The McLaren Speedtail is like a private jet for the road

Ladies and gentlemen CarFection have sent me to show you something very special. It's one of the fastest production cars ever. One of the most interesting pieces of automotive design ever and certainly one of the most expensive and exclusive ever. This is the McLaren Speedtail [MUSIC] Wow. I'll give you a second to soak it all up, catch your breath, and while you do that, I'll try and put this I some kind of context for you. So the speed sale is basically the second chapter in the McLaren Ultimate Series. It's the cousin of the McLaren Center. If the Senna is essentially a road-legal racing car with an almost single-minded focus for attacking corners, then the Speedtail has a slightly different brief. Its mission is basically to go as fast as possible in a straight line, and in luxury. Let's talk number because there are very interesting numbers surrounding this car. First of all the price, 1.7 million pounds, ouch. Then the number of units that will make, 106. And that's exactly the same number as they made of McLaren F1. Power, 1000 BHP. Top speed, 250 miles per hour. You see where they're going with this thing. And then there's my favorite number of all which is acceleration. Now, when we talk about a fast car, we normally talk about nought to 100 kph or nought to 62. If we talk about a really, really fast car, we sometimes talk about nought to 200 kph but the speed tell Is neither of those things. This is an obscenely fast car. So we're gonna talk about the zero to 300 kph sign and to do that I've got a little demonstration. So, listen carefully to this. Right, stopwatch. The McLaren Speedtail, the latest edition to the company's ultimate series of hypercars. Will accelerate from a standstill to 300 km/h in a staggering 12.8 seconds. Bang. So between those two button presses, this car will have gone from doing nothing to doing nearly 200 miles per hour. That's astonishing How does that compare with its rivals? Well, a Bugatti Chiron would need about a second longer to reach the same benchmark. A McLaren Senna would need four seconds longer. A McLaren 720S, an astonishingly fast car would need seven seconds more to reach 300 KPH If the numbers are true, and I have no reason to doubt McLaren, then this would hold the world record for the fastest accelerating car from nothing to 186 miles per hour. As impressive as that is, there's another reason that this car's legacy might be cemented in history, and that is We'll have a look behind these powered [UNKNOWN] doors. [MUSIC] In a clear nod to the classic McLaren F1, the Speedtail is actually a three seater which means there's no other production car quite like it. If you want to travel at 250 miles per hour with multiple passengers, then your choice is either a Speedtail or a private jet. Now we'll talk about the interior in a little bit more detail in just a moment. But I want to discuss a few more things to do with the exterior, because to me that's where this car is most interesting. There are a lot of questions to answer about how this car achieves its stunning performance. And the short answer is of course a combination of extreme power Low weight, about 1,430 kilos and of course, aero. Very, very clever aero. The speed tail was designed to mimic the fastest shape in nature. Apparently that's a teardrop. I always thought the fastest shape in nature was you saying bolt or piano falling from the sky. But apparently not, you learn something new everyday. And if you view the Speedtail from above, that's exactly what it looks like. Bulbous at the front, a long, slender body tapering off for a quite slender rear. If we take a closer look at the front of the Speedtail, we'll notice that it has a slightly different design to what you might find in most type of cars. Here it's designed to have a very smooth initial contact with the air. there are no big, angry vents. Cast your mind back to the McLaren 720S, for example, with its enormous eye socket headlights, where they force as much air as possible into the front of the car. The concept here is slightly different. Look at this. These [UNKNOWN] LEDs. They have a very slender duct just behind them. And these are designed to reduce the amount of drag at the front of the car while also channeling a little bit of air into the low temperature radiators. Any air that doesn't find its way through these ducts is then channeled up through this pair of [UNKNOWN] intakes. Then directed around the wheel arch and exits via the low door vents. These are all pretty standard concepts, we've seen that kind of thing before on modern McLaren's. One thing we haven't seen before are these front wheel covers. That's right, McLaren are bringing back hubs. But only on the front of the car, and of course, these aren't your standard hubs from Halford's. These are made of carbon fiber, and they're obviously in place to minimize the disruption of air along the side of the car. These actually don't rotate. The wheels spin, but these stay in place in order to control the flow of air along the profile of the vehicle. Not quite sure how I feel about that. But they might at least protect the car from curbing when you do the school run. Also, in case you're wondering where the wing mirrors are, there aren't any. Who would have thought that having big, massive wing mirrors might be a little bit problematic when you're approaching 250 miles an hour. Instead, McLaren has these. Powered retractable high-definition cameras which give you a view of the road as you're going ahead. These are much more slippery through the air and help with aerodynamics massively. Inside the car on either side are two screens to give you that view of the road. Incidentally, this car has what's called a velocity mode, so if you have a spare 12.8 seconds and fancy doing a zero to 300 run Then that'll do three things. First of all, it will drop the car by 35 millimeters, then it will raise the engine RPM to charge the battery as quick as possible. And then it will actually pop these high definition cameras back in to make the car a little bit more slippery. The further back you go, the more interesting this car seems to get. Under the engine cover is, well I have no idea because McLaren isn't telling us anything other than this is a hybrid power train. All we know is that it's got a total output of 1,000 horsepower and that it's very very fast. Which begs the question, what happens when this car encounters a corner? Hopefully nothing to dramatic, and that's because despite the lack of a enormous rear wing, there should be enough of a down force with the speed tail. If you look down here, the rear diffuser has quite a simplistic design, unlike some of the more intricate looks you get on this cars rivals. But, you have a closer look at the rear deck. Look at this. Integrated adjustable ailerons. I told you this car has a lot in common with a private jet. Now, a quick word on practicality. I know it doesn't look like it but the Speedtail does actually have a decent amount of storage. If we open this Rear flap, what you'll find is a set of bespoke McLaren luggage. Now, obviously, that won't come with the car as standard. McLaren will relieve you of several thousand pounds, I'm sure, for the privilege. Speaking of practicality, it's quite a long car though, so About 17 feet long in fact, so if you are thinking of visiting your local super market to do your weekly shop, then you might want to use two spaces instead of one. [MUSIC] Yes. [SOUND] Now, this is special. I know it's not moving, but how often do you get to slide inside a 1.75 million pound hyper GT car? [MUSIC] Just like the McLaren F1 it has three seats. The driver's seat is at the front in the center with the passengers seats positioned slightly behind the driver. One on either side. Before I get in actually I want to point out something to you this seat has a directional finish. Which McLaren say helps you when you slide into the car We'll see if that works. [BLANK_AUDIO] Yep, actually did. No way or how I'd have managed that without that, but yeah, all that McLauren. Inside the speed tail, it's quite literally luxurious from floor to ceiling, so let's start with the floor. Because there are no mats inside this car. Instead McLaren has opted to line the floor in the finest possible leather. As you can see this runs in a single, continuous piece, covering the under seat storage. So yeah, even the bits of the car that you'll never touch, that you might not even know are there, you might never see Are covered in the finest possible materials. The dashboard is almost completely devoid of buttons. Instead, it's littered in screens, touchscreens and displays giving you lots of information and access to all your entertainment features. The steering wheel is interesting in its own right as well. Again, there are no physical buttons here, nothing to distract you from the road ahead. What it does have is a very interesting treatment to the carbon fiber. So it's milled slightly to remove the upper-surface. And what that reveals is a shimmering, almost water-like design that's actually really pleasant to look at. On the ceiling, is where you find all the physical buttons. So that's where you locate the engine start button, activate the velocity mode, wind your winds up and down and of course, select drive, neutral or reverse. All in all, the Speedtail is a stunning, stunning piece of design and it's one that if it lives up to its own promises Might go down in history as of the icons of our particular time and I for one, can't wait to drive it. In fact, while no one's watching. [MUSIC] [SOUND] Yes.