Production-spec McLaren P1 GTR wears legendary Le Mans livery

Last summer, McLaren previewed the 1,000HP, track-only McLaren P1 GTR in Monterey. Now, the production version has officially been revealed, wearing the ‘Harrods’ livery made famous by its predecessor at Le Mans…

Celebrating the F1’s 20th anniversary – and that Le Mans win

The scheme applied to the production-spec P1 GTR harks back to that of F1 GTR chassis #06R, one of five McLarens to complete the manufacturer’s historic rout on its Le Mans debut two decades ago. Also revealed are details surrounding the P1 GTR Driver Programme: an initial test at Silverstone will be followed by the first on-track activity at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, once the driver has undergone a number of ‘tailored consultations’, including seat fitting and livery selection.

During the development process, the McLaren has managed to give the GTR 10% more downforce in comparison to the P1 road car, along with a weight reduction of 50kg to complement the boost in power. The track-only machine will debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show in March, where it will join the P1 road car in McLaren’s ‘Ultimate Series’. Also at Geneva will be the latest product from the mid-level ‘Super Series’, the 675 LT, while the entry-level ‘Sports Series’ will debut at April’s New York Auto Show.

Photos: McLaren

You can find modern and classic McLarens for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

RANGE ROVER SPORT HAULS AIRSTREAM CARAVAN TO ARCTIC

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Make way please. High speed glampers coming through.

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By: Theo Ford-Sagers via http://www.lro.com/

To show off the towing capability of the hybrid Range Rover Sport, Land Rover recently teamed up with Airstream, purveyor of the luxurious ‘silver bullet’ caravans, for an epic Scandinavian voyage.

This is just what happens when the Sport goes into hybrid mode.

Destination: Arjeplog, Sweden (where Land Rover oeprates a cold-weather testing facility) then on to the Arctic Circle.

As luck would have it, the Scandinavian weather was atrocious, so the hybrid Sport and its 2.5-tonne trailer encountered abnormally icy roads, Arctic gales and record snow depths on its 2500-mile adventure. ‘We were closely watching the long range weather forecasts before we set off but nothing prepared us for how bad it got,’ says team Ben Samuelson.

Girding of loins… and a luxury caravan

The team set off from Land Rover’s Design and Engineering Centre at Gaydon, and drove to Airstream’s HQ in Germany to pick up their flagship Airstream 684 caravan, which had been specially winterised for the journey.

Described as ‘8.25m of boutique hotel suite on wheels, with two double beds, satellite television and Corian surfaces in both its fully-equipped kitchen and spacious bathroom’ that caravan is quite a beast.

The right tools for the job

En route, the team crossed the five-mile long Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden in the teeth of a Hurricane - a good opportunity to test the Range Rover Sport’s 'Trailer Stability Assist', which can brake the car’s wheels individually to counteract sway, preventing catastrophe.

Further north, temperatures fell as low as to -22 degrees centigrade, putting the Range Rover Sport through its paces as it pulled the Airstream along steep icy roads and forest tracks.

 Phil Talboys, who manages the Arjeplog test facility, commented afterwards: ‘This journey just goes to show that the Range Rover Sport Hybrid is pure hybrid – with all the capability and versatility that you’d expect from a Land Rover.’

Find out more about the Hybrid Range Rover Sport

Check out the final page of LRO’s current April issue, where Editor Mike Goodbun sets a hybrid Range Rover Sport against our Real World Test. In fact, it's the very same Range Rover Sport!

Feeling flush and want a Range Rover Sport for your own? Click here to browse some for sale on LRO.com

Is it a bird? Is it a fish? No, it’s the one-off Pininfarina X

Over the years, countless vehicles have drawn inspiration from nature – but while this Pininfarina concept might look like the automotive equivalent of a blowfish, it’s actually inspired by another of Mother Nature’s phenomena: advanced aerodynamics…

This is probably one of the weirdest cars you’ve ever seen; it will also be one of the most aerodynamically efficient. In 1960, the newly rebranded Pininfarina (formerly Pinin Farina) was looking to modernise other aspects of the business, with one potential path leading towards a horizon of aerodynamic excellence. The Cambianese coachbuilder thus called on a wind-wizard professor from Turin Polytechnic, asking him to apply his knowledge from other aero-intensive fields to a practical, low-drag family saloon.

Diamonds are for leather

The result was the Pininfarina X, whose refreshingly uncomplicated moniker referenced the diamond-drivetrain layout the professor believed necessary to achieve the teardrop shape. In essence, it was a Fiat 1100-engined motorcycle with stabilisers and a saloon body: the front wheel steered, the rear wheel drove, and the remaining pair served as outriggers. Oh, and those fins? Their purpose was not to jump on the bandwagon of symbolic extravagance, but rather to counterbalance the destabilisation that was a by-product of the slippery shape.

Ultimately, the X’s drag co-efficient reading was a mere 0.20Cd – not only bettering the legendary Tatra T77a and pretty much every production car made since, but also its successor, the ‘Y’ concept. Laugh at its appearance all you want, but the Pininfarina X has nothing left to prove as a pioneer of aerodynamics.

Photos: Barrett-Jackson

The 1960 Pininfarina X concept seen here is currently being offered for sale through Missouri-based dealer Hyman Ltd.

Icon 1000 Suzuki "New Jack" Katana Custom

The 1982 Suzuki Katana was a machine before her time, a Nippon-Saxon gamble on starship styling to jumpstart Suzuki’s dour offerings.

Thirty years on, she’s the darling of the ball, but in ’82 few were interested in dancing with the silver dame. The New Jack is ICON 1000’s reimagination of what could have been.