McLAREN P1™ VS THE NÜRBURGRING: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

• The McLaren P1™ achieves its one remaining performance target
• An average speed in excess of 178 km/h (111 mph) necessary to achieve the required lap time around the 20.8km (13 mile) circuit

50 years since New Zealand racing driver Bruce McLaren founded his eponymous race team, McLaren has entered a new chapter in technological excellence with the launch of the McLaren P1™. Having put the car through tests in some of the harshest conditions on earth and with obsessive focus on perfection, one final developmental objective for this next generation in high performance sports cars remained; the Nordschleife, the infamously challenging ‘northern loop’ of the Nürburgring in Germany. A film crew followed the action by air and the stunning footage is now available in the video above.

The McLaren P1™ is the most technologically advanced car ever produced in the UK and is the result of 50 years of race-winning success and technical expertise, from the most successful name in global motorsport.

At the launch of the McLaren P1™ at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, McLaren stated that with all the skill and dedication put into this vehicle there was no doubt that the car would complete a lap of the Nordschleife in under seven minutes. No mean feat for a stripped out racing car, let alone a road-legal production car.

The Nordschleife, one of the most revered motor racing circuits in the world lies to the south of Cologne, Germany and forms part of the infamous Nŭrburgring circuit. It is widely known to be the most demanding and difficult racing circuit in history, too challenging for Formula 1™ and with some of the most notorious corners in racing, it is the ultimate test in ability for any car. Three time Formula 1™ world champion Jackie Stewart named the Nordschleife ‘The Green Hell’ due to the daunting challenge given the amount of turns and sheer elevation of this track.

McLaren Chief Test Driver, Chris Goodwin, who put the car through its paces during the development programme at the circuit says ‘The track is like the rollercoaster from hell’.

Unveiled initially as a design study at the 2012 Paris Auto Show, the McLaren P1™ is priced at £866,000 with just 375 cars to be produced, built by hand in Woking, and all sold less than two months after the car went on sale. Previous supercars launched by McLaren include the McLaren F1, now over 20 years old but still widely considered to be one of the greatest supercars of all time. In addition, following the company’s global launch in 2010, McLaren Automotive launched the groundbreaking 12C and 12C Spider.

To try and capture the intensity of the challenge and the sheer beauty of this groundbreaking car being pushed to its limits, creative agency VCCP joined McLaren on this project to create a dynamic film to celebrate the new McLaren P1™ joining the exclusive sub-seven minute club, the one remaining performance target set by McLaren for this remarkable vehicle.

Dan Gifford, the film’s director has received critical acclaim for over 100 commercials. In 2011 he collected two Silver Sharks at Kinsale and the Grand Prix for Best Film at the Eurobest Awards and has also won a silver Lion at Cannes 2012.

The soundtrack to the film is a mixture of the haunting tones of ‘Dem Worlds’, sung by artist Emika who is an English electronic musician of Czech origin and laid over with the notes of the McLaren P1™ bringing an ethereal quality, bridging the power, beauty and rawness of the moment.

This film is a testament to all those at McLaren who pushed the boundaries to develop a car with one clear goal: to be the best driver’s car on road and track.

- See more at: http://www.media.mclarenautomotive.com/release/234/#sthash.HLPtxfOZ.dpuf