The McLaren MP4-12C Named Car of The Year

McLaren is celebrating the McLaren MP4-12C being named Vehicles Dynamic International Car of The Year and the company's engineers being named as the Dynamics Team of the Year.

Vehicle Dynamics International magazine's respected awards jury featured professional engineers and senior motoring journalists from the USA, UK, and Europe. Juror, Matt Davis, said: "What technical director Dick Glover and his team at McLaren Automotive have pulled off on the MP4-12C is nothing short of inspirational. The dynamics in this case involve not just the innovative adoption of the McLaren Proactive Chassis Control with no anti-roll bars. It's the entire makeup of the car helping the Proactive system work its wonders."

The awards were presented to Mark Vinnels, Programme Director at McLaren Automotive (Car of the Year) and Paul Burnham, Vehicle Dynamics Manager at McLaren Automotive (Dynamics Team of the Year). Vinnels said: "This is an important award for us. It is our first car of the year title, and recognition of everything we have put into this car: an obsession with reducing weight, a commitment to using carbon fibre in a revolutionary way, and a thorough understanding of the best ways to integrate our Formula 1 expertise. Our target was for the 12C to be the best car dynamically in all environments. That's the real breakthrough for us, that the car handles and rides beautifully on road or on track, in the hands of racing drivers or commuters, at 200 miles an hour or at 30. This has never been done before, and is great reward for our engineers and designers who have been passionate about delivering a ground-breaking new car."

Burnham said: "After moving into Automotive from McLaren Racing it was immediately obvious that everything was different, yet everything stayed the same. The dynamic challenges for a road car and a racing car are clearly poles apart - Jenson and Lewis never complain about ride quality! Yet, the integration of Formula 1 development technology, engineering know-how and a passion to win in the road car division was manifest. Whether in the simulator, on roads in every continent, or on the world's most challenging test tracks, our engineers have pushed beyond the normal rules to deliver a high-performance, lightweight, comfortable and highly efficient sports car. This award is great reward for their endeavours."