2019 Mclaren 600lt Coupe on 2040-cars

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McLaren 600LT First Drive Review | Longer, lighter and a lust for life

BUDAPEST, Hungary — There is no point when driving a McLaren 570S where you think, "Boy, this feels a bit soft, flabby and underpowered — what it really needs are some extra horses and a sharper setup." And yet that's exactly what McLaren has done for the 600LT, the brand's newest addition to the Sports Series and latest chapter in the "Longtail" story. Literally, this equates to nearly three inches of extra aero-enhanced bodywork and more power. Emotionally, it represents a lot more. Given that the previous installments were the F1 GTR and 675LT, you have some sense of where the 600LT sits, and the expectation it needs to live up to. Junior supercar or not, there's nothing babyish about this car's intent. My previous experience of McLaren Sports Series cars on track includes lapping Silverstone in the 570GT. On street-spec Pirelli P Zero tires and with steel brakes, this supposedly comfort-oriented model pulled 168 mph down Hangar Straight and is agile enough to shame supposedly track-focused supercars from a class above. Yet the 600LT has an extra 30 horsepower, carries significantly less weight, and wears semi-slick Trofeo R rubber on its spindly forged wheels. Figures include peak output of 592 horsepower, 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds, 0-124 mph in 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 204 mph, and cornering speeds have increased compared to the more powerful and sophisticated 675LT. Just how sharp do they want to make this thing? The answer comes on another F1 track, this time the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest. Before I'm allowed out in the LT, I get a handful of sighting laps in a 570S, until now the sharpest Sports Series in the range and already a formidably fast and agile car in its own right. Like any McLaren, it has a lovely combination of superb visibility, a driver-focused cockpit, pin-sharp controls and huge punch from the 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V8. Where others mask their forced induction, McLaren has always seemed proud to highlight the Millennium Falcon-style rush of boost, the trademark lack of curb weight offsetting any sense of low-rev lethargy. And sure enough, the 570S demands that its driver is on top of things. Greedy throttle applications require corrections at the wheel, while late braking from high speeds causes the rear axle to break loose, writhing about in marked contrast to the locked-down Super Series 650S or 720S. What can I expect to be different in the 600LT?

McLaren Special Ops cooks up a devilish P1

When you're paying a million bucks for a supercar, you earn the right to get it just the way you want. And this is how one British customer opted to have his (or hers) spec'd out. Outfitted by McLaren Special Operations, this particular McLaren P1 has been done up in a rather devilish black and red livery reminiscent of the scheme that the company's Formula One team is running on its single-seaters this season. The mostly black bodywork, as you can see, is accented by red nostrils, red fading into black along the fenders and doors, a red-framed roof, red aero, and red-accented black wheels. The theme continues on the inside, with glossy red inserts and contrasting red stitching adorning the black leather and bare carbon-fiber trim. It's certainly not for the faint of heart, but then a 900-horsepower hybrid hypercar seldom is.

McLaren 650S successor will get twin-turbo V8 hybrid

The trickledown theory is central to an automaker's justification of auto racing. It's the idea that stuff developed in competition informs how production cars are built or what features are included. It's why today you can get performance cars with carbon fiber bodies and carbon-ceramic brakes – and thanks to Formula 1 and endurance racing, it's why you'll soon be able to buy high-performance hybrids. McLaren is all about the trickledown theory. The energy recovery system that started in the company's F1 cars inspired the hybrid drivetrain in the P1 hypercar. And now, the British company has confirmed that a similar setup will grace the replacement for the 650S and 675LT. Code-named the P14, Car and Driver reports an updated 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 will be the centerpiece, but a focus will be on reducing the weight of batteries and electric motors. In fact, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said shedding weight is central to all of the company's hybrid pursuits. "The P1 had 375 pounds of [batteries/motors] if you added it up; I think that today we're within a 70- to 110-pound weight penalty for hybrid," Flewitt told C/D. "I want to eliminate that, get it to zero – and then really hack off my engineers by saying we want to make it even lighter than a conventional powertrain would be. But that's in the future, it's something we're constantly driving." Just because the next mid-range supercar from McLaren will get bits of P1, don't expect this kind of hybrid technology to filter into the company's more affordable offerings. Part of the reason McLaren is making this move with the successor to the 650S/675LT is because it will much faster, and in turn allow the company to create an even greater separation between its so-called Sports and Super Series cars. Still, McLaren is making some very good decisions for drivers. Moving such an advanced piece of technology downmarket and focusing on cutting weight out of said tech is proof positive that the trickledown theory of motorsports works. Expect to see this new McLaren hybrid at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. Related Video: