McLaren W1 First Drive: Ferocious Hypercar Transcends the Track

You know things are getting serious when McLaren rolls-out the ‘1’ suffix. The origin story is, of course, the very first road car McLaren ever built, the F1. Designed by visionary Formula 1 aerodynamicist and engineer Gordon Murray, it arrived in 1992 and rendered all other supercars obsolete. The tiny, lightweight F1 embraced carbon-fibre material technology, adopted a radical centre seat driving position with two passengers set back and either side and was powered by a 6.1-litre V12 engine from BMW that might as well have been passed down directly from the Gods. Game-changer? That doesn’t even come close to describing its impact, even if at the time sales didn’t come easy… The P1 was very different. Rather than a unique side project from the Formula 1 team, it was instead a statement piece for McLaren Automotive, a new road car division still in its infancy. It arrived in 2013 and was a wild-eyed showstopper. It traded the long-legged gait and supple suspension of the F1 for a weaponized hybrid system capable of delivering 903bhp and huge blue flames from its drainpipe exhaust. In Race mode, it lowered by 2-inches and its massive concave rear wing extended into the sky. The P1 was all about aerodynamic downforce, crazed acceleration and a snorting, angry soundtrack that mixed venomous twin-turbocharged V8 with the manic whirr of electric motors. Not so much a car as a force of nature. And now there’s this: The W1. It’s a true successor to the P1 with a similar brief and, on the face of it, it evolves rather than radically reinvents McLaren’s vision for the ultimate hypercar. This is not a criticism. How could it be when the result is this dramatic and has such staggering, other-worldly potential? The W1 has 1258bhp delivered to the rear wheels. It’s capable of 0-124 mph in 5.8-seconds, the quarter mile in 9.6-seconds at 167 mph and produces 2205lbs of downforce at 174 mph. The active aerodynamics – particularly a rear wing that extends way out beyond the rear of the car – are pure performance art and deliver massive aerodynamic efficiency. The result, aside from looking extremely cool, is that the W1 is McLaren’s fastest road car around a racetrack. Ever. Their benchmark circuit is the breath-taking Handling Track at the Nardo proving ground in southern Italy, where the W1 beats their previous benchmark, the flyweight McLaren Senna, by three seconds per lap. Or “a lifetime” as they call it in racing. Maybe two lifetimes! Core to the W1’s performance is the new ‘Aerocell’ carbon fibre tub. With integrated seats and a raised footwell to allow for inboard pushrod-operated front suspension – which in turn gives air a clean path to the huge underbody diffuser – it’s light, stiff, space efficient and has been instrumental in McLaren realising a full ground-effect concept. Just like last year’s F1 cars, which were the fastest ever made. There is also an active front wing and the aforementioned complex rear wing dubbed ‘Active Long Tail’. All of which is very admirable. But the ‘anhedral’ or gullwing doors and the fantastically shirnked-wrapped feel to the minimalist, highly-focussed interior are a pretty good side effect. The W1 feels special. Those fixed seats are perhaps a shade more upright than expected, and the driving position is less obviously racecar than, for example, the Aston Martin Valhalla or Ferrari F80. However, once you’ve adjusted the pedals (they move on a slider) and the delicate, slim-rimmed and alcantara-trimmed steering wheel, there’s an overwhelming sense of purpose. The cabin is so tightly tailored and imparts a sense of lightness and agility before you so much as start the all-new 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, which makes 916bhp all on its own and revs to 9200rpm. Reach up to a roof-mounted control panel to find the starter button. Maybe this fighter plane trope is a little corny, but somehow you feel thrilled rather than manipulated. The W1 has a sense of humour as well as all that motorsport-derived sophistication. There’s a short delay, but when the engine does fire it’s instant – as the high-powered hybrid system negates the need for an old-school starter motor. A sharp flare of revs tells you that this engine is hyper-responsive and angry. On some deep level your brain and body have been sent all the signals required to prepare for something new and intense. Ahead of us, an empty Mugello racetrack, so press and hold the blue button next to the red starter to select Race mode. The centre display graphic shows the W1’s transformation in real time as it lowers by 37mm at the front and 17mm at the rear whilst simultaneously undocking all that active aero goodness. Race mode is not road legal and is geo-locked. You can show your friends and neighbours the aero dance, but it won’t allow you to select a gear to actually drive unless you’re at a circuit. Incidentally, the rocker switches either side of the display binnacle allow further options now: Toggle up the Handling control on the left for Race+ (for F1-spec super smooth tracks) or stick to Race for gnarlier ones. On the right toggle select ‘GP’ for sustained performance over a stint or ‘Sprint’ to unleash all 1258bhp for a time attack. There’s also a DRS and Boost function on the steering wheel. But I guarantee you won’t have the mental capacity to use them… Exit the pitlane, pin the throttle and W1 takes maybe a millisecond or two to gather its might (the gearing stretches to around 60mph in first, nearly 100mph in second, primarily to aid traction), but then lunges at the first turn with incredible ferocity. It instantly feels light, almost like inertia is no longer a thing. McLaren really does prize lightweight engineering, and at 3084lbs (dry) the W1 has a 278lbs advantage over the Ferrari F80. Plus, Ferrari uses figures for cars fitted with every single carbon fibre option. In reality, the gap is probably wider still. The impression of agility and stunning control continues as the track is unravelled at startling pace. The electric motor mounted to the side of the new 8-speed dual-clutch transmission is good for 342bhp and 324lb ft and it boosts any low rev lethargy the new flat-plane crank V8 might have (spoiler alert: It doesn’t appear to have any), so the W1 just feels massively, almost impossibly powerful at any revs. Even so, there’s real reward for wringing it out to 9200rpm and the power curve feels superheated but organic, too. In Race mode the steering – still hydraulically powered – has less assistance and it is noticeably heavier than other McLarens. However, that resistance is welcome as it gives you something to push against and imparts so much information about the front grip level. New Pirelli Trofeo RS tyres with a bigger front footprint than P1 or Senna really help. The front-end feels incredibly secure and the rear-axle follows with perfectly-aligned precision. The whole car feels super-stiff, completely locked into the surface and inspires confidence, but there’s an inherent agility and adjustability that means you’re quickly confident to push at its limits and really impose yourself on the chassis. It’s such a complex car but the driving experience is intuitive, and the driver feels a key contributor rather than just amazed (or terrified) observer, holding on for dear life. Every dynamic ingredient really is shockingly effective and yet has a subtlety and lightness of touch. From that delicious steering to the incredible brakes, the W1 just feels so mission-focussed, so hooked-up. Only the new 8-speed gearbox is a slightly disappointment. It’s fast and punchy, but after the scintillating energy of the Ferrari F80 ’box it feels competent rather than inspired. Other quibbles – it’s okay to quibble when the starting price is $2.1-million before tax and destination charge. Well, that new twin-turbocharged V8 sounds tightly wound and aggressive but if you have a P1 tucked in the garage you’ll miss the snorting, Darth Vader-style soundscape and all the drama that goes with it. Ferrari does this better, too. The F80 sounds deathly dull from the outside but is a riot of turbochargers, electric motors and all sorts of mechanical fury within the cockpit. Even so, the W1 is wildly entertaining on track, and the rear-drive configuration makes it more of a challenge and more satisfying than the F80 when chasing lap times or just sliding around for fun. In the Ferrari, you must second-guess what the front e-axle might do, whereas in the W1 it’s all on you. There are plenty of tools to help, including the ingenious Variable Drift Control, but somehow the W1 is more heroic. Or at least fools you into feeling more heroic – which is surely the point! On the road? Nimble, loaded with feel and sublime response. The ride is noticeably tougher than, say, a 750S but the control is ramped-up too, and with a bit more speed the whole car finds a delicious rhythm. Sport mode for the drivetrain brings some nice turbo whooshes and chirps, but the noise remains high-quality rather than extreme excitement. It is perhaps the one area the W1 feels just a little too tame. Of course, there’s nothing tame about the raw performance… which is genuinely shocking and literally hurts your neck muscles after a few hours. How McLaren has given the W1 such immense traction through just two driven wheels is beyond me. So, is it worthy of that ‘1’? I think so. Perhaps we won’t be talking about $25-million auction results for the W1 in 30 years from now, as we are for the F1. Perhaps it doesn’t quite have the amazing presence and jaw-dropping star quality of the simply gorgeous P1. But it is such an intense experience and the way it marries stunning track performance with delicate poise and entertainment on normal roads is something akin to magic. Maybe not ‘the one’ but definitely a searing, outrageous addition to McLaren’s fiercest family line. Just 399 W1’s will be built and they’re all sold. I’m not surprised at all. View All McLarens For Sale Images: McLaren Automotive

Land Rover News

Land Rover news from duPont REGISTRY News, updated as each story breaks, covering the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport, the Defender and the special editions built in limited numbers. Our reporting takes in reveals, first drives, off-road engineering and the values these vehicles hold over time. Land Rover sits at the centre of luxury SUV news, and the segment keeps expanding each year. Our marketplace supplies the element most publications leave out entirely. Many of these vehicles are listed for sale on duPont REGISTRY, which places the reporting and a genuine asking price side by side. For Land Rover news today, begin with the stories below.

Defender Rally Brings An All-Female Crew To Argentina For W2RC

By Tyler Rampersaud – May 12, 2026

Defender Rally Races With All-Female Crew

Taking place from May 24 to May 29, the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship will continue with the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina. The race is held in Argentina’s Cuyo region, with almost 1,700 miles of racing, including timed stages, gravel, sand, dunes, and more challenges. Defender Rally, in the midst of its inaugural season of the W2RC, is set to take on the Desafío Ruta 40, and it’s going into the challenge in the top three positions of the Stock category of the championship. Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal lead the Stock class with 153 points, Sara Price is in second place with 127 points, and Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge are currently third with 118 points. Sara Price will be joined at the Desafío Ruta 40 by a new co-driver, Saydiie Gray, and the new pairing marks a milestone moment in motorsport history. Specifically, the US-based duo is the first all-female crew to compete in the Desafío Ruta 40 since the race began in 2010. The 19-year-old Saydiie Gray is joining Defender Rally as a navigator for the third round of this year’s W2RC, and bringing a wealth of off-roading experience with her. Her factory team competition resume includes names like Can-Am and Honda, and she won the 2023 NORRA 1000 in Baja, Mexico, with Sara Price. <- Gallery -> Based on the roadgoing Defender OCTA, a performance-focused flagship variant of the Defender, the Defender D7X-R rally car that is racing in the W2RC has already proven itself with its success in the Dakar Rally, as well as with its times in the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid Portugal that were among the race’s Ultimate class. As Defender Rally prepares to take on the Desafío Ruta 40, the team has already made history in the racing world. View All Land Rover For Sale Image Source: JLR

Defender Rally Completes Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal With Three Cars

By Tyler Rampersaud – March 22, 2026

Defender Rally Wins At Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal

Defender Rally made an exciting debut earlier this year at the Dakar Rally, one of the motorsport world’s most daunting and legendary challenges, emerging victorious in the Stock Category of the race that it participated in. With three Defender D7X-R cars racing in the event, the plan was initially to have only two cars continue to race in the W2RC for the rest of the current season. However, that changed when it was announced that Sara Price and Sean Berriman would be racing at the Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal, which featured over 4,000 miles of racing in five stages. Racing through Portugal and Spain, that race has recently concluded, and all three Defender D7X-R rally cars crossed the finish line, helping maintain the team’s top standing within the Stock class of the championship. Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge took the overall win in the Stock class of the race, finishing in 11:57:33. Meanwhile, Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal came in second place with a 12:00:02 finish, and Sara Price and Sean Berriman finished in 13:09:58, finishing third after an arduous race including mud, water, trees, tight tracks, and more challenges. <- Gallery -> Official partners Castrol, YETI, Bilstein, and Bell & Ross, along with suppliers Shackleton and Alpinestars supported Defender Rally throughout the race, and the vehicle, the Defender D7X-R, is closely related to the roadgoing Defender OCTA. The flagship of the current Defender lineup, the OCTA is the pinnacle of Defender performance and luxury, with a 626-horsepower 4.4-liter V8 engine, impressive torque, luxurious features, and advanced technology for engaging and spirited driving on and off the tarmac. With another successful race completed in Portugal, Defender Rally is continuing the W2RC season with wind in its sails. View All Defender For Sale Image Source: JLR

Defender Rally Brings Three-Car Entry To bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal

By Tyler Rampersaud – March 05, 2026

Three Defenders To Race In bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal

At the beginning of this year, Defender Rally took part in its first race as a team and began this year’s World Rally Raid Championship season by taking on one of the most legendary and daunting races in the rally sport: the Dakar Rally. Competing in the Stock category of the race, the team experienced incredible success in the effort, with drivers Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal winning, Sara Price and Sean Berriman placing second, and Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge placing fourth. Going into the Dakar Rally, the three-car effort was only going to compete in the Dakar Rally, while Peterhansel and Baciuška would drive in a two-car effort for the rest of the W2RC. However, it was recently announced that Defender Rally would bring the full Dakar team to the second round of the W2RC, which is taking place in Portugal. The bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, which will run from March 17 to March 22, with all three pairs of drivers taking the race on in the Defender D7X-R. Defender Rally is currently at the top of the W2RC’s Stock category standings after enjoying 1-2-3 finishes in ten of the 13 stages of the Dakar season opener, and the rally car is closely related to the production Defender OCTA, Defender’s performance-oriented flagship model. With the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, the D7X-R and the OCTA have the same immense power and much of the same off-road capability, while the rally car is modified for some of the more extreme racing conditions. <- Gallery -> The bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal will consist of five stages, starting in Grandola, and finishing in Loulé in the Algarve, covering over 1,300 miles, with a new route this year that promises more varied terrain and more challenging sections for drivers. As the team gets ready to take on the race in Portugal, Defender Rally will complete a pre-rally test program with the support of its partners, including Castrol, Bilstein, YETI and Bell & Ross, and suppliers Shackleton and Alpinestars. View All Defender For Sale Image Source: Defender Rally

By Khris Bharath – January 19, 2026

Land Rover Defender Wins Dakar Stock Class on Debut With Octa-based D7X-R

For any off-road vehicle, there’s no better way to prove its worth and what it can truly do than in competition. From early Camel Trophy expeditions to the modern Defender Trophy, Land Rover has set the bar for decades, and the British marque has now conquered a new frontier. In its debut appearance at the world’s most demanding off-road race, Defender Rally has won the 2026 Dakar Stock class in Saudi Arabia, led by Rokas Baciuška and co-driver Oriol Vidal in the Defender Dakar D7X-R. Their winning time of 58 hours, 9 minutes, and 45 seconds capped a campaign that saw the team finish first and second in class, with Sara Price and Sean Berriman close behind, and 14-time Dakar Rally winner, Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge completing the rally in fourth. “Dreams come true, you know, and it was my dream to win Dakar,” Baciuška said. “For the first year for Defender, it's amazing.” Price described the emotional payoff at the finish. “We had a goal at the final stage to get to the finish line as a team together,” she said. “To get this team to the finish line in P1 and P2 is just, wow, incredible.” Across 13 stages, the team with three Works vehicles logged ten separate 1-2-3 class finishes and covered nearly 15,000 miles of competition terrain, ranging from soft dunes to rock-riddled high-speed sections across the vast Saudi Arabian desert. The decisive moment came on Stage 13, where Baciuška secured the overall Stock class win with a time of 55 minutes and 51 seconds. The D7X-R’s significance lies in how close it remains to the road-going Defender OCTA. Each race vehicle starts life on the same aluminum body assembly line in Nitra, Slovakia. Built on the 110 chassis, the Dakar variant retains the D7X architecture, transmission layout, and the OCTA’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. For rally duty in W2RC competition, it gains a wider track, increased ride height, revised suspension, and enhanced cooling, changes required to survive sustained heat, low-speed load, and long stages. For Defender, Dakar also served as the opening round of the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship. Team principal Ian James added, “Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of the entire team. Not only the fact that we've won Dakar in the way that we have, but the manner in which everybody's pulled together and worked so hard throughout has been simply outstanding.” Also, for Jaguar Land Rover, key models such as the Defender and Range Rover Sport sit at the heart of the company’s volume and profitability strategy globally, and such real-world accomplishments further reinforce the models' reputation and capability, which should inevitably help bolster sales. With more manufacturers expected to join the Stock class, Defender’s debut win sets an early benchmark. The campaign continues next in Portugal this March. View All Land Rover Defenders For Sale Images: Land Rover

A black off-road vehicle drives on a dirt path between palm trees in a desert landscape.

By Tyler Rampersaud – October 01, 2025

Defender Tests Dakar Rally Car In Sahara Desert

Defender tests its upcoming rally challenger in a legendary rally arena. For the past few years, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia, but the Dakar Rally earned its name from its original route, challenging teams, cars, and drivers with the task of traveling from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal, with the most well-known part of the original challenge being crossing the Sahara Desert of North Africa. Starting in 2026, Defender is set to compete in the Dakar Rally, bringing one of the most iconic and celebrated names in off-roading to one of the most challenging rally challenges in the world. Using the performance-oriented Defender OCTA as the basis for the competing rally car, the new Defender Dakar D7X‑R has completed an important milestone in its testing ahead of its entrance to the hallowed competition in 2026 by emerging from a grueling round of testing in the part of the world where the Dakar Rally earned its reputation: the Sahara Desert. Competing in the ‘Stock’ category of the race, the D7X-R is heavily based on the production Defender OCTA, and the test verified the rally car’s ability to handle similar conditions and stage lengths to the actual rally. At the Dakar rally, three Defender cars will be competing, while the rest of the W2RC will feature two Defender vehicles competing. Drivers Stéphane Peterhansel, Sara Price and Rokas Baciuška will be taking on the 2026 Dakar Rally behind the wheel of the new Defender Dakar D7X-R, and when they do, a new chapter will be written for the legendary Defender off-roading brand, and its cherished legacy of adventure and go-anywhere capability. After a successful round of testing in the Sahara, Defender’s bold rally ambitions are coming very close to fruition. View All Defender For Sale Image Source: JLR

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