Mc Laren MP4-12C with impressive 600nm of torque

[EspenW]

Road tests are starting to pop up by Car&Driver, Autocar, AutoZeitung, etc. Looks like an amazing car with 1/4 mile in 10.7s @134mph and 100-200kmh in 5.7s.

From a review:

"The 12C’s 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 engine was developed jointly by McLaren and Worthing-based Riccardo Engineering, and it develops a thumping 592bhp at 7000rpm and an arguably even more impressive 442lb ft "

Is 442lbft (600nm) actually "arguably more impressive" than 592bhp from a 3.8L twin turbo V8?
Not sure of we are just spoiled, or if it really doesn't take that much to impress (often surprisingly technically illiterate) auto journalists these days

Shall be interesting to see dyno tests of this thing, I got a feeling that it is somewhat underrated by McLaren.

[prj]

lol "impressive 600nm"
All it takes is a 2.2T with 1.9 bar boost.

[quattro84]

It has a twin MHI turbo, don't think there is much margin air-wise.

[AndyP]

How long before one of the chip tuning companies gets hold of one and turns up, the no doubt very conservative, boost:mischeif:

[europeanme]

I've worked on the GT3 versions bodywork....

[Sonic]

You see cars with "a 3.8-litre v8, with an AMAZING 600Nm torque" come out all the time, and in the back of your brain somewhere you think "hah, my s2 can do that, and it's only a 2.2"...

But, fundamentally, an engine with almost twice the displacement, twice as many turbo's, and with technology 20 years newer is going to be far far quicker than our s2/rs2s.

[Error404]

its going to be setup for silky smooth power delivery, not whopping midrange torque. Its an MR supercar they have tried to make it easy to drive not a widowmaker.
Agreed thought that the journalists clearly don't have a clue :corey:

[HPmuirt]

lol "impressive 600nm"
All it takes is a 2.2T with 1.9 bar boost.

Mine makes 577nm and I have a stock ABY exhaust so 600nm doesn't sound that great - that said, 600 ponies does sound good

Cheers n

Si

[EspenW]

You see cars with "a 3.8-litre v8, with an AMAZING 600Nm torque" come out all the time, and in the back of your brain somewhere you think "hah, my s2 can do that, and it's only a 2.2"...

But, fundamentally, an engine with almost twice the displacement, twice as many turbo's, and with technology 20 years newer is going to be far far quicker than our s2/rs2s.

Yep, far far quicker than a stock S2/RS2, but relatively simple mods and good old fashioned massive boost and the right fuel will shorten the gap considerably. I checked the in-gear data from the Autocar test and from a 3rd gear 60mph roll, my blue family car will stay ahead until 90mph, and will only be 0.18s behind at 100mph.
What makes the Mac super quick especially from a standing start is the combination of dual clutch gearbox, pretty short gear ratios, launch control and relatively low weight. Dual clutch box is a huge advantage on a boosted car as there is virtually no loss of boost during gear changes. On a high boosting manual tranny car, there is an enormous amount of time wasted before the car is back to full boost in the next gear.