The first production units of the new McLaren P1 GTR, the racing version of the P1 road car built for the company’s private track day events, is starting to reach those who pre-ordered it months ago for £2 million. On this occasion the British automaker dispatched their chief test driver Chris Goodwin to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium to demonstrate what the GTR is capable of and where that money has gone.

Goodwin is clearly not pushing this prototype McLaren P1 GTR as hard as he can. But even so, the performance of the car looks utterly effortless. It devours the tricky corners of Spa, especially the early ones right after the hill section, with such poise and elegance you would think the car is traveling not on something as coarse as tarmac but a cushion of fresh air!

The main reason for the amazing performance of the McLaren P1 GTR is the 3.8 liter twin-turbo V8 mounted in the middle of the chassis and flanked by an electric motor. Together they generate 1,050 horsepower which is about 120 more than the road-going version. What’s more, the GTR is lighter and benefits from more aggressive aerodynamics. All that means that on the race track the GTR is capable of defying the laws of physics and corner at the kind of speed reserved for open-wheel single-seaters. Too bad it is not eligible for any of the official FIA series.