Great Britain, great cars. The UK motor industry is respected the world over, and though many of the vehicles are actually owned by foreign manufacturers, there can be no doubting of the fantastic heritage of the British motor.
To celebrate Britain’s famous history CarSupermarket.com is launching a series looking back on some of the most famous vehicles the UK has ever seen.
McLaren P1
Those savvy supercar fans who purchased the limited edition P1 between 2013 and 2015 will be sitting pretty now knowing that not only have they bought one of the world’s most sought after supercars, but their initial investment of £866,000 has now almost doubled.
The P1 was the natural successor to the original McLaren F1 which stunned the motoring world in the early 1990s, but where the F1 had the unique three-seat layout, the P1 is more conventional, though it does include a mid-engine and rear wheel drive design.
The P1 is built on a carbon fibre monocoque cage design, named the MonoCage, this concept had previously been used in the development of McLaren’s MP4-12C.
The 2-door sports coupe was seen as a real return to form for the British manufacturer, aimed squarely at the the LaFerrari and the Porsche 918, it shares similar specifications and performance. That performance includes a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox and a 3.8L twin-turbocharged V8 engine, but this McLaren is unique to its predecessors in that it also has an electric motor which when kicked-in can provide a range of 19 miles on battery power alone.
The comparisons between the Ferrari and the Porsche were best demonstrated when the three had a race around the Silverstone circuit and they were all within a half second of each other. However it was the McLaren which triumphed on home soil, closely followed by the LaFerrari and the 918.
Unsurprisingly McLaren sold all 375 units of its initial run and other than a very limited runs of the P1 GTR (58 units) and the P1 LM (5 units), that was all she wrote in terms of what many regard as the No.1 supercar of its generation.
To give more authenticity to the P1’s superior speed, the car holds production laps records on a number of famous circuits, including the Nurburgring and Silverstone.
Years of manufacture: 2013-2015
Price when new: £866,000
Price now: £1.5million
Engine: 3,799cc 8cyl petrol plus electric, 904bhp
Top speed: 218mph