The McLaren Speedtail produces 1,055bhp

We know the process of burying bad news. It’s lesson one in prime minister school. Got a terrifying new policy to drop? Wait until everyone’s distracted by football coming home. Or someone putting a cat in a bin on Twitter.

Well, McLaren appears to have mastered the art of burying good news. At exactly the moment everyone was wrapping their last few presents and heading down to the pub to see in Christmas, it announced some very startling numbers for its Speedtail hypercar. We don’t understand the logic either.

Nevertheless, said hypercar has lived up fully to its 250mph promise, signing off its development by achieving its incredibly neat top speed over 30 times. At a pretty cool location, too: the old Space Shuttle landing strip at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If ever there was two-week-old news that deserved some belated airtime, it’s this.

We’ve also had confirmation of the figures pumped out by the Speedtail’s petrol-electric drivetrain, too: 1,055bhp and 848lb ft, the highest of any McLaren road car and enough for 0-186mph in 13 seconds. For reference, an 84bhp Ford Fiesta takes a whole second longer than that to hit a mere 62mph.

Those 250mph runs were achieved with Kenny Brack at the wheel – he of GT40-wrestling fame – just to up the cool factor even more.

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