2020 720s Spider Performance on 2040-cars

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Is this McLaren's anticipated 570S GT?

McLaren is planning an additional body style for its new Sports Series. The British supercar manufacturer told us that before we drove the new 570S coupe in Portugal last month. And now we're seeing the prototype for that new version undergoing testing. Woking introduced the Sports Series in coupe form this year and will follow up with the convertible in 2017. This new version is expected to arrive in between, sometime in the second quarter of the new year. The big question is just what form this bodystyle will take. At the launch, McLaren spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed the variant will still use the same mid-engined layout and carbon monocoque chassis as the company's other cars. He also discounted the possibility of a more extreme speedster (like it did with the Mercedes SLR), and confirmed that a longtail version like the 675LT would not, in the company''s estimation, be considered a distinct bodystyle. Based on earlier reports of ideas being thrown around Frank Stephenson's design studio, and from what we're seeing here, it appears that the new addition will be some sort of GT version. The modified roofline would seem to be incorporating a larger luggage compartment, enhancing the prospect of driving the sports car on a daily basis. We can expect this new model to be mechanically identical to the existing coupe. That means a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 driving 562 horsepower (in 570S spec) to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Related Video:

McLaren taunts us with two supercars we can't have

Most of the supercars we're seeing at the Geneva Motor Show are well beyond our reach, but they're usually obtainable for a truckload of cash. Not the P1 or 675LT Spider. Both are sold out. Alongside the new 570GT, McLaren arrived at the Geneva Palexpo this year with two supercars that are entirely sold out. Chief among them is the P1 that McLaren Special Operations has completely redone in bare carbon fiber – albeit lacquered in blue and fitted with a 24-karat gold heatshield, just like on the original McLaren F1. Of course, since the P1 is all sold out, we can't have one, but MSO is still catering to the existing owners by offering this sort of upgrades. Joining it is the 675LT Spider which – like the P1 – is also completely sold out. Fans of Woking's finest will recall that the 675LT Spider followed the coupe, which was in turn based on the same underpinnings as the 650S and the 12C before it in McLaren's mid-level Super Series. As with the 675LT coupe, the Spider packs a more powerful version of the company's 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, propelling it from a standstill to 62 miles per hour in just 2.9 seconds. Related Video:

FIA introduces 'Hypercar Concept' for World Endurance Championship

One of the most common jabs at hypercars is the question, "Where can you drive them to their potential?" Imagine the answer being: to the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We're not there yet, but the FIA World Motor Sport Council took a step closer to the possibility during its second annual meeting in Manila, the Philippines. One of three initiatives the WSMC announced for the 2020 World Endurance Championship was "Freedom of design for brands based on a 'Hypercar' concept." This "Hypercar concept" would replace LMP1 as the premier class in the WEC. The dream, of course, would be seeing racing versions of the AMG Project One, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Regera, McLaren Senna GTR, Pagani Huara BC, and the rest of the gang trading paint and carbon fiber through Dunlop in a heinously expensive version of "Buy on Sunday, sell on Monday." The reality is that we don't have all the details yet on the set of regulations called "GTP," but the FIA wants race cars more closely tied to road cars, albeit with the performance level of today's LMP1 cars. Exterior design freedom would shelter internals designed to reduce costs, the FIA planning to mandate less complex hybrid systems and allow the purchase of spec systems. One of the FIA's primary goals is lowering LMP1 budgets to a quarter of their present levels. Audi and Porsche budgets exceeded $200 million, while Toyota - the only factory LMP1 entry this year and next - is assumed to have a budget hovering around $100 million. Reports indicated that Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota sat in on the development of the proposed class. If the FIA can get costs down to around $25 million, that would compare running a top IndyCar team and have to be hugely appealing to the assembled carmakers. The initiative represents another cycle of the roughly once-a-decade reboot of sports car racing to counter power or cost concerns. The FIA shut down Group 5 Special Production Sports Car class in 1982 to halt worrying power hikes, and introduced Group C. In 1993, Group C came to an ignoble end over costs; manufacturers were spending $15 million on a season, back when that was real money and not one-fifth of a Ferrari 250 GTO. Then came the BPR Global GT Series that morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which would see the last not-really-a-road car take overall Le Mans victory in 1998, the Porsche 911 GT1. That era would be most aligned with a future hypercar class.