McLaren's Newest Hyper Car Promises To Be The Fastest McLaren Yet

March 21, 2023

The company that gave us the iconic F1 is back in the laboratory, where they’ve been cooking up another spectacular entry to the hypercar market. The BP23, also known as the Hyper-GT, is McLaren’s newest supercar, and it promises to be more than just a fast ride. From their website, McLaren claims the BP23 will be "the most exquisitely crafted and luxurious road-going McLaren to date."

The Hyper-GT was designed with the historic F1 in mind, with McLaren returning to the three-seater cockpit with a centered driver position. Coming out of the bespoke department of McLaren, the BP23 promises to be faster than its predecessor, claiming a top speed of over 243 miles per hour, though final numbers haven’t been released yet, slating it to be the fastest McLaren to date. The codename for this project isn’t an arbitrary designation either; it stands for ‘bespoke project two, three-seater.’ Eventually, however, McLaren says they will be giving the vehicle a proper name, instead of the alpha-numeric code they have been using.

In fact, aside from some of the spec details, we haven’t seen much of the BP23. The only photos that McLaren has released are highly stylized concept photos that give little more than hints to the lines the hypercar will sport. What we do know, however, is the Hyper-GT is slated to receive the 4.0L twin turbo V8 and is promised to produce more horses than the 986 bhp P1 GTR, partly due to the hybrid drivetrain McLaren has created for it.

While the P1 GTR was also a hybrid, McLaren’s Ultimate Series vehicle line director, Andy Palmer, in an article with Car magazine, teased “That car’s [the P1 GTR] hybrid tech wasn’t about lapping the M25 in electric mode, but filling in the low-down turbo lag we needed to address in 2012.” This indicates the BP23’s electric motor could be tuned to either increase the acceleration rate off the line or help push the top end closer to 250 miles per hour. To save on aerodynamics, McLaren let slip they are considering scrapping external mirrors in favor of embedded cameras to provide views of the outside.

While the Hyper-GT won’t be setting world records for top speed or acceleration, it promises to be the most luxurious car traveling at ludicrous speeds. The interior is designed by McLaren’s Special Operations department, who are working with customers to provide a luxury ride at all speeds. As McLaren stated on their website, "We [McLaren] are calling BP23 a Hyper-GT because it’s a car designed for longer journeys, but with the high levels of performance and driver engagement expected of any McLaren."

High-velocity luxury isn’t cheap, however, since it also comes with a price tag of £1.6 million (about USD 2.25 million). Unfortunately for those of us with a little extra scratch to toss around, all 106 models have already been sold.

Deliveries of the first BP23 should begin in 2019. Hopefully, by then we will have more information about this secret project from one of the world’s fastest automakers.

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