Few supercar manufacturers have a greater legacy than McLaren, so when it announced it would return to building road-legal production cars from 2011 it came with great expectations. The car McLaren would relaunch with was the MP4-12C, a supercar that was as ambitious as it was technologically advanced, a symbol of the perfectionist nature of both the brand and its leader at the time, Ron Dennis. In this week’s gallery, we’re going back to that original MP4-12C to drink in some of the details that stunned us then as they still do now.
In period, the McLaren MP4-12C had one major hurdle to overcome in order to reach the top of its field. Its key Italian rival both on the road and racetrack, Ferrari, had just unveiled its new generation superstar the 458 Italia. On paper, the 458’s naturally aspirated engine wasn’t as potent, its aluminium construction not as advanced and its performance not as electrifying, but the on-road reality was quite different.
The Ferrari was a revelation, an experience that turned everything we loved about mid-engined V8 Ferraris hyperactive, introducing the super fast steering rack that now defines modern Ferraris, so too the incredible dual-clutch transmission and its near perfect body control on account of its then groundbreaking magnetic dampers.
Yet the MP4-12C took a very different approach. Its engine was also a V8 and came with a flat-plane crank, but it was turbocharged giving the McLaren substantially more performance in the low-to-mid rpm range. It went a step further than just adding clever dampers, but completely reimagined the notion of supercar suspension design, creating a hydraulically cross-linked system that did away with both coil springs and traditional anti-roll bars. It meant that for the first time in a modern supercar, the suspension was truly independent, giving the wheels incredible reach into the tarmac, while also rivalling the suppleness of the best luxury cars on sale.
But this new way of thinking about performance car design wasn’t just reserved for the technical. McLaren had also revolutionised the driving environment, with a peerless driving position, superb visibility, a pared-back steering wheel and cabin environment that put driving at the centre. From its very inception, the MP4-12C was thought about differently, and while it took a few years for some of its attributes to mature fully, 11 years and two eCoty wins later, the risks look to have paid off.
Yet in 2022, McLaren finds itself at a crossroads. The brand needs to evolve to survive, and while supercars will always be a core part of its identity, a new leadership team is on hand to secure its future as we move into a more uncertain era. The new CEO Michael Leiters has plenty of experience turning sports and supercar manufacturers into much larger and much more profitable entities. So while some may fret about the future of McLaren and its supercars, we can only wonder what innovative thinking might come to define the models it creates over the next decades.
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Car pictures of the week: archive
Below are some of our favourite images from previous editions of evo car pictures of the week. Click on the pictures for the full galleries.
Gallery 1
Click below to see all the images of our first car pictures of the week gallery, here featuring the indomitable Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, mk1 Volkswagen Golf GTI, Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 and the stunning Porsche 911 re-imagined by Singer.
Gallery 2
Here we dig further back into the evo archives where we pull out some iconic images of the Ford GT slightly out of context in the European Alps, a TVR Sagaris in central London, the Audi RS2 as well as one of our most iconic twin tests between the Ferrari 599 GTO and Lexus LF-A.
Gallery 3
The previous-generation Bentley Continental GT seemed to get better with age, a notion mirrored by the Jaguar E-type when in modern ‘lightweight’ form. Both of these British icons, as well as the Aston Martin Vantage GT12 feature in gallery three.
Gallery 4
Fans might have cried fowl when Ferrari decided to turbocharge the Ferrari 488, but it’s not like Ferrari don’t have a history with turbocharged V8 engines. Here the 488 co-stars alongside the stunning F40, while elsewhere in this gallery we take a Porsche Cayman GTS to Japan for a stunning mountain blast.
Gallery 5
Italian twelve-cylinder supercars seem to be the main agenda in the fourth evo car pictures of the week gallery, here featuring four V12 Lambos and the stunning 599 SA Aperta limited edition alongside its 550 Barchetta predecessor.
Gallery 6
GT3s and GT-Rs are just the beginning for gallery number six, with the Noble M600, Aston Martin One-77 and a couple of McLaren flagships filling out our most amazing gallery yet.
Gallery 7
A gallery of new and old, here the McLaren 720S cemented its place as a truly great supercar alongside a daring night shoot with an Audi R8 LMX, pitch a Nissan GT-R and Audi Quattro against each other on Welsh mountain roads and drive the original ‘Hakosuka’ GT-R.
Gallery 8
Ford‘s RS200 in a moody dark garage is just one of many amazing shoots in our 8th gallery, click on the image for the full gallery
Gallery 9
Click on the image below for our ninth car pictures of the week gallery, including this hardcore lot!
Gallery 10
Our tenth gallery turned it up another notch, including the wettest shoot in history (apparently).
Gallery 11
The best hardcore Ferrari supercars and more feature in our 11th car pictures of the week gallery.