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A Formula 1 car with no engine: that’s one future envisaged and made real – or virtual, at least – by McLaren’s extraordinary MP4-X concept.

Created by McLaren Applied Technologies, the advanced solutions ‘skunkworks’ of McLaren’s Bond-villain Woking HQ, the MP4-X is a single-seat, closed cockpit racer designed to “peer into the future and imagine the art of the possible”.

The technologies in the MP4-X are all real, but many of them are either too early in development or too expensive to be used today. It uses electricity rather than a conventional internal combustion engine, storing energy in ‘thin batteries’ integrated throughout the car’s crash structure rather than concentrated in one area. Energy would be harvested from brake regeneration, from charging loops embedded in the track surface, and from the sun.

Morphing bodypanels made from adaptive shape-memory alloys will be able to alter their shape under electrical currents in order to optimise different loads and conditions. “Sensor-driven control systems could adapt the wing,” said McLaren’s chief innovation officer Geoff McGrath. Such advances could play a big part in reducing the frustration of drivers unable to pass cars because of the disturbing effect of ‘dirty air’.

The MP-4X will be able to diagnose its own structural condition during a race, providing instant information to engineers after an accident. Active tyre sensors in the wheel-encasing covers wlll allow wear to be monitored and pressures to be tuned mid-race.

All-round cameras will feed back imagery to the driver’s helmet, providing a clear 360-degree view. Head-up displays will give alerts on circuit condition, competitor positions and information from the pits.

McLaren is also looking at controlling the main functions of future cars – steering, braking and acceleration – by thought, via a holographic system interacting with the electrical signals from a driver’s brain. Driver fatigue and hydration will be checked by smart-fabric overalls which will also be able to identify injury points.

Describing F1 as “the ultimate gladiatorial sport”, McLaren Technology Group brand director John Allert referenced the need to “excite fans” through a “high tech, high performance showcase”. The MP4-X certainly does that. With luck McLaren will also be able to conjure up some exciting noise to go with it.