The e-set-up is inspired by that of the current Indycars but the motorsport cues don’t end there. Tiny McLaren, which makes fewer than 3000 road cars a year, is simultaneously involved in Formula E, Indy and Formula 1 (where it appears to have kiboshed the Red Bull supremacy).
No other manufacturer can currently marshal such enviable racing resources for the task of developing a supercar as complex as the W1. It follows that arguably nobody is better placed to execute such a car, including Ferrari.
I eagerly await the day the W1 gets to blow our minds from behind its squared-off wheel, because the truth is that so far it… sort of hasn’t. Blue-blood hypercar drops are a curious event. They’re occasional but amazingly dependable. Every 10 years, a fresh one.
Once a decade, our jaws are dropped by a revised brand manifesto made physical, with a vom-tastic asking price. I can remember seeing the P1 concept at the 2012 Geneva motor show.
With its biomimicry and that stunning backside, nobody could stop talking about it for weeks. It had star power.
These days, there isn’t quite the same buzz. One reason for this is that cars such as the W1 now find themselves sandwiched.
From below they are harried by the latest Porsche Turbos, 765 LTs and 296 GTBs – cars that on the road are practically as quick, if not a little quicker in less than ideal conditions, and cost just a tenth of the price.
Downward pressure then comes in the form of cars such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Red Bull RB17 Newey Special, which are way more spectacular on track and offer owners an experience that is tangibly different.
Meanwhile, the Michelangelo angle is being covered off by the likes of GMA’s T50 (has an atmo V12, is 400kg lighter, features cabin details to die for) and, to some extent, Singer, with its art-on-wheels DLS, co-developed with Williams.
Which leaves a trad totem supercar like the W1 where? Sold out, of course. If each of the 399 gets a bit of personalisation, that’s a tidy £1 billion revenue. But what about the W1 from the viewpoint not of collectors or MTC accountants but the enthusiast observer?
