Why McLaren And Ferrari Are The iPhone Of Supercars

There are three types of people in this world: those that have an iPhone, those that want an iPhone, and those that’d rather eat the component parts of an iPhone stuffed into a rotten Apple than own one of its products.

You’ll be hearing plenty from McLaren, Ferrari and Apple in the coming days, as the fruit-based firm unveils its long-awaited iPhone 5, and the whole Western world gets itself it a right old tizz about what is, let’s face it, the must-have gadget for Christmas.

Consider that Apple doesn't really do teasers or spec hints, and then look at the amount of rumours and speculation about what the new phone will have online – it’s mental. If Prince Harry had used an iPhone 5 to cover his crown jewels in that Vegas hotel room we wouldn’t even have noticed he’d got his kit off. Everyone would be too busy ringing up Buckingham Palace to find out what the new battery life is like.

If there’s any new product that can generate as much hysteria, argument, and spurious rumours as Apple, it’s that other sexy application of tech – supercars. And right now it’s McLaren and Ferrari which are winning the race, by a mile.

Macca and Fezza (to their mates) are locked in battle to win the hybrid supercar war. The next Ferrari super-hyper-ultra flagship car (Enzo 2) will get an electric KERS system and boost button mated to a 7.3-litre V12. We’re expecting around 860bhp, a sh*tload of carbonfibre, and aerodynamics that’d embarrass a shark in lycra.

People have being getting in a right old twist about the ‘new Enzo’ ever since the old one died in, ooh, 2004? Will it happen? (Yes). Would it be V8 or V12? (The latter.) Turbos or normal aspiration? (The latter, mercifully). Will it be the world’s fastest car? (Er, no). And will it cost less than a million quid? (Probably not). Add in a few naff Photoshop renderings of bits of 458 and FF stitched together into a ‘what I want it to look like’ Frankenstein concept, and you’ve got more gossip potential than Kim Kardashian, Tulisa and One Direction trapped in an elevator overnight.

Ferrari probably felt smug as the years rolled by, and increasing numbers of bloggers and fans gave themselves a semi imagining the first spy shots of the Enzo Mk2. Unfortunately for them, McLaren has pretty much stolen Fezza's thunder.

McLaren, like Apple, is a bloody secretive bunch. There’s been barely a hint of P12-project spy shots kicking around. No camouflaged first drives or leaks, and only one petty teaser shot. Specs have been floating around for a while (a mate who works on the MP4-12C line in Woking promised us that the new P12 would have less power than a Veyron, but certainly ‘be faster’) Slobber, right? Just like the new iPhone WILL have fingerprint recognition and 4G, right..?

The phone stuff is still all up in the air, but ahead of the Paris motor show concept, apparently a few of Macca’s nearest and dearest have been to see the P12 privately in case they fancy a punt on one, and like a Facebook-happy cheating girlfriend, they’ve spewed the kiss-and-tell all over the net.

Check it out, tech-lovers. An uprated 12C bi-turbo V8 with 803bhp. Twin braking-charged flywheels with a 160bhp on-demand boost. So 963bhp, 0-60mph in 2.5secs (same as Veyron), and a top whack of 239mph (faster than a rev-limited F1, but behind the Bugatti). Still, the P12’s said to be 1200kg, 800kg less than the Veyron, so it’ll mash it for in-gear pace. Maybe.

Argh! So frustrating. There’s the visual striptease, the tech drip-feed, and we’re all clinging on like monkeys to find out more about a car only 500 people will ever own – less for the new Fezza.

Still, if you want something new, sleek, very fast, extremely expensive and likely to make you popular and loathed in equal measure, why hold out for a supercar? I’d go and set up camp outside your nearest Apple store instead. Top plan, isn’t it? Call me a Genius…