Why Look Back?

Quite possibly, he was drunk. Most certainly, he was speeding. Perhaps it is even true that he had to swerve to avoid a cyclist. Or two. Whatever the case, on October 18, 1908, a young man crashes his sports car into a ditch. Legend has it that the person in question, a poet and writer from a well-to-do Italian family, was largely uninjured. Legend also has it that the accident was the catalyst for his Futurist Manifesto, one of the most influential pamphlets of the twentieth century, published on the front page of the Paris daily Le Figaro a few months later. The manifesto contains the following passage: “A race-automobile adorned with great pipes like serpents with explosive breath . . . a race-automobile which seems to rush over exploding powder is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.”

Skip to the (near-)present. 2011: McLaren Automotive presents the MP4-12C, its first super sports car developed and built entirely in-house. A prophet. Because it heralds what is to follow shortly thereafter, namely the P1. And even if you could only guess it at best, the P1 ushered in the modern era of sports cars. Everything after it would become even faster, more dynamic, bigger, more spectacular – and with its flexible hybrid powertrain, the P1 led this development, dynamic and wild in acceleration, cornering and braking. This infinite pool of surprising moments, brilliant ideas, the ever-present possibility that this car is about to do something that would appear beguilingly light – and yet change the course of events. Or at least accelerate it. By 2017 at the latest, with the launch of the 720S, the people in Maranello understood this as well. Just ask McLaren CEO Michael Leiters, formerly CTO at Ferrari. He can recall this time with vivid -clarity. The man could hardly sleep.

The McLaren Artura owes its name to a fusion of the words art and future. More than any other car, its name alludes directly, tangibly to the Futurist movement. Though nobody has ever asked: Is it even allowed to do that? The early twentieth-century art and social movement glorified every form of energy, mobility and speed. It was a bold and modern way of thinking, focused on the new and on the future. So far, so -fitting.

Early summer on the Côte d’Azur. The sky is fickle and unpredictable. At times dark clouds, then again white and blue, the days are long, the nights are short, sunrises and sunsets torch the full spectrum of colors day in and day out. June is fragrant. It takes exactly eleven seconds for the Artura Spider to open its roof. Even while travelling at 50 km/h. Though it’s better to do so when stopped, because you’ll want to enjoy the show and the envious gazes. Eight electric motors are necessary to operate the retractable roof. That adds weight: the Spider weighs 62 kilograms more than the Coupe, but 83 kilograms less than the competition. Says McLaren.

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→ You can read the full story in ramp #65 ‘Surfing Cowboys’.