McLaren P1 LM special sets new Goodwood Festival of Speed road-car record
The ultra-fast, ultra-new, and ultra-rare McLaren P1 LM has set a new record time for a road-legal car to negotiate the world-famous hillclimb at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.
A road-going version of the track-only McLaren P1 GTR, the Lanzante-developed P1 LM reached the top of the 1.86-kilometre-long hillclimb in 47.07 seconds, with 50-year-old Swedish racing driver Kenny Brack at the wheel.
Set during this year’s Festival of Speed Supercar Shootout, the time betters the 49.27 seconds recorded by Nismo driver – and former Nissan GT Academy winner – Jann Mardenborough, in a Nissan GT-R Nismo in 2014.
Intended to pay tribute to the iconic McLaren F1 LM, the 735kW McLaren P1 LM features an identical electrically-assisted twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 hybrid powerplant to the P1 GTR, but is equipped with a road-spec wheel and tyre package, unique front and rear spoilers, and a new exhaust system.
Limited to just six units worldwide, the P1 LM is attached to a price tag of 2.95 million pounds ($5.7 million).
As impressive as the McLaren’s time is, it was later outdone by a heavily modified, purpose-built, time-attack Subaru WRX racer with 641kW. Steered by a very committed Olly Clark, the far-from-road-legal ‘Rex stopped the clock in 46.29 seconds.
And while that may seem stupendously fast enough for a narrow hillclimb, the outright record belongs to German racing driver Nick Heidfeld, who clocked a time of 41.6 seconds in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car back in 1999. Mental.