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McLaren Speedtail testing wraps with 403km/h run

The 2020 McLaren Speedtail is ready for production, having topped 400km/h at the Kennedy Space Centre in its final test.


The production-ready 'Hyper-GT' hit 403km/h with Kenny Brack, chief McLaren test driver, behind the wheel.

It wasn't a one-and-done effort, either. McLaren says the Speedtail hit its top speed more than 30 times on the space shuttle landing runway in Florida.

Power in the car comes from a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain delivering 772kW to the rear wheels, good for a 300km/h sprint time of just 12.8 seconds.

Although that prodigious powertrain is part of the equation, clever aerodynamics are at the core of this car's performance. The body is made entirely of carbon-fibre (dry weight is 1430kg) and measures 5137mm long, with a teardrop shape when viewed from above.

It's actually skinnier than a P1, too.

There are almost no cutlines to disrupt the airflow, with a huge one-piece clamshell covering the rear end.

McLaren hasn't bothered with mirrors, instead opting for pop-out cameras that hide away when the car is switched off, and the front wheels are finished with (very cool) carbon-fibre aero covers.

"It’s fitting that the Speedtail’s high-speed test programme concluded with multiple maximum-speed runs at a location strongly associated with pushing the boundaries of extreme performance and engineering excellence,” said McLaren Automotive CEO, Mike Flewitt.

"The Speedtail is a truly extraordinary car that epitomises McLaren’s pioneering spirit and perfectly illustrates our determination to continue to set new benchmarks for supercar and hypercar performance.”

Just 106 examples of the Speedtail will be built as a nod to the legendary McLaren F1, and they're all sold.

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