Is the McLaren P1 the world's fastest car?

McLaren P1 obliterates Nurburgring record!

That’s the headline that burst into the Wheels office this morning, declaring McLaren’s new hybrid hypercar had destroyed the industry-recognized record for a lap at the Nurburgring by 15 seconds.

The report said the P1 has clocked a scarcely believable 6m33s26 at the 28km circuit, with an official McLaren image seeming to confirm the time.

Seen here on the right, the image, which was released by McLaren China, shows the lap time next to an image of the circuit.

To put the P1’s time into perspective, it is light-years ahead of the current benchmark for a road-legal car, set by a Radical SR8 at 6m48s.

It’s even 14 seconds faster than the non-road legal Zonda R, which uses slick tyres used for racing.

But as the day progressed, it emerged the P1’s unbelievable time is exactly that.

Unbelievable.

Turns out the ‘official’ image is merely a motivational poster for McLaren workers, with the British brand determined to clock the ‘right in ‘under 7 minutes’.

There’s still no official word from McLaren on the time, so there’s a chance it could be true, but somehow we doubt it.

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