McLaren has always been paving its course through automotive perfection via scientific calculations and lab-controlled variations that goes to an extreme level. And via those methods, they had produced a number of outstanding creations that had instantly made its way to the eyes of the auto enthusiasts like the blisteringly-fast F1, and the one that has the 458 Italia for breakfast, the new MP4-12C.
While other major supercar makers like Ferrari and Lamborghini still has the massive V12 engine powering their latest creations like the F12 Berlinetta and the LP700-4 Aventador, McLaren’s Executive Antony Sheriff however, boldly claims that the V12 is now outdated and is something that “belongs in a museum”.
This statement of his is backed up with the path that the latest MP4-12C had undertaken, where by strapping on two turbochargers on the 3.8-liter V8 engine could already produce a high output of power, with only one horsepower short than the F1’s 618 horsepower coming out from the naturally aspirated 6.1-liter V12. The smaller V8 engine also comes with a number of advantages as besides of being much more efficient, it also carries a lesser weight and displacement.
He also added that McLaren might even be considering of going to a V6 as a future path, with again the weight being the main factor of doing so. Surely it is not something out of this world as examples like the NSX or the GT-R shows how amazing a V6 could be, but he stressed that McLaren will never stray from its mid-engine setup.
So it seems that downsizing and steroid-pumping is McLaren’s current pathway, which means that we could ultimately dismiss the F1’s successor in bearing anything close to a V12. Let’s just see how it goes as the successor is expected to make an appearance this September at the Paris Motor Show.
