zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
The McLaren P1 GTR Makes The Beloved McLaren F1 Look Like A Dinosaur
The McLaren P1 GTR Makes The Beloved McLaren F1 Look Like A Dinosaur-May 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:44

McLaren brought both its new P1 GTR and its original F1 road car together to the Geneva Auto Show, and the difference between the two feels like a century apart.

Granted, I love the F1, so this is by no means a slam. It was the world's fastest car when I was in grade school. Everybody wanted the F1. You sat in the middle!

Sure, the F1's classic, clean lines and third grade wall poster fodder aesthetic do a lot more for me looks-wise than the swoopy "we're going to beat you over the head with the overuse of our logo" styling of the P1.

But when they're parked next to each other, you can't help but notice the difference two decades makes.

That 627 hp lovely V12 of the McLaren F1 doesn't even touch the 986 hp of the hybrid P1 GTR. Of course, exacerbating the time warp is the fact that the modern P1 GTR is a track-only car, and all those wonderful curved aerodynamic bits look like they couldn't have come from the era of "Salute Your Shorts," grunge music, and those stupid painful slap bracelets. They're too fluid, like the graceful extensions of a space possum turd from Planet QF3-NG9.

Even the logo on the F1 is straight out of the nineties (in a lovely and delightful way, sure, but it's still a vintage piece of kit by now).

The rump of the P1 GTR, however, is all wild carbon fiber uprights, exhaust and aero. There is no room for a silly name plate.

If you're like me and () brushed aside the P1 as a likely garage queen that will rarely if ever be used to its full potential by real people, the track-only P1 GTR is here to change that for good.

Here's United SportsCar racer, driving coach, and all-around ridiculously quick guy Jason Hart…

Both of these cars look painfully out of their element in the confines of a stuffy, stationary auto show display. These are meant to move, not sit. These objets d'art must run at speed to be appreciated, and that's my biggest beef with auto shows. If you could just send them both to Texas for me to run a few laps in, I could make a proper determination as to which decade I'd rather live in—thanks.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Formula E Gets Grid Girls Spectacularly Wrong
Formula E Gets Grid Girls Spectacularly Wrong
Formula E: Home of the , and, apparently, suspiciously high levels of hypocrisy. After welcoming Formula One “to the 21st century” for , something Formula E claimed to have already done, the series’ CEO basically just said, “Nah, just kidding, we’re keeping them.” Grid girls are an outdated concept that...
May 11, 2026
The Winter Olympics Could Use Some Downhill F1 Car Snow Runs
The Winter Olympics Could Use Some Downhill F1 Car Snow Runs
I’ve never felt that that motorsports really in the Olympics. Motorsports and the Olympics are good enough at being on their own without combining forces, thank you very much. That being said, I’d love to see a Formula One car hoon down the Olympic ski slopes between races, as Red...
May 11, 2026
Reigning NHRA Champion Brittany Force Hospitalized After Huge Crash At Pomona
Reigning NHRA Champion Brittany Force Hospitalized After Huge Crash At Pomona
Current NHRA Top Fuel champion Brittany Force was taken to the hospital after a brutal crash in Sunday’s first round of eliminations at the NHRA Winternationals, reports . Force showed no major injuries beyond bruised lungs, however, she will remain in the hospital overnight for observation. Force’s first weekend back...
May 11, 2026
Please Let The World Rally Championship Race Come To Canada You Hosers
Please Let The World Rally Championship Race Come To Canada You Hosers
Canada isn’t just for chuggling maple syrup on a while pretending to be the God of Snow. It also hosts incredible rallies, including some utterly brutal snow rallies. The only thing missing is the present-day World Rally Championship , and fortunately, the Rally Promoter Association of Canada announced that they...
May 11, 2026
Driver Dies After Roebling Road Raceway Track Day Crash
Driver Dies After Roebling Road Raceway Track Day Crash
A driver at a Porsche Club of America high performance driver’s education event at Roebling Road Raceway died Saturday after crashing just before the first turn, reports the . His instructor was also seriously injured in the crash. Driver Robert Charles Wilson, 70, was running a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera...
May 11, 2026
Here's What The Ferrari And Mercedes F1 Cars Will Sound Like This Year
Here's What The Ferrari And Mercedes F1 Cars Will Sound Like This Year
It isn’t 2021 and therefore Formula One’s rules for louder and cheaper engines aren’t in effect yet (because F1 is silly and four years in advance), but the engines are still decently loud up close. Here’s what the series-dominating Ferrari and Mercedes F1 engines will sound like this year. Ferrari...
May 11, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved