McLaren built the iconic three-seat F1 in the 1990s. It was the epitome of GT cars in the era. The closest I could get to one was in “Need for Speed II”. It was a beast, designed and built with a singular focus, go fast, practicality be damned.

More than 30 years have passed and McLaren have another GT ready for the speed enthusiasts. The car is not a super car or a hyper car, its a hyper GT. Its called the Speedtail. McLaren has been testing the Speedtail across the globe, including at Idiada in Spain and Papenburg in Germany. It finally concluded its trials at the Space Shuttle landing strip at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA. During these trials, the Speedtail was able to achieve a top speed of 403 Km/h (250 mph) not once, not twice but 30 times.

106 Speedtails would be hand built at the McLaren facility at Woking in UK. In fact, the first of the cars is already under production, deliveries are expected from February 2020 onwards. The Speedtail is not only the fastest, but also the most technically advanced McLaren. It has one of the most aerodynamic bodies ever. The car, made from carbon fibre stretches almost 5.2 meters in length. It seats three, with the driver seated in the centre, as la, the F1.

The Speedtail is powered by a 4.0 litre V8 twin-turbo charged hybrid engine, the displacement of which is not yet revealed. This engine produces a maximum power of 1,070 PS of power and 1,150 N-m of torque. The hybrid is not plug-in, but is continuously charged by the engine. Also, its has the capability to charge through a wireless charging pad that trickle-charges and maintains the battery’s status when the vehicle is not in use. This charging pad is also included as standard. The battery pack designed by McLaren has a power density of 5.2kW/kg, which is the best power-to-weight ratio of any automotive high voltage battery system.

1070 PS generated by the engine is sufficient to push the 1,430 Kg car from 0 to 300 Km/h (186 mph) in 13.0 seconds.

“It’s fitting that the Speedtail’s high-speed test programme concluded with multiple maximum-speed runs at a location strongly associated with pushing the boundaries of extreme performance and engineering excellence,” commented McLaren Automotive CEO, Mike Flewitt. “The Speedtail is a truly extraordinary car that epitomises McLaren’s pioneering spirit and perfectly illustrates our determination to continue to set new benchmarks for supercar and hypercar performance.”

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