McLaren's P12 supercar looks set to eclipse the iconic F1 - VIDEO

With a little over 2 weeks remaining, McLaren has shown us a little more of its new super sports car – codenamed P12 – with a second camouflaged image plus a 70-second video.

The P12 is rumoured to be McLaren’s F1 for the 21st century, paying homage to its 1992 icon, but using the very latest technology to deliver Veyron-like performance in a considerably more ‘efficient’ way.

The rear-end of the P12 is still unclear, but the front-end looks curvaceous and fluid like a Pagani Huayra, while the narrow cockpit is reminiscent of the 3-seat (1 + 2) layout adopted by Gordon Murray in the F1.

McLaren’s P12 supercar – compact, fluid and rumoured to offer more than 800bhp.

McLaren has promised the P12 will be a supercar “..built without compromise”, so perhaps its cockpit is even more radical than the F1. Performance is set to eclipse all other supercars, in much the same way as the F1 did in ’92, with a price tag close to the $1 million already mooted for Jaguar’s C-X16.

In this new image, we can see a roof scoop similar to the one used on McLaren’s F1 GTR and the doors and side sills look heavily sculpted, with form closely following function.

The video (above) shows trails of light travelling over a seemingly invisible form, with the airflow creating a dynamic shape with dramatic visual effect.

The absence of any rear wing would seem to imply plenty of ground-effect aerodynamics, given the speed the P12 is likely to be capable of. Of course, there may well be a retractable wing (as per the Huayra), acting both as an air brake and a source of aerodynamic downforce.

The P12 will limited to just 500 units and built around the same carbon fibre ‘MonoCell’ structure as the 12C and powered by the same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, but using a new flywheel-assisted turbo mechanism to deliver higher levels of boost, while capturing and deploying energy using an F1-derived KERS device. The end result is said to eliminate turbo lag and deliver fluid gear changes when combined with McLaren’s bespoke Seamless Shift Gearbox (SSG).

Mclaren’s Asia Pacific Director, Ian Gorsuch, said recently “..it is going to be extreme in technology: how it delivers power and how it handles.”

Judging by these latest images, it’s also going to be compact, organically beautiful and singularly focused on going fast. Due to reach the market by late 2013 / early 2014, the P12 will join other hybrid supercars including Porsche’s 918 Spyder, Jaguar’s C-X16 and Ferrari’s Enzo replacement.

We can’t wait to see more.

McLaren’s press conference kicks off at 16.45 BST (17.45 CET) on Thursday 27 September.

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