What is the secret of the speed of McLaren's Supercar '720S'?

McLaren's supercar " 720S " is a high performance car that squeezes the power of 720 ps from the 4.0 liter V8 twin turbo engine. The maximum speed is 341 km / h, and the zero hump acceleration which measures the time to reach the speed of 100 km / h from the stopped state records 2.8 seconds, etc. It has superior class motion performance. NASA rocket scientist Ryan Conversano describes how this speed is realized.

McLaren 720S: The Science of Speed ​​- YouTube


"According to the second law of Newton's movement, " Acceleration is required by dividing power by mass "is said to be"

"To realize a large acceleration, we need to consider the point of aerodynamics.The 720 is characterized by the appearance design strongly aware of this aerodynamics, where is the place where the air resistance becomes large It does not exist either. "

"The air that collides with the nose of the vehicle while driving is split nicely up and down."

"Air flowing on the bottom of the vehicle creates downforce, improving cornering performance and grip performance"

"The air that passes through the headlight and the holes under it ..."

"It is used to cool the low temperature radiator mounted on the front of the machine and then it is discharged from the side holes."

"The 720S has been designed to eliminate air resistance as much as possible so that air can smoothly pass through the outside of the vehicle during acceleration, so it is possible to obtain a large acceleration force."

"At the time of deceleration, the wing of the rear part opens, the braking performance is improved by greatly increasing the downforce.Through full braking when running at 200 km / h due to the effect of this wing, It is possible to stop completely in 4.6 seconds. "

"Next, I will explain about" power. "I am working on" Electric Propulsion Technology (EP) "research at NASA. In this research," How much horsepower is needed to obtain necessary driving force "For example, 500 kW power is required for manned exploration missions on Mars, and equivalent to 670 horsepower is required for a car."

"But what I'm studying is about flight in the so-called vacuum in outer space.The electric propulsion rocket can accelerate to speed up to several thousands of kilometers per hour over time, The acceleration force itself is not very strong, while the 720S can gain hundreds of times more acceleration force than an electric propulsion rocket. "

"The last is" mass. "As the second law of Newton's movement shows, the smaller the mass, the higher the acceleration power.Therefore, as an approach to get acceleration from the viewpoint of aerospace engineering," lightweight It is a very important keyword, and we are discussing the materials of many parts. "

"In the 720S, we adopt carbon fiber tab called Monocage II on the body, which makes it both sturdy and lightweight."

"In addition, by using carbon fiber, we can make the pillar thinner, we have greatly improved the driver's field of view.In fact, I have seen many super cars, but here is a thin pillar I have not seen it. "

"The 720S realizes three of" aerodynamics that realize impossible acceleration "," drivable propulsive power "," light weight which may not exist "at the same time, saying that it is at the top of the modern super car It is not exaggeration, either. "

720 S is sold at 33.38 million yen at the time of article creation.