McLaren Claims MP4-12C Hits 60 MPH in Less Than Three Seconds

Colum Wood
by Colum Wood

After officially revealing its MP4-12C exotic several months back, McLaren Automotive has now announced estimated performance numbers and they’re as shockingly amazing as the rest of the car. The British sports car maker and Formula 1 team claims a 0-60 mph time of less than 3.0 seconds. The elapsed time to 124-mph (200 km/h) is set at under 10 seconds.

How does the car achieve such an astonishingly low time. Well, its a combination of light weight and horsepower. McLaren has already released that the MP4-12C’s twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 makes 600-hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque and will come with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. No curb weight numbers are yet available, but a dry weight (without fluids) is set at 2,860 lbs – meaning it should still only to out at 3,200 lbs total. Much of this has to do with the car’s ultra-light carbon monocoque chassis.

In terms of acceleration, the MP4-12C (according to McLaren, of course) is faster than the Corvette ZR1, Ferrari F430 Scuderia and Porsche GT2.

But how does it handle? See after the jump for video of McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button driving the MP4-12C on the track.

Watch out Ferrari.

[Source: Car & Driver]

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Colum Wood
Colum Wood

With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.

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