The second coming. Originally called the MP4-12C and later dropping the prefix to become simply the 12C, McLaren’s first road car since the F1 was revealed in 2009 and entered production in 2011 as McLaren’s first wholly designed and built car. The car is based around a carbon fiber composite chassis and the McLaren M838T engine. Developed in-house, the engine is a flat-plane crank design twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 that made 592 horsepower at 7,500 rpm. Essentially, it’s based on an IndyCar race car engine designed by Tom Walkinshaw Racing but never saw competition.
In independent testing, the 12C has hit 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, but the race car technology didn’t end with the engine. It introduced brake steer to road cars, where the inside rear wheel brakes slightly during fast cornering to reduce understeer. The most significant difference compared to other supercars of the time was its computer and valve-controlled hydraulic suspension in place of a typical system using coil springs, dampers, and anti-roll bars. The 12C was designed with a convertible version in mind, and the retractable hardtop Spyder version is shown below.
