McLaren Solus GT: the supercar you were dreaming of is already a reality

Yes, the McLaren Solus GT is already a reality. It has just been unveiled at the Monterey Car Week, and the 25 units to be built and delivered to customers in 2023 already have names attached. This is no surprise: we are probably looking at one of the most impressive supercars of recent years. The 25 future owners have been involved from the very start of the car’s development process, with personalised, individual presentations.

McLaren has thus brought to production a track-focused sports car that fans of one of the most popular car video games in history, Gran Turismo SPORT, first knew as a futuristic prototype. And now, when you see images of the real car, it still feels at first like a video game car. Its eye-catching design could not be more faithful to the virtual prototype.

Aerodynamic downforce greater than its own weight

To say that the McLaren Solus GT is the closest thing to a bodied Formula 1 single-seater is no exaggeration. In fact, McLaren’s idea with this car is precisely to offer its customers a vehicle with which they can feel sensations similar to those offered by a car from the top category.

In the Solus GT, the driver, and the vehicle’s sole occupant, enters the cockpit as they would the cabin of a fighter jet: there are no doors, only a sliding canopy. More similarities with a Formula 1 car: the seat position, custom-designed for each owner — who also receives a homologated racing suit and a helmet with HANS — is fixed, with the pedal box adjustable remotely. The steering wheel is also very close to those used in F1 single-seaters, with all the controls and an integrated display.

The wheels are fully enclosed. Between the twin rear wing and a carefully engineered ground effect, the maximum aerodynamic downforce the McLaren Solus GT can generate is 1,200 kg… far greater than its own weight, which comes to just 1,000 kg. To achieve this, McLaren remains faithful to the carbon fibre monocoque it has used in all its new cars since 1981, but adds competition technologies here such as 3D-printed titanium components, or a design in which the engine itself forms part of the chassis.

Naturally aspirated V10 engine with 840 CV

One of the most surprising things about a car as futuristic as this is that it relies on a very conventional propulsion system, if we think of the new generation of supercars with hybrid or electric powertrains. In the Solus GT there is none of this: power reaches the wheels from a naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 capable of revving beyond 10,000 rpm, which delivers 840 CV and produces a maximum torque of 650 Nm.

The seven-speed sequential gearbox, originally designed for use in LMP prototypes, features straight-cut gears, an aluminium casing with magnesium panels, and is operated by a fully automated carbon-fibre clutch. McLaren claims an acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, and a top speed of over 320 km/h.

Designed for track driving, for the first time at McLaren the solution of a stressed engine, integrated into the chassis structure is applied. The suspension of the Solus GT, with a configuration similar to that of a F1 single-seater, uses four-way dampers that are manually adjustable, with anti-roll bars and springs that are also adjustable.

The 18-inch wheels with a central lock are forged aluminium and fitted with tyres of the same specification as the prototypes that race at Le Mans, with a choice of slick or wet compounds. As could only be expected on a car like this, the distribution of the powerful brakes, with 6-piston monobloc calipers, can also be adjusted from the cockpit.

McLaren Solus GT – Image gallery

Related information of interest

• BMW and McLaren could be working on an electric supercar
• McLaren could be working on an SUV