If you ever get the chance to visit the McLaren Technology Centre – highly recommended – you’ll be politely asked to refrain from taking photos. Even on the Boulevard that displays a rotating collection of road and race cars from the company’s history, and where this intriguing photo was taken.
Even though it’s set up for visitors to enjoy, the Boulevard at the center of McLaren’s headquarters in Woking overlooks some workshops that could contain some rather sensitive material and intellectual property. Like the three mystery vehicles seen in the background of this shot.
The image was posted by the Formula One team on its official Instagram feed, showing (in the foreground) one of its earlier single-seaters. But in the background are two or three vehicles that are a little tricky to identify, but clearly do not belong to any of the company’s current models.
As Motor1 points out, speculation began to mount as soon as the image was posted that the image could (by design or by accident) be giving us our best look yet at the forthcoming Speedtail. Previously known by its internal designation BP23, the Speedtail is a new hyper-GT that McLaren is known to be working on, with three-seat/center-driving layout and a 240-plus mph top speed, set to be released sometime next year.
The manufacturer responded to the speculation by denying that the prototypes in the background belong to the Speedtail. It pointed instead to the McLaren Design Night – an even held recently at the Ascot dealership showcasing how its supercars are styled. And there was at least one scale model on display there that bore some resemblance to the ones in the background of the Instagram pic, but bears some distinct differences.
We take McLaren at is word that we’re not looking at the Speedtail here. But those apparent differences, and the mere presence of the models in the workshop, make us wonder what the racing team turned exotic automaker could be working on. Here’s hoping we find out sooner rather than later.