Taking a McLaren P1 for its MoT

A crowbar, a wire brush, a tape measure, a hooked device, a tyre-pressure gauge, a hammer such as a doctor might tap you on the knee with and a couple of mean-looking pointy things. These are the tools of the MoT-testing trade. I know this because it says so on the board they hang on. They are also the tools that are about to be inserted into various bits of this McLaren P1. And yes, that includes the crowbar. 

Nothing escapes the MoT test. OK, that’s not strictly true – cars built before 1960 get a free pass, so too do tractors and goods vehicles powered by electricity. Milkfloats, I’m assuming, rather than an estate agent’s decalled-up i3. But everything else on the road? Well, that needs a certificate of roadworthiness. Yes, even if it’s a McLaren P1. 

Photography: Alex Tapley

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of Top Gear magazine

P1 OOV was first registered on 1 August 2013. It’s now three years old so it’s due an MoT test. I – we – have history with this particular car. It was the car Jeremy drove around a sopping Spa racetrack back in Series 21, that Tom Ford then drove back to the UK and, a few months later, I punted around Barcelona for the opening of our Performance Car of the Year test. It went on to do pretty well in that. Within McLaren, P1 OOV is known as PP3, the third of three production prototypes, so not one of the 375 final road cars, but built on the same line and finished to production standards. 

Still owned by McLaren, it’s now done 21,542 miles, has badly chipped brake callipers and comes here fresh from a track day, which is McLaren’s excuse for why it’s now wearing brand-new boots. Tread depth isn’t something we’re going to catch this car out on. Nor, I suspect is anything else. I picked it up earlier and drove it around to our chosen MoT test venue idly toying with the idea of loosening a bulb or two, but do you have any idea how difficult it is to get to the extremities of a P1? 

You can’t open the engine bay at all. Just the panels on the roof where you fill with petrol and electricity. I’m worried this is going to be an issue that Jon Hearn might want to fix with his crowbar. That wouldn’t go down well. 

Jon runs an MoT test business in a concrete prefab on a small industrial estate in West Byfleet. The P1 was conceived, designed, engineered and built at the Norman Foster-designed McLaren Technology Centre. The two are not alike. I park up behind a Y-reg Polo with a wheel trim or two missing. The exact same set of tests will be run on both cars. Seems odd somehow.  

The Ministry of Transport test was introduced in 1960. Initially it was only for cars over 10 years old, but due to the high failure rate it was brought down to seven years in 1961, and three years in 1967. It wasn’t very stringent: tyres were only checked from 1968; lights, wipers and horn in 1977 and emissions from 1991. God knows what they checked in 1960 – that the wheels were attached and a man could wear his hat while driving, probably. 

Inside, I pull P1 OOV on to the ramps. Jon notes the chassis number, logs on to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency website, grabs his clipboard and begins ticking boxes. Wipers, tyres, seatbelts, tick, tick, tick. More ticks for tyres, doors, fuel cap. Headlight alignment, indicators, hazards, brake and reversing lamps. The biro keeps ticking. 

After the interior and exterior checks we get to the nitty-gritty – under-bonnet and underbody. “Can we open the engine lid?” Jon asks. 

“Er, no, it can only be opened at a McLaren service centre,” I reply.  

“OK, no matter, I can do what I need to do.”

Hang on, that was a bit easy. I suppose you don’t need to get into the engine bay to attach the exhaust probe… 

“No need to check emissions – it’s a hybrid, ain’t it.”

This is puzzling – but also true. The current MoT test doesn’t check emissions on hybrids. Even if they develop over 900bhp. Leaving aside the P1 for a moment, this is surely puzzling, so I called the DVSA, who had this to say. “Emissions testing requires continuous running of the combustion engine. This is not always possible with a hybrid.” And that, apparently, is that. As Jon points out though, “Unless you’ve got something like a real high-mileage motor, cars don’t really fail on emissions. In fact, most cars are so clean they don’t even register on the equipment.” The MoT test emissions targets are lax – and if you have a hybrid, however poorly maintained, non-existent. 

Back in West Byfleet, Jon breaks out the beefier bits of the MoT test kit. The suspension is jacked up, the wheels turned, the suspension jiggled by shaker plates and the crowbar inserted and waggled about to check link tightness. I suspect the P1 is sensitive to alignment, so I’m hoping Jon hasn’t suddenly given it a load of toe-in. 

Soon find out – the last test is the only one that takes place outdoors. The brake check is conducted on the access road into the industrial estate. Watched by a couple of old chaps in wheelchairs sitting in the sun outside the NHS kidney-dialysis centre, I build up to 22mph and slam on the anchors. The gauge on Jon’s lap informs us that we’ve hit 107 per cent of maximum. I’m impressed because the carbon ceramics haven’t hit optimum operating temperature yet. I offer to do it again, but I’m not sure Jon’s used to McLaren braking forces. The handbrake test goes even better. I pull the electric switch and we stop over four times quicker than the test allows. Nothing wrong with the brakes, then. 

Nor anything else. P1 OOV has a clean bill of health, the first, and probably the highest-mileage, P1 has sailed through its MoT test without blinking. No advisories, not even a minor headlight angle adjustment. I’m not surprised – McLaren wasn’t going to let this P1 out of MTC to fail at a back-street MoT test centre. I’m just sorry the stuff we use every day isn’t tested. As I leave with the precious certificate laid on the passenger seat, I try to set the satnav. The infotainment system takes ages to boot up, and then jams. I don’t think Jon’s crowbar is the right tool to sort that out.