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McLaren P1 launch at Paris Motorshow
Working closely with Parry-Williams, Design Director Frank Stephenson wanted a car that was ‘striking but also functional, a real statement of intent. I wanted a genuinely beautiful and dramatically honest “supersports” car, in keeping with McLaren’s heritage but also at the forefront of automotive design’.
He further developed the surfaces, making everything as small, light and dynamic as possible. This helped give the car a natural, almost organic, quality. The design intent was to expose the carbon structure beneath, not only showing exactly where the air was going – through the door ducts into the main radiators – but also to break up the visual mass of the body side and accentuate the cab-forward stance, giving the car a real look of lightness and agility. All the ducts were developed with the aero team, giving a direct link to McLaren’s motorsport heritage.
‘I wanted it to look like a Le Mans racer with that low body, long rear deck and open mesh rear styling to put the mechanicals on view and to help cooling,’ says Stephenson. ‘Plus there is the most aggressive rear diffuser ever seen on a road car. Like everything on the McLaren P1, it’s there for a good reason.’
The glasshouse was inspired by the canopies of fighter jets, giving the occupants similar sensations to a pilot. The windscreen is deeper than it is wide, creating a feeling of lightness and airiness inside. Good visibility has always been a McLaren mantra.
The lights are a signature part of the car. The LED headlights, with their speed marque DRL, are extremely small in size meaning more frontal area can be devoted to cooling. Whilst at the back, the low rear deck and pronounced wheelarches, give the evocatively simple rear end a powerful graphic. The concept being that the rear lamps are literally the trailing edge of the bodywork, framing the diffuser and allowing more heat to exit from the engine bay. ‘Again, beautiful, organic forms framing and enhancing the technical features,’ says Stephenson
McLaren P1 launch at Paris Motorshow
Working closely with Parry-Williams, Design Director Frank Stephenson wanted a car that was ‘striking but also functional, a real statement of intent. I wanted a genuinely beautiful and dramatically honest “supersports” car, in keeping with McLaren’s heritage but also at the forefront of automotive design’.
He further developed the surfaces, making everything as small, light and dynamic as possible. This helped give the car a natural, almost organic, quality. The design intent was to expose the carbon structure beneath, not only showing exactly where the air was going – through the door ducts into the main radiators – but also to break up the visual mass of the body side and accentuate the cab-forward stance, giving the car a real look of lightness and agility. All the ducts were developed with the aero team, giving a direct link to McLaren’s motorsport heritage.
‘I wanted it to look like a Le Mans racer with that low body, long rear deck and open mesh rear styling to put the mechanicals on view and to help cooling,’ says Stephenson. ‘Plus there is the most aggressive rear diffuser ever seen on a road car. Like everything on the McLaren P1, it’s there for a good reason.’
The glasshouse was inspired by the canopies of fighter jets, giving the occupants similar sensations to a pilot. The windscreen is deeper than it is wide, creating a feeling of lightness and airiness inside. Good visibility has always been a McLaren mantra.
The lights are a signature part of the car. The LED headlights, with their speed marque DRL, are extremely small in size meaning more frontal area can be devoted to cooling. Whilst at the back, the low rear deck and pronounced wheelarches, give the evocatively simple rear end a powerful graphic. The concept being that the rear lamps are literally the trailing edge of the bodywork, framing the diffuser and allowing more heat to exit from the engine bay. ‘Again, beautiful, organic forms framing and enhancing the technical features,’ says Stephenson