Now before I start, I want to set something straight, the P1 wasn’t the successor to the F1. That’s the Speedtail, which is a story for another day. The P1, well that was a whole new thing.

The early 2010s was a renaissance period for McLaren, being reborn with separate racing and road divisions that would take the company in a new direction. Their first full road car since the F1, the MP4-12C had been unveiled and gave the likes of Ferrari and their 458 a bloody nose. But McLaren needed more than just a supercar, they needed a hypercar, something to show the world just what they could do.

The P1s brief was “to be the best driver’s car in the world on road and track”. See? told you this wasn’t an F1 successor, it needed to be master of BOTH road and track. Breaking away from the F1 lineage gave McLaren the freedom to throw the kitchen sink at their new top dog, but just like the F1 it would borrow heavily from McLaren’s F1 expertise. IPAS, DRS, RCC, Monocage, Brake Steer, E-Mode it’s a spec sheet that reads like the owner's manual for the Millennium Falcon. McLaren wasn’t so much as flexing their technical capabilities but instead building a car the world hadn’t seen before.

The engine was the craziest part of the P1. Re-engineering the M838T engine found in the MP4-12C resulted in 727bhp. But why stop there? McLaren went a step further and integrated an electric motor, churning out 176bhp. Add those numbers together and you’re starting to see why this engine is so mad. But it wasn’t just about raw power, it’s how it makes power. 2.4 bar of boost takes a lot of air, the 3.8-litre engine was up to the job but there would inevitably be some lag.

That’s where the motor comes in, quite literally. That motor provided torque fill, essentially plugging the gaps until the turbos joined the party. Performance was mind-boggling, 0-62mph in sub three seconds, 0-124mph in under seven seconds and 0-186mph in less than 17 seconds. It was a powertrain that delivered unrivalled performance and yet also had stealth capabilities, its E-Mode enabling you to drive a short distance on pure electric, perfect for sneaking out of your neighbourhood for an early Sunday morning drive.

The P1’s chassis borrowed more from the MP4-12C, still using a