Back in February 2021, McLaren revealed their new Artura hybrid supercar with a 671-horsepower electrified V6, and the brand's first series-production HEV was supposed to reach 62 mph (100 kph) in three seconds flat and bring out the future of McLaren's road cars. Well, it's been a bumpy road, to say the least.
From head-on collisions when deliveries were not even underway to the official launch delayed because of the chip shortage and from selling historic cars to secure funds for upgrades to early recalls and first deliveries getting pushed back to improve quality, just about everything that could go wrong has plagued this forward-looking model.
As per tradition, there were even fires on the side of the road with total loss, as well as skirmishes against models that are true supercar killers – like the 670-horsepower flat-plane crank C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Plus, when the McLaren Artura Spider was revealed with more power (690 hp) and a 205-mph top speed plus just a little more weight and no roof, the regular Artura coupe suddenly became irrelevant.
Of course, some people – a few of them, as it turns out – have already bought a McLaren Artura. So, what do you do with a track-oriented hybrid supercar that should be capable of eating corners for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? If you're in America, you're going to take the hybrid sports car to the local quarter-mile dragstrip, of course, instead. Oh, wait, but what do you do when you're in Canada?
The same thing, naturally! The videographer behind the Wheels Plus channel on YouTube is a big fan of Mission Raceway Park, also known as MRP or 'Thunder by the River,' a racing complex located in Mission, British Columbia, Canada, with a full-blown facility that features a NHRA-sanctioned quarter-mile dragstrip, a nine-turn road course, as well as a three-kilometer motocross track.
Of course, nobody is intimidated by a full-blown hybrid sports car developed by a company with legendary status in Formula One, that only produces supercars and hypercars. As such, the first rival is a black Audi RS 5 Coupe, which is a nice foil to McLaren Artura's iridescent green and black attire. The two drivers weren't in much of a hurry judging by the 13.55 and 14.41 reaction times, but the gap remained the same throughout the race, hence Artura's 10.65s pass and its four-ringed opponent's 11.57s evolution.
Secondly, the McLaren Artura was treated with a blast from the past – a heavily modified Datsun Z that looked ready to send it back to the future. Unfortunately, the smooth hybrid operator wasn't matched by the old-school coupe, which seemed to rock a manual transmission – but it was, nevertheless, a great effort at MRP from the classic ride: 10.59s versus 11.54s at 135 mph and 133 mph. Cool or not?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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