McLaren P1: The Widowmaker! | Top Gear | Series 21 | BBC

and that's because, like the alpha we saw before, this car was designed to be as fat as Iggy Pop. Inside it has no glove box or carpets, the glass is only three and a half millimeters thick, one and a half millimeters Thinner than normal car glass. Except for the rear windows, where there is no glass, no lacquer is added to the carbon fiber moldings to save a kilo and a half, the entire chassis weighs less than James. The trim is titanium and the body is made of just five panels, meaning less glue and fewer bolts are needed to hold it all together, all of which means that despite the battery bank and the fact that it has two motors, this car weighs less than a Voxel Astra, which of course makes it economical and fast, really fast, amazing. fast, speed, in fact, is the main reason I brought this car to Belgium because Belgium is home to this place, Spa, the longest and wildest race track on the F1 calendar.

Have they made anything go this far? Okay, okay, let me slow down while I explain. What's going on here? The electric motor and the big V8 generator are working together, so I have 903 brake horsepower at my disposal. Obviously I've driven a Bugatti Veyron that has more than that, but a Bugatti Veyron, oh it's four wheel drive and it weighs more than most mountains this is rear wheel drive and the only significant weight comes from the air passing over it. the bodywork flattens a formula one car not flat on this oh they should have called this the widow maker the throttle is a hyperspace button step on it then you go and yet somehow even in this weather scary, it went around every corner without crashing once, so good, that's partly because it's made of things from the future and partly because it's smart, it adapts and moves to adapt. its surroundings as speed increases the rear wing rises to generate more downforce, but as you go above 156 miles per hour it starts to go down a bit, otherwise the weight of the air passing over it would be as huge that would break the suspension.

Then you have the exhaust that works with the rear diffuser to generate a low pressure area into which the rear of the car is sucked. The wheels are made of military grade aluminum. The brake discs are made of a material that has only been used in the space ariane program and they're coated with something called silicon carbide apparently it's the hardest substance known to man other than dry weetabix obviously and then it all sits on four tires that were designed and manufactured by Pirelli all of this means that you really have the confidence to open it, this thing goes from norton at 160 miles per hour faster than a golf goes from the north at 60 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 40 health fire and while you fall into a puddle of your own feces waving like a baby, the car is working on ways to go even faster, let me give you an example: the electric motor is used to fill in the small gaps when the gasoline engine is not working at its maximum, such as during

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changes or while the huge turbos are revving. and what seems hysterical to me is that

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has taken this hybrid technology that is designed to reduce the impact of the internal combustion engine and is using it to increase the impact, it is like building a wind farm or buying the rainbow warrior and turning it into a tanker truck for years cars have been basically the same but this really isn't it's a turning point a really new chapter in the history of motoring in a city it's as green as a health food store on a motorway it's comfortable and doesn't produce more dioxide carbon than a family saloon and on a track you can punch a hole in time and it's all been achieved using something that's been around for centuries brilliant British engineering you could argue it doesn't have the passion or talent of a Ferrari and I'd probably agree I agree with you, but look at it this way, it was passion and brilliance that built the leaning tower of Pisa and it was British engineering that built Westminster Abbey.