I have wanted to hear the McLaren P1's twin-turbo V8 in person since forever, so I was excited to see the team preparing for a quick demonstration at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Unfortunately, the car refused to start.
There are many people out there who aren't particularly fond of the new McLaren. Some even say that is much further from production than it would seem. But that's what the competition is supposed to say, so let's not jump to conclusions.
This particular P1 has been on display all day long with who knows how many of its functions turned on. It's also just a prototype yet, the XP12 to be exact. There's no shame in using a bit of boost to make it turn over. After that, I was expecting to hear a bit of this. But I didn't.
Maybe next time! Until then, I can report that after looking at the front compartment, the F1 seems to be the more practical car of the two. And the XP1 was difficult to start as well...