The culmination of the two biggest names in motorsports have come together in a holy matrimony involving the P1 GTR Driver Programme – a programme that was just announced after the very first example just rolled off McLaren’s production line in Woking, Surrey.
The McLaren P1 GTR joins the ranks of Ferrari’s FXX-K track-prepped weapons of mass destruction. Here are the basic facts and figures. Based on the dollar value, the Ferrari FXX-K costs just over RM11.3 million (after conversion, before taxes) while the McLaren P1 GTR clocks the record at RM12.71 million – with taxes it may cost over RM20 million, and that’s just being conservative. With those ungodly figures in mind, McLaren has kept mum on the number of GTRs that will be built, but it’s ball is said to be parked circa 30 units.
The boffins over at McLaren’s Spec Ops division has cooked up a monster that wears the skin of a P1 and will be munching on tracks around the world with power figures estimated at 986 hp, courtesy of its twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 block. Torque digits, you ask? Well within the 1,000 Nm neighbourhood. It does the century sprint in a blistering 2.4 seconds with a top speed of 350 km/h.
Now with performance figures and a hefty price tag such as that, it’s no wonder that Bruno Senna (nephew of F1 legend Aryton Senna) is the current McLaren GT factory driver. He will now be spearheading the P1 GTR Driver Programme as a mentor.
Senna’s duties in this respect is to train the owners and drivers of these formidable machines in the black art of handling these ferocious million-dollar track weapons. Not only that, but consultants from the factory too will be on hand with the race seat fitting, a Human Performance Centre assessment and final discussions around the design and livery of your car. From there, each of the driver will get a chance to acquaint themselves with the upcoming circuits on McLaren’s very own racing simulator.
Speaking of tracks, listed down as one of the nine different exotic locales is our very own high-speed playground – Sepang’s F1 Circuit. Now with the better part of 900 horses pulling you along these high-speed circuits, you’d want to know the best and fastest way to get around, naturally. And on hand with such knowledge borrowed from his days at Formula 1 to get round is none other than Bruno Senna himself.
We are thrilled beyond words at the chance to catch a glimpse of these multi-million dollar tarmac arsenals in action right here in our backyard. Keep an eye on this space for more updates on this.
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