For the car enthusiast who also loves fast jets, this could be the collaboration you’ve been dreaming of. McLaren Automotive is already known for building some of the fastest cars on the planet. Now, the British company is teaming up with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to explore new ways to design the supercar of the future.
Anyone with some knowledge of aviation needs no introduction to Skunk Works. For others, you may have heard of the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, F-117 Stealth Fighter, U-2 spy plane, or SR-71 Blackbird. If the plane’s name and designation are still a little hazy, you might recognize the sleek jet in the photo gallery below, posing with the new McLaren Artura. That’s Darkstar, the conceptual hypersonic jet designed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works that appears in the opening scene Top Weapon: Maverick – the highest-grossing film of 2022 with $1.48 billion.
3 Photo
What exactly is meant by this collaboration? McLaren didn’t provide details, which ironically goes hand in hand with the many secretive projects Skunk Works has handled over the decades. The focus of the partnership is to turn the aerospace company’s design software into something applicable to supercars, with a focus on high-speed automotive systems. Given that the SR-71 Blackbird still holds the world absolute speed record for an air-combustion engine at 2,193 mph (Mach 3.3), we wonder what kind of crazy supercar McLaren had in mind.
“McLaren is a pioneering company that is always pushing boundaries and looking for new, innovative and disruptive solutions to build the very best supercars,” said McLaren Chief Technical Officer Darren Goddard. “Working with an iconic company like Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®, known for their visionary focus on the future, comes naturally. We hope this is the start of a longer and deeper collaboration that will benefit our customers in the long term. “
Of course, McLaren is no stranger to speed records. In 1998 – eight years after the SR-71 Blackbird was retired from service – Andy Wallace drove a McLaren F1 with an average top speed of 240.1 mph. It surpassed F1’s previous mark of 231 mph to become the fastest production car in the world, a record that stood for several years until the Bugatti Veyron clocked 253.8 mph in 2005. F1 is still one of the fastest production vehicles in the world, 30 years on. after his debut.
Looking for more automotive superstars? Check out the specials Rambling About Cars episode focusing on the 2022 Motor1.com Star Awards, available below.
