Forget The Supercar Power War: It's Now About Weight, Says McLaren
The power war in supercars is ending, according to the maker of a 710bhp runabout and a 789bhp road-legal race car.
McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt made the comments at a meeting of the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders yesterday, and added that a ‘weight war’ is coming instead. We’re fine with that: lighter cars are more fun, more of the time.
Lighter materials will be key to advancing both performance and efficiency, said Flewitt, noting that McLaren has been working quite hard on that area lately. The Senna, for example, features front wings that weigh just 600g each (vs 2kg on a 720S) and carbon seats that tip the scales at only 3.35kg each.
McLaren’s focus on new carbonfibre manufacturing techniques is said to be aimed not just at its own cars, but at others. The firm is opening a new Composites Technology Centre and low-volume car makers around the world could potentially be able to buy materials to help them meet their own weight and efficiency targets.
With the diminishing returns associated with R&D spend on combustion engines, lowering weight is becoming an easier and more effective route.
Speaking to the assembled industry delegates yesterday, Flewitt said:
“We now have a fantastic opportunity for the U.K. to be at the very forefront of a new automotive ‘weight race’ that can help achieve increasingly tough environmental targets.
“While McLaren has a long history in using lightweight materials to boost vehicle performance, it’s something we are also heavily investing in as part of our future with the opening later this year of the brand-new McLaren Composites Technology Centre in Yorkshire.
“It will lead to innovations in the technology going into our cars and not only provide a significant boost to that region, to jobs and the supply chain but also to the U.K.’s reputation for innovation.”
Comments
Sell cars to keep racing
I agree
Yes lighweight car mean good fuel economy
OHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOY
Finally someone who gets it, why have 1500bhp and 1bhp per kg, when you could have 1000bhp 1.3bhp per kg? ain’t nobody got time for resistance! Lighten up!
less weight=less grip at low speeds where aerodynamics have less impact=less real world traction
I’m completely down for this!
Exactly, I want a car that I can bench…. So that means 150kg…(no I do not even lift bro) There’s your benchmark and Go!
You can already bench anything peel has ever built
There really doesn’t seem to be a huge disadvantage to this new weight savings thing…the only thing I can imagine will be price increase, because I’m sure putting tons of carbon fiber and all that good stuff isn’t exactly going to be cheap!
Classic Mini fans approve of this way :D
Finally the car world understands. For years I’ve heard car reviewers say this and that car has more power so it must be faster. This has always annoyed the heck out of me. The Bugatti’s are the worst examples of this. Weigh more than the average house, but have a lot of power to impress people. What this world needs is small, light fun cars. It’s even environmentally friendly! I mean almost all cars were like that in the 80’s.
Bugattis are grand tourers, of course they’re heavy.
But yes, we do need more light, fun cars.