In any official McLaren copy, it won’t take you long to come
across phrases like the relentless pursuit of perfection, no compromise,
fiercely competitive, obsessive approach, be the best. Yeah, we get it, they’re
a competitive bunch. The McLaren philosophy is one of pure perfection and the
company has been innovating and winning on the track for decades.
The McLaren
philosophy is one of pure perfection and the company has been innovating and
winning on the track for decades
Now while the MP4-12C is not new per se, the arrival of the
brand here in New Zealand is. McLaren recently opened its 50th retail outlet in
its founding country in its 50th year, and you can read more on that on page
42. We were set to drive one of the new 50th anniversary cars, a bang
up-to-date MY13 Spyder with all the fruit but car dealers, no matter whether
they sell McLarens or Mahindras, are always looking to close the deal, and
‘our’ car was sold during the new dealership’s grand opening. Typical. So we
had to make do with a 2012 Coupe, albeit one that had been upgraded at the
factory to ensure the engine, transmission and suspension management systems
were all up-to-date. All good then.
Nitty gritty
The components that make up the MP4-12C are worth a quick
recap for those who may have forgotten. We had.
MonoCell is what they call the carbon fibre tub of the 12C.
It’s the backbone of the car, moulded as one and weighs a claimed 75kg. McLaren
says it provides total rigidity, enough that the body panels bear no load. It’s
so strong that no additional bracing is needed for the Spyder version. The
aluminium subframes that carry the suspension, crash structures and the engine
are bolted straight to the MonoCell.
Carbon fibre is the
backbone of the MC12, but the engine shrouds are just for show
The engine, the M838T, and the seven-speed twin clutch auto
were developed in conjunction with Ricardo. The 90 degree, 3.8-litre, dry sump
V8 utilizes a short stroke for compactness and revs, and with a flat plane
crank, it spins effortlessly to 8500rpm. Twin turbos operate at 1.2bar to bulk
up the torque curve, giving this revver low down grunt as well. That obsessive
attention to detail abounds in its design too, like the special type of cylinder
liner used, which helped shave four kilos compared with using conventional cast
iron liners. There’s an intake sound generator too, piping the induction noise
into the cabin. It must get a work out as it requires changing at every
15,000km service, along with the wheel nuts.
Hardly looks like
we are trying here, but active suspension keeps things tidy.
The ace in the hole for this car is its hydraulically
activated, interconnected continuously variable adaptive damping system. All
four dampers are interconnected, front to rear, and left to right. One of its
aims is to quell roll. In a corner, the hydraulic fluid flows into an
accumulator on one side of the vehicle, thereby making the outside dampers
stiffer than those on the inside (relative to the direction of the corner)
creating the roll stiffness needed to maintain a more level stance through a
bend. And it works too, sufficiently that this McLaren goes without
conventional roll bars. Clever. But perhaps its best quality is the system’s
ability to deliver a fluid ride. Without those roll bars, the system can also
deliver a certain ride quality and allow for more wheel travel over bumpy roads
as each damper acts independently. As we said, clever. So too is the brake
steer function. Pioneered and banned in the F1 arena, this applies some braking
pressure to the inside rear wheel when cornering. It works on the way in,
helping to tighten the entry, and also on the way out, allowing the V8 to put
the power down early, just like a torque vectoring system. Its work goes
largely undetected, so well is it integrated, but you know some kind of
electronic wizardry is at play through every bend.
