McLaren Rethinks Going Backwards With Its 205-Mile Per Hour Artura

Photo Credit: McLaren Automotive

For a supercar driver, the greatest sensation is travelling forward at a speed unreachable by a typical passenger car. The McLaren Artura, the latest high-velocity, road-going creation from the British auto racing team that expanded into exotic performance car builder is set to become another desirable machine for those with the style, courage and money to explore the wider boundaries of automobile performance.

Touting acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour (96.56 kilometers per hour) in just 3 seconds and a top speed of 205 miles per hour, McLaren’s Artura supercar muscle goes with the sophistication expected for a vehicle in the third decade of the 21st century. Momentum for the Artura is supplied by a new hybrid electric/gasoline powertrain combining a lightweight, twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine generating 671 brake horsepower with a 94-horsepower E-Motor that produces 165 lb-ft of torque. Equipped with a 7.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, the McLaren Artura can travel up to 19 miles (30.6 kilometers) on a pure EV mode for a maximum speed of 81 miles per hour (130.3 kilometers per hour). The compact electric motor also acts to supply extra torque in concert with the gasoline engine.

Besides the focus towards propelling their newest supercar offering forward through an innovative high performance power unit, McLaren Automotive made a bold step in engineering the manner the Artura travels backwards. The McLaren Artura’s eight-speed transmission is described as a Seamless Shift Gearbox lacking the typical reverse gear. Instead of shifting to a specialized gear to back up, drivers of the Artura will be propelled in reverse by the supercar’s electric motor. The same E-Motor unit capable of supplying up to 81 miles per hour of forward momentum spins in the opposite direction to allow the plug-in hybrid supercar to back up. This clever engineering approach towards having reverse movement travel handled through an electric motor permitted McLaren to create a lighter transmission with a 1.6-inch shorter gear cluster. Through managing battery usage, the automaker insures that there will always be enough energy retained in the temperature-controlled lithium-ion battery for reversing as well as starting.

Photo Credit: McLaren Automotive

Electrification for the McLaren Artura goes beyond the propulsion supplied by E-Motor located within the transmission’s bell-housing. In addition to the electro-hydraulic steering and E-Differential, the new British supercar will provide heating and cooling to occupant using an eHVAC system.

The first plug-in hybrid supercar to be sold by the premium car builder, the Artura is not McLaren’s first foray into combining gasoline and electric propulsion. Alongside the LaFerrari, the 903-horsepower McLaren P1 was one of the earlier production hypercars to employ a hybrid powertrain when built between 2013 and 2015. Last year, McLaren’s Speedtail, a so-called Hyper-GT, boasted a top speed potential of 250 miles per hour through a combination of a twin-turbocharged V-8 with an eMotor producing a maximum output of 1,035 horsepower.

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