2012 McLaren MP4-12C: Engineering Gone Wild - Ignition Episode 8
On this episode of Ignition
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00:00 This week on Ignition, we find out what supercar engineers dream about.
00:25 Much hangs on the McLaren name. It, after all, once adorned a car that, in its day,
00:30 was the fastest in the world. McLaren's no longer chasing that goal because, let's
00:35 face it, what's the point in challenging the Bugatti Veyron? Instead, they've focused
00:39 on creating one of the best-driving and most technologically advanced supercars money can
00:44 buy. The result is a car with a 7-speed twin-clutch transmission and a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8
00:52 that develops almost 600 horsepower. The result is a car with a passenger tub made out of
00:57 carbon fiber. The result is the MP4-12C.
01:01 Now, for a supercar, it seems to commit a cardinal sin. It's not the most exciting
01:08 looking car out there, but underneath that sheet metal, it's the Sistine Chapel. You
01:15 see, the 12C is the work of a dedicated engineering team, giving free reign over everything.
01:21 Take the engine, for example. Being a supercar, you might expect the 12C to have some ridiculously
01:28 huge racing engine that dominates the back half of the vehicle. It doesn't. You see,
01:33 the quest of saving weight, its small displacement V8 is tucked way down in the back half. But
01:39 this is one of the reasons why the 12C is so fast. A small engine is a light engine.
01:46 The passenger tub, too, follows a similar idea. It's made of carbon fiber, and it weighs
01:52 165 pounds. That's less than I do. In total, the 12C weighs 3,210 pounds, split 42 percent
01:59 over the front and 58 percent rear. Crucially, that low weight means each horsepower has
02:08 to carry just 5.4 pounds. And nowhere is the effect of that more evident than during an
02:14 acceleration run. Now, because we have a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission, we also have launch
02:20 control. Here's how to do it. With your left foot hard on the brake, press the active button,
02:26 and then press the launch control button underneath it. It'll say "Launch Mode Active, Awaiting
02:31 Throttle." Go hard on the gas until the revs settle about 3,000 RPM, and let go of the
02:36 brake. This thing is astonishingly fast!
02:44 60 miles an hour comes in 3.2 seconds. A quarter mile, 11.1 seconds at 129 miles an
02:51 hour. McLaren says they're not chasing top speed, but this thing will do 200 miles an
03:08 hour. It's incredible! The 12C launches so aggressively that it maintains an average
03:15 longitudinal acceleration of .86 G through first gear. That's up to 50 miles an hour.
03:27 The trick is that in launch mode, the McLaren preloads the first four gear changes, and
03:32 they occur so quickly that you can't even comprehend when they happen.
03:39 And now for our 60 to zero braking test. We're going 60 miles an hour right now, and we're
03:43 going to go to a full ABS stop.
03:49 McLaren's also gotten a bit tricky with braking, as the 12C uses its aerodynamics to slow down.
03:54 You see, during a hard stop from 60 miles an hour, the rear wing deploys and creates
04:00 drag. The wing initially deploys to 32 degrees, and with this angle set, the wing is now in
04:06 the airflow, and the airflow pushes the wing up to 69 degrees. Relying on the aerodynamics
04:13 to put the wing in the right position means not needing to rely on a larger motor. McLaren
04:18 claims that this solution took half the weight out of the system.
04:22 Such aerodynamics demand advanced suspension design, and here the 12C doesn't disappoint.
04:28 The air traveling around the car pushes it downward, an effect called heave. Heave is
04:34 bad, so McLaren has added something called a Z-bar, which looks like an anti-roll bar,
04:39 but functions quite differently. The Z-bar connects the rear wheels in a way that resists
04:44 heave, but allows the wheels to move independently of each other. This allows the engineers to
04:50 use springs that are relatively soft for a supercar, making it ride more comfortably.
04:55 How comfortably? Let's run the 12C over a rough patch of road. Our onboard accelerometer
05:03 shows us the impacts of the ride, represented by a G average. The lower that number is,
05:09 the softer the ride is. The 12C averaged .038 G, but in order to comprehend what that means,
05:17 we need to compare it against another supercar. How about the GT-R? That's an increase of
05:24 .02 average G. The 12C is clearly much softer, but how would it compare to, say, a long-wheel-based
05:32 Rolls-Royce Ghost? The numbers show it. The 12C's ride is much closer to a Rolls-Royce
05:39 than it is a GT-R, but the truly fascinating bit is that when you put the 12C in track
05:44 mode, it can ride just as firmly as the GT-R. It's comfortable, yes, but now the big question
05:52 is how does it handle? Can this high-tech suspension truly deliver the best of both
05:57 worlds? Let's find out in the figure eight. The 12C handles rather oddly for a supercar.
06:06 You see, in track mode, I can turn in as hard as I want, I can enter a corner as hard as
06:12 I want, and nothing bad ever happens. I can even go hard on the throttle as I exit a corner,
06:18 but I'll never spin, and that's because the car is using its brakes to control the spin
06:24 of each wheel. When you go in too hard, it'll drag the inside rear wheel to keep you on
06:35 line. The whole car will pivot around that wheel, making sure you never get in trouble,
06:42 and it's breathtakingly fast. The car just inspires confidence in this mode. You can't
06:51 do anything wrong. You just hold on, throw it into a corner, what happened even, and
06:57 just step on the throttle, and bam, 8,000 RPM, and you're hard to the next bend. But
07:04 if you want to do something completely stupid, you can turn off traction control, and this
07:11 is how. Come to a complete stop, end active mode, make sure the brake is on completely,
07:18 press and hold the active button until it starts flashing. It takes about 10 seconds.
07:22 Then you press and hold the arrow and manual buttons simultaneously. It's a bit like launching
07:27 a nuclear missile. Now we have no traction control and no stability control. Do not try
07:34 this at home. The McLaren becomes a completely different car with stability control off.
07:45 The back end becomes extremely eager to step out. That 600 horsepower is a lot easier to
07:53 get into a spin. It involves a lot more driver input than normal mode, and it's, if you're
07:59 up to the task, a lot more fun. The thing is, though, with the McLaren, entering a corner,
08:12 I'm never sure when the brakes are going to stop. They don't inspire confidence the way
08:20 the rest of the car does. Man, that engine sure does make up for it. And I can see the
08:27 wing in the back flipping up as I enter a turn hard on the brakes. Without stability
08:35 control, the car becomes a lot more fun, but it's also kind of worrying. It's a bit like
08:41 juggling knives. You're never quite sure when you're going to land it the wrong way.
08:56 The MP4-12C is a marvel of engineering, a rolling showcase of what a group of determined
09:02 and unfettered people can do. Their product is one of the world's most technologically
09:07 advanced supercars, a car so capable and so willing that it can be difficult to comprehend.
09:15 While it's not the most visually appealing relative to the supercar world, it's what's
09:19 under the sheet metal that makes it so special.
09:23 The 12C pushes the definition of what a supercar can be, and there is little doubt that it
09:27 does the McLaren name justice.
09:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:54 Got it. Done.
09:58 Why is this so hard?
10:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]