McLaren | The Verge

This life-size Lego McLaren P1 can hit almost 40mph

2024-09-12T12:26:49-04:00

Lego’s McLaren P1 isn’t quite as fast as the real deal. | Image: Lego

After releasing a 24-inch-long scale replica of the McLaren P1 earlier this year, Lego has now debuted a full-size drivable version of the hypercar built from over 342,817 Technic pieces and powered by hundreds of Lego electric motors.

That eclipses the 3,893 pieces that go into building Lego's 1:8-scale McLaren P1 model. The company says the full-scale version used 393 types of Technic components, including 11 specifically manufactured for the replica. That would make it hard to build a copy yourself, but you'd also struggle to find the time. Lego says it took 6,134 hours to design and plan its P1 and 2,210 hours to assemble it.

Lego opte …

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McLaren and OnePlus kick off exclusive partnership with McLaren OnePlus 6T

2018-12-11T05:17:01-05:00

The McLaren OnePlus 6T has just been made official at an event hosted in McLaren's headquarters, where the luxury automaker and the budget-friendly smartphone company inaugurated the start of their brand partnership. Speaking with The Verge ahead of the announcement, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei admitted that he was convinced the collaboration made sense after test-driving a McLaren 720S. To him, both McLaren and OnePlus are brands for "people in the know." There are lots of other flashy cars you can buy, argues Pei, but you get a McLaren when you're really into cars and the driving experience. By extension, the same thing goes for OnePlus: t …

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ScreenDrive: The McLaren 570S Spider puts the England back in New England

2017-12-29T09:00:02-05:00

Cars have become expensive rolling gadgets, full of screens, speakers, and sensors - but are they actually good gadgets? In our series, ScreenDrive, we review cars just like any other device, starting with the basics of what they're like to use.

When you think of a McLaren supercar, the first words that probably pop into your head are "incredibly fast," "very expensive," "uniquely designed," and possibly "silly doors." I very much doubt that "sophisticated touchscreen interface" is on your list. And with good reason: you don't buy a McLaren for the technology you can see and touch; you buy it for the technology you can't.

If you're fortuna …

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America’s most important luxury car show

2017-08-23T10:07:14-04:00

Every August, droves of car collectors gather for a week on the Monterey Peninsula to show off, ogle, and place big-money bids, all culminating in an elaborate Sunday afternoon car show: the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Ladies wear complicated hats and men don pastel seersucker suits for the golf course occasion. It's an ostentatious display that seems distant, even out of step with the concerns and circumstances of the outside world.

But Monterey Car Week also might be the most important luxury car show in America.

Monterey Car Week might be the most important car show in America

I've been going to Pebble Beach on and off for the past …

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McLaren’s design chief on what it takes to build a beautiful car

2017-08-22T14:14:41-04:00

Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman are garden-variety superheroes, but dedicated comic book fans are equally smitten with Luke Cage and Hellboy. The same logic applies to car enthusiasts: there are the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches of the world, and then there are more obscure stars, which are no less revered. McLaren falls into this villainous category. McLaren is a powerful might that's been lurking in the shadows among diehards, but only now getting its mainstream due. Some even call McLaren the supercar brand of choice in Silicon Valley.

Why? Because McLarens are wicked fast, and their lightweight, tactile surfaces certainly look a …

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McLaren’s new 570S Spider is its ‘most attainable’ supercar

2017-06-14T08:00:03-04:00

Everyone loves a good supercar: gorgeous, aerodynamic, laughably out of reach for almost everyone on the planet. We love to drool over photos of these cars, fully aware that we'll probably never drive one. McLaren wants to change that perception with the release of the 2018 570S Spider, calling it the "most attainable" sports car ever.

This model is the third body type in McLaren's Sport series portfolio, which includes the 570S Coupe and the 570GT. (We last saw the 570S Coupe at the 2015 New York Auto Show, and were appropriately bowled over by it.) The 570S Spider will make its global debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which will be …

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McLaren’s top priorities with the new 720S: aerodynamics, aerodynamics, aerodynamics

2017-03-07T08:30:02-05:00

McLaren 720S | Vlad Savov / The Verge

At first glance, McLaren's new 720S supercar would seem to have massive headlights, but look a little closer. The headlights themselves are each a thin 17-LED strip, and the big cutaway surrounding them is actually an air intake. I got to see this happy, shiny new car at a press preview ahead of its unveiling today and the lasting impression it leaves is that it was designed purely for the sake of optimizing air flow through and around it.

Aerodynamic efficiency of the McLaren 720S - the ratio between downforce and drag - is more than double that of the 650S, the car it is replacing in the McLaren Super Series. The teardrop-shaped vents on …

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McLaren’s new supercar has a rotating dashboard

2017-03-01T13:52:12-05:00

Most cars are used for a single, simple task: get the driver and their passengers from point A to point B. If we're honest - though they start around the $200,000 mark - most McLaren sports cars are probably used for the same purpose.

But some McLarens are used to go from point A to point A over and over again - that is, to drive around a racetrack. And the needs of a driver on a racetrack are very different from someone going to the grocery store.

To suit those needs, McLaren has installed a clever trick in its new supercar that's being unveiled next week at the Geneva Motor Show: the Folding Driver Display. Drivers on a racetrack don't p …

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Apple buying McLaren would make perfect sense

2016-09-21T13:58:46-04:00

According to two newspaper reports, Apple is interested in buying McLaren. McLaren flatly denied that any talks were underway, but it's worth a look at why Apple could be interested in the small British carmaker.

An acquisition would give Apple a small but significant carmaker that has enormous amounts of technological expertise in building drivetrains, vehicle control systems, and navigating complicated supplier-OEM relationships. McLaren also has significant experience working with advanced materials like carbon composites, aluminum, and carbon fiber.

It's a small but important firm, best known for its sports cars - it sold 1,654 road ca …

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Apple reportedly in talks with self-balancing motorcycle startup Lit Motors

2016-09-21T13:31:38-04:00

Apple's search for partners with experience making cars is heating up. The Financial Times first reported that the Silicon Valley giant has been negotiating with McLaren and now The New York Times confirmed that it's also in talks with Lit Motors, a Bay Area startup that manufactures self-balancing motorcycles.

According to The New York Times, Apple has already hired away "several" former Lit Motors engineers. The company - its motto stating "We are creating the future of transportation, today" - is known for its C-1 vehicle, which looks like a cross between a motorcycle and Google's self-driving car prototype.

The news of the talks comes …

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