What's all this about?
Oh, just the McLaren BP23, another McLaren Ultimate Series model announced at the Geneva Motor Show by CEO Mike Flewitt.
Right, so you're talking about another derivation of the Senna?
Oh goodness, no. The car McLaren is talking about now will make a Senna GTR or Senna Carbon Theme look like they're bargains.
BP23? That doesn't sound very special...
No, it doesn’t, but that is merely its code name. Eventually, it will have a name - like the Senna - and not an alphanumeric tag - like a 'Sports Series' 570S or a 'Super Series' 720S - because BP23 will sit in the Ultimate Series canon, with the aforementioned named-after-a-Brazilian-F1-legend machine and also the almighty P1.
All right, so what's the big deal with the BP23?
How about this: it will be faster, flat out, than the quickest, most legendary McLaren road car of all - the mighty F1 of the 1990s.
You what?! REALLY?
Oh yes indeed. BP23 is slated to do in excess of the 243mph the F1 was capable of and, not only that, but it's a petrol-electric hybrid like the P1. McLaren says it will also be the most luxurious McLaren ever sold, as well as the quickest, so the marque is referring to BP23 as a 'Hyper-GT'. And it'll have a three-seat cabin layout, the driver sitting centrally. Know what that's similar to? Yes, that's right - the F1 had much the same arrangement.
Crikey, I'm very interested now! How much and where do I sign?
Well, the price for each of the mere 106 examples that are going to be built is £1.6million plus taxes. But even if you've got that sort of colossal money burning a hole in your extremely capacious pockets, you can't have one. All 106 were allocated to buyers before the car was even first officially announced in November 2016. And those 106 lucky so-and-sos will see their new toy at a private reveal towards the end of this year, ahead of the BP23's full public debut shortly thereafter. We'll also get confirmation of the production version's name and its confirmed top speed, closer to these twin displays of this exciting new Ultimate Series creation. Oh, and finally: each example of the BP23's build run will be bespoke-personalised to each owner's taste by McLaren Special Operations, making it highly unlikely that two of them will look the same.
Matt Robinson - 9 Mar 2018
