, and that power fed to the battery.

 

The inverse of this is that the engine / transmission can also 'ask' for extra torque (either +ve or negative) from the hybrid controller. This is used transiently, to compensate for turbo lag or to help slow the engine down during fast upshifts etc. This all starts to get pretty complicated, and different effects and magnitudes of torque sharing are possible in the different drive modes, depending on the result required (in 'race' max performance is everything for example, and fuel economy irrelevant)

 

The clever bit, is that when properly mapped (as it is in the P1, after a massive amount of effort!) the driver should not really be aware of all this torque sharing occurring. Some effects are unavoidable, like the engine note changing a bit as more torque is demanded at light throttle openings to recharge the battery etc, but generally it's pretty transparent to the driver.

 

Fortunately for a road based cars (ie not wings and slicks) the amount of time the driver is actually at full throttle, even on a race track,is only something like 35% of the time, the rest of the time he is braking or cornering at low or part throttle, when the extra engine torque can be used for battery charging etc. That is why in race mode the battery SOC can be maintained within reason (the issue in this case is a thermal one, for the battery, motor and inverter, as it is constantly shuffling high power either in or out of the battery without a "rest".

 

Pretty impressive bit of kit and hopefully you are beginning to understand why driver's who have a lot of experience behind the wheel of cars like these are coming away from their time in the P1 so tremendously impressed, even ones who have given the 918 a try already.

 

>8^)

ER

Thanks for sharing, Captain: a very interesting read

 

ciao

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Just tell me your Instagram username if you have one and I will send it to you over Direct.

 

OnAFlyer

Thanks dude!

Just tell me your Instagram username if you have one and I will send it to you over Direct.

I'd like to see it as well if it's ok! @ben_kretz

 

Thanks and keep the pics coming! Love the Dubai car scene

Hot off the press!

 

Just wow. I want.

The P1 is what the Countach was in the 80's. Game changer, rule breaker and it's "THE" car to have. It the new poster child.

 

Geez, I just want to see one in the flesh, couldn't even imagine driving that thing.

Hot off the press!

 

Nice video, very informative and interesting to watch. Love the P1, hope to drive 1 someday!

Just wow. I want.

 

 

 

They absolutely crushed it. I think the poor launch and reception of the MPC 12C probably pushed them further than they would have otherwise chosen. I think McLaren have finally moved away thankfully from form purely follows function on this one.

double post

Just Epic...... it took that corner soooo smooth...just by watching it i could imagine driving it....perfect car...

 

 

sad truth is...Lambo,Pagani,Ferrari and Porsche won't even be in the same page as this car...they need to step up their game!