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McLaren will race the new 720S GT3 in Abu Dhabi

Mark your calendars, endurance racing fans: McLaren says the new 720S GT3 will finally be shown at the Bahrain GP Festival. The Gulf 12 Hours endurance race, held two weeks later, will then be the GT3's maiden competitive event. McLaren also released some new photo material of the new, track-focused 720S GT3 version. One 720S GT3 will be entered in the Gulf 12 Hours race by the works team; McLaren will mainly use the acquired data to prepare for the 2019 season. The car has already been tested for thousands of miles around European circuits, the manufacturer says. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. McLaren Automotive states the 720S GT3 is the first car its in-house motorsport department has developed, designed and built. Earlier, it was said that the race car shares less than 10 percent of its parts with the road-going 720S: the body is extensively reworked for racing duty, and while the engine is based on the standard car's four-liter, twin turbo V8 unit, it has been extensively rebuilt, and it's now coupled to a six-speed sequential transmission instead of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission offered to regular customers. The GT3 will also be sold to privateer teams, and McLaren disclosed the price in August as $564,000 – handily double the price of a $280,000 regular-issue 720S. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

McLaren Senna GTR spied testing at the track

The McLaren Senna really moves. With its 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 789 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, it's a fitting tribute for the legendary driver it's named after. While it's a road-legal car, it does have a race mode. But if that weren't racy enough for you, McLaren has a gnarlier version on the way, as you can see from these spy photos. That car, the McLaren Senna GTR, will be too hot for public roads, though, and will be a track-only version of the car. McLaren first envisioned the Senna GTR as a concept car, which it trotted out at the Geneva Motor Show last spring. The British automaker has said it only intends to build 75 examples, and each will cost around $1.4 million. That'll buy the lucky owners at least 813 horsepower and 2,200 pounds of downforce. A lot of dramatic carbon fiber bodywork helps it perform that aerodynamic feat. As McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt has said, the GTR will offer "more power, more grip and more downforce ... than the McLaren Senna and post even faster lap times." The prototype we see in the spy shots above looks incomplete, so expect to see more aero bits as development continues. It has a more aggressive stance, with wider fenders to match its wider track. We'll be curious to hear more details from McLaren closer to the car's production launch late next year, but seeing the Senna GTR hit the track is certainly a thing to behold. Related Video:

McLaren 720S Stealth isn't all that stealthy

Plenty of supercar and ultra-luxury car brands have bespoke vehicle programs. However, we don't always get a peek behind the curtains at what exactly comes out of those. Ferrari has Tailor Made; Bentley has Mulliner; Aston Martin has Q and so on. McLaren might just have the most public and outspoken of all these programs with MSO, or McLaren Special Operations. Today it released all the details on one of its latest creations: the MSO 720S Stealth Theme. It's not particularly accurate to call a 720S "stealthy," but the Sarthe Grey paint does the best job it can. That color is inspired by the 1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR, and is broken up by red accents throughout the vehicle. This red detailing was hand-painted and took nearly 200 hours to finish, according to McLaren. A unique satin finish is used for all the visual carbon fiber components, including the front air intakes, door mirrors and arms, rear deck and engine cover and rear fender air intakes. Extra lightweight MSO wheels get finished in black and the same red accents as the rest of the car. The interior continues the red and carbon fiber theme with bright accents everywhere you look. Having the economic freedom to write a blank check to McLaren is how you're going to build yourself a car like this. The London McLaren dealer commissioned this one to be made, so it'll be staying on the other side of the pond for now. It's always neat to check these ultra-unique type of cars out — Lamborghini just took it a full step beyond this one and built a one-off car for a wealthy client. This McLaren will end up drawing a few extra stares too. Related video:

McLaren and Fernando Alonso will enter the Indianapolis 500 next year

SAO PAULO – McLaren and two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will enter next year's Indianapolis 500, the team announced on Saturday. It will be the second time the Spaniard has taken part in the race, which he led in 2017 before retiring with an engine problem. The 37-year-old, who is also competing for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship, is leaving Formula One at the end of this season and the May 26 date in Indianapolis will not clash with any commitments. Alonso is a double Monaco Grand Prix winner and also won the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, leaving only Indianapolis between him and becoming only the second driver to achieve the 'Triple Crown of Motorsport'. The late Briton Graham Hill, also a two-times Formula One champion and who died in 1975, is the only one to have done it, completing the triple in 1972. "I've made clear for some time my desire to achieve the Triple Crown. I had an incredible experience at Indianapolis in 2017 and I knew in my heart of hearts I had to go back if the opportunity was there," Alonso said in a statement at the Brazilian Grand Prix. "I'm especially glad to be returning with McLaren. This was always my first choice if the team decided to do it, so I'm delighted they've decided to go ahead. "It's a tough race and we'll be up against the best, so it will be a huge challenge. But we're racers and that's why we race." Alonso missed the Monaco Grand Prix last year to compete at Indianapolis, no great loss for him given McLaren's then woes with an uncompetitive Formula One car and unreliable Honda engine. Former F1 champions McLaren are three-time Indy 500 winners – in 1972 providing a car for Mark Donohue as a private entry and in 1974 and 1976 as a works entry with Johnny Rutherford. They will compete at The Brickyard next year as McLaren Racing. "McLaren has a long and fond relationship with the Indianapolis 500 and it's a case of unfinished business for us with Fernando," said team principal Zak Brown, who had already ruled out a full IndyCar season. "No Indy 500 is a cakewalk, it's a massive challenge. We have the utmost respect for the race and our competitors. So, we are under no illusions. But McLaren are racers first and foremost, as is Fernando. We're going for it." (Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Motorsports McLaren Racing Vehicles IndyCar

McLaren Speedtail prototype says you can call it Al(bert)

Automakers so frequently refer to their cars, both in production and in development, by boring old alphanumeric codes. McLaren in particular does this, with such unmemorable names as MP4-12C and 650S. Its new Speedtail, still in development, does have a boring code name of MVY02, but it also has a real name. It's called Albert. According to McLaren, the reason for this is that the test prototypes for the old McLaren F1 supercar were also called Albert. The location where the F1 was designed was on Albert Drive, too. So this is a nice throwback to the last top speed demon from the British car firm. And of course, it's a fun name for a car. Aside from the name, the prototype is distinguished by a nifty vinyl wrap, as well as a unique nose. Instead of the super slick fascia of the Speedtail production car, the nose of the 720S has been grafted on. According to McLaren, underneath those panels are the actual Speedtail components. It actually doesn't look as out of place as we would have imagined. The car is being used to test the production hybrid engine in real-world driving, as well as finalizing suspension brakes, ergonomics and more. Testing will continue over the coming year until production begins at the end of 2019. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Watch the McLaren Speedtail in motion

We were all pretty excited to see the reveal of the McLaren Speedtail last week, looking like something the Silver Surfer rode in on. But now, on YouTube, tucked away amid the jumble of videos of talking heads offering commentary on the still images of the hypercar, is one little snippet of video of the Speedtail actually moving under its own power. It's moving very slowly, being driven out the doors of the also-futuristic McLaren Technology Centre HQ in Woking, England, by senior designer Alex Alexiev, who apparently supplied the video to the McLaren dealership in Newport Beach, Calif. You can hear the engine at high idle. You can see Alexiev in the center seat, the front aero wheel covers remaining stationary, and the taper of that long, long tail as the car heads off into the English countryside. There's not much more to it than that. But the chance to see the Speedtail in motion for the first time, even if it's a 250 mph car going just 2 mph, whets the appetite for seeing a whole lot more. McLaren Speedtail View 17 Photos Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Design/Style McLaren Coupe Performance Supercars Videos McLaren Speedtail

McLaren Speedtail revealed — it's a silver speeding bullet

The McLaren Speedtail hypercar is finally here, and it's a streamlined stunner. The whole car is slicker than a bar of soap, and everything about it is there to make it the fastest McLaren road car in history — a combination of sophisticated design and astonishing speed. Grilles and air intakes are kept small and out of the way. It has a long tapering tail. The front wheels have large, smooth carbon-fiber aero-covers that remain fixed as the wheels rotate, to smooth out turbulence from the wheels. Ducts and air passages are all designed to further reduce turbulence, and of course that's the point of the long tail. Air flow for the engine comes from a snorkel intake that is so minimal you can't even see it in profile. Some of the particularly curious parts are the patented rear active spoilers. The flaps appear to not have any kind of joint or gap where they lift. The cockpit is suitably futuristic and unique, too. As the company had previously mentioned, the seat is in the center, as with the old McLaren F1 road car. Immediately in front of the driver is the steering wheel and a main screen for instruments, and to either side are additional screens for other information and interfaces. At the base of either pillar are two smaller screens which are connected to cameras that substitute side mirrors for less drag — and for even less drag, the cameras can be retracted. In what seems like a nod to airplanes, key controls, knobs and switches are above the driver on the ceiling — even the gear select buttons are up there. McLaren revealed its ultimate Ultimate Series car on Friday, offering details only hinted at before. The car almost looks more like a land-speed-record car than a road car. The automaker says the Speedtail is its most aerodynamic creation ever, and that this was its "singleminded vision" — not hard to believe, looking at it: "A jaw-dropping elongated body makes it as much a work of art as a masterpiece of technology." Seen from above, the overall car and its passenger compartment are shaped like a teardrop, which McLaren calls the fastest shape in nature. And indeed this is McLaren's fastest car. Its hybrid powertrain puts out over 1,000 horsepower. (McLaren rates it as 1,035 bhp, so horsepower is just under 1,050.) We applaud the press-release writer's use of the word relentless here: "The hybrid powertrain enables a relentless increase in vehicle speed. ..." Top speed is 250 mph — exceeding the F1's 243 mph.

Ice-T arrested for not paying a toll — in his new McLaren

He plays a cop on TV, but that wasn't enough to keep rapper/actor Ice-T from getting arrested Wednesday morning — with the real cops saying he evaded paying a toll on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge. T, who plays an NYPD detective on "Law & Order: SVU," was in the E-ZPass lane, for cars with a toll transmitter. His brand-new McLaren 720S did not have one. And, being new and freshly shipped in from California, the McLaren didn't have license plates yet, either, another matter the Port Authority police took exception to. In some states, you don't get plates right away. It's unclear whether he had a temporary tag, but presumably the cops figured the lack of plates was part of an attempt to elude the toll. Ice-T told center-of-the-celebrity-news-universe TMZ that he forgot he didn't have his E-ZPass, and that he has seven of them. (And therefore, he must have at least that many cars. Wonder if they're all on the order of the McLaren — yeah, based on his Instagram account, that appears to be a yes.) More money, more problems. He says he was arrested but was allowed to leave the scene of what can only loosely be termed as the crime, and went to work on the "SVU" set, equipped with fresh background material on police work. So, high-profile guy, extremely high-profile car. Doesn't catch a break for portraying a cop, and perhaps that even worked against him. And his Twitter followers offer a couple of other entirely plausible explanations. But to arrest anyone for not paying a toll? Cue that weird sound effect in the "SVU" opening: Chunk-chunk. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Ice-T Celebrities McLaren Performance mclaren 720s

McLaren BC-03 hypercar looks to be a production Ultimate Vision GranTurismo

McLaren revealed the Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo concept October 17, 2017. On October 14, 2018, Instagram user and known exotic car collector dan_am_i posted a slide from a private presentation McLaren gave to some special clientele. The slide read, "MSO - Bespoke Commission BC-03, Customer Review, October 12, 2018," and was rumored to refer to a production version of the Gran Turismo concept. It's said that MSO showed those in attendance a sketch of what's to come. The Supercar Blog broke the story, and McLaren MSO just confirmed to UK car blog Pistonheads that the " BC-03 is a bespoke customer commission being created by McLaren Special Operations." It wouldn't divulge anything more "because the specifics of the project are confidential between MSO and its client." We have only circumstantial evidence and hearsay at the moment, but two days after dan_am_i posted the slide, he returned to Instagram to post a side shot of the McLaren Ultimate VGT concept with #BC03 as one of the hashtags. The McLaren Life forum chimed in, saying MSO is making just five examples, and three have already been claimed. One goes to the aforementioned dan_i_am, the others to fellow seven-figure-car buyers x_marc_the_spot and mannykhoshbin. The BC-03, according to the forum post, is "inspired by" the Playstation concept and will "use new cutting-edge technologies, and a special type of carbon fiber." How much inspiration will make it to reality, that's the question. The Vision GT car was a track-only single-seater with 1,134 horsepower and 940 pound-feet of torque. Those numbers came from a combination of the brand's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 powering the rear wheels, and two high-output electric motors powering the fronts. It weighed 2,204 virtual pounds. If the real thing comes close to those numbers, the BC-03 would be lighter than the Senna, with just as much if not more power than the Speedtail. We have yet to see if it will be a track-only car, but that wouldn't surprise us if so. We're confident that one aspect that won't make production is the prone, "motorcycle-like" driving position. The rumored price: $3 million, which — considering what's happening in the segment — isn't bad. The BC-03 probably won't possess the same monumental old-time Formula 1 engine note as the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, but it should provide some good competition should any of the five owners care to risk the BC-03 on the curbs. And if Le Mans really does create a hypercar LMP1 class ...

McLaren teases the tail part of its Speedtail hyper GT

The reveal of the McLaren Speedtail is less than two weeks away, and McLaren's likely entering Peak Tease phase. Based on this latest tease, what we know now is that the spiritual successor to the F1 will not play timid with the "tail" part of its name. A long, un-spoilered aft section would seem to indicate this is where the party will happen on what McLaren has called "a stunning, streamlined form." The only features visible on the deck are three sets of shutlines. Two at opposite ends along the trailing edge we'll guess are combination active spoilers and brakes. Then there's a long, thin, central shutline that runs from the lower edge of the backlight or engine cover to about six inches from the car's trailing edge. We don't have a clue as to what this flap might do, or what it might open up to. We do see similarities in the overall shape with the Senna, though; get rid of the Senna's spoiler, and level the rear fenders with the engine cover, and you've got a good approximation of this Speedtail teaser. A glaring omission from the panels in the tease: exhaust outlets. No ports point upward as on the Senna, nor plainly out the back as on the P1 and F1. Blown diffuser, perhaps? Looks like owners will need to buy a 600LT if they want to put on a fireworks show or grill some burgers backside. McLaren has invited everyone to join the company on Oct. 26, at 13:00 British Standard Time, to watch the Speedtail unveil. Since all 106 examples of the hybrid-engined three-seater with at least 986 horsepower have already been sold, that will probably be your easiest and best way to catch a glimpse. Related Video: News Source: McLaren [via Facebook] McLaren Coupe Hybrid Luxury Performance McLaren Speedtail