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McLaren 600LT Spider revealed: Top-down performance

In internet parlance, a long tail is a story or topic that endures, that people stick with over a long time. That idea could be translated in automotive terms to a classic. McLaren's Longtail models are modern classics, and the bespoke sports car maker has just minted its fifth Longtail, the 600LT Spider. McLaren promises the droptop has all the track-flavored performance of the 600LT coupe, with the "added exhilaration of open-air driving." With a top-down top speed of 196 mph, that's a lot of added exhilaration. (It's 201 mph with the top up.) And just imagine the tune from those top-exit exhausts just aft of your head. McLaren says it managed to limit the weight gain in the Spider to 110 pounds over the coupe, and cites a dry weight of 2,859 pounds. Well, 2,859.4, to be McLaren-exact. That's 220 pounds lighter than the 570S Spider from which this car is derived, and lighter than its exotic competitors. Customers can also order their cars with seats from the Senna and with radio and climate control delete for maximum weight loss. Much of the weight savings credit goes the car's carbon fiber MonoCell II chassis that, even with the roof cut off, remains as rigid as the coupe without any added reinforcements. As for power, McLaren cites 592 hp and 457 pound-feet of torque from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8. That's 4.82 pounds per horsepower, for a 0-to-60 time of 2.8 seconds, on par with the coupe. You surely won't even notice that the Spider's time to 200 kph (124 mph) at 8.4 seconds is 0.2 seconds slower than the coupe. All that power is delivered by a dual-clutch seven-speed transmission. An Ignition Cut feature in Sport mode is said to facilitate faster shifting "whilst delivering a dramatic aural crack from the top-exit exhausts." A feature called Inertia Push (isn't all driving an inertia push?) is supposed to boost acceleration in Track mode. The retractable three-piece hardtop can be operated at speeds to 25 mph. It stows into a tonneau cover behind the seats that can provide a bit more storage when the top is up. And even the Pirelli P Zero™ Trofeo R tires are bespoke, "for track-focused dynamics." The Spider is available to order now, starting at $256,500. Related Video:

Lego McLaren Senna is cheap to own, but you have to build it yourself

At about a million dollars, the McLaren Senna's price tag is eye-popping. But if you're willing to build it yourself, you can get it for a fraction of the price. Well, and if you're OK with it being much smaller and made of plastic, since this assembly-required Senna is a new Lego Speed Champions kit. Since the Speed Champions cars are quite small, a lot of detail is lost, especially when replicating such a complex and detailed car as the Senna. But key details such as the clear door panels and airplane-sized wing have been translated to brick. The kit also includes a wind tunnel fan so your Lego mini figures can live the McLaren engineer life, finding ways to cut drag on a vehicle with so many flat surfaces and sharp corners. The Lego McLaren kit is available now wherever Legos are sold. On the Lego web store, it's listed for $14.99. Related Video:

McLaren 600LT Spider to show its drop top next week

McLaren is adding yet another Longtail variant to its expanding stable of supercars, as teased in the video above. The company doesn't explicitly say it, but it's clearly the McLaren 600LT Spider. The upturned exhaust is the first clue that it's based on the 600LT, and as the camera pans around, we see the car's shadow has a gap where the roof is missing. Since this new McLaren is a derivative of the 600LT coupe, we assume it will make the same 592 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque. Those ponies ought to sound much sweeter without a roof in the way. The 600LT Spider will probably weigh about 200 pounds less than the regular 570S Spider, similar to the weight difference between the coupes. And if the 570S Spider is anything to go by, there shouldn't be much, if any, difference in performance between fixed- and removable-roof 600LT models. McLaren will reveal the car on January 16, so we won't have to wait long for all the delectable details. When it launches, it will be the fifth McLaren model to have the Longtail's LT designation. It won't be the first convertible, though, since McLaren made a 675LT Spider a few years ago. Related Video:

McLaren shows off personalization options for the Speedtail

The entire McLaren Speedtail production run has been spoken for, and McLaren wants to make sure no two Speedtails are exactly the same. A wide range of personalization options is offered to the 106 clients that have put down a deposit for the upcoming "Hyper-GT," and McLaren has now disclosed how it plans to make the cars unique. The 250-mph 1050-horsepower gasoline-hybrid cars will be available from early 2020 on, so there's a year's time to configure them according to one's taste. The supercar maker has recently showed off some of its special editions, and the Speedtail configuration options follow in the same exquisite vein. First of all, there are three style collections, which themselves have been divided into different themes depending of the customer's needs. The main collections are called Urbane, Visionary and Dynamic: the first of them is a subdued and sophisticated setting, the second a more striking and vibrant one, and the third a more futuristic one. The Urbane trim level includes the Stratosphere theme that shows off the car in "gloss 1k visual carbon fiber," the highlights of which are accentuated by a "contour pack" and anodized aluminum brightwork. The Visionary trim's Astral theme mainly features navy blue in various ways, contrasting with the car's silver-striped orange bodywork, again complete with glossy carbon fiber but now with white gold. As for the Dynamic collection, it can be tied in with the Bloodline theme, which combines a red car with a red driver seat but with aniline passenger seats, highlighting the central throne. There are countless ways to option the 106 cars' surfaces and features, especially when McLaren's MSO division is added to the table. McLaren also reminds that there are options such as electro-chromatic window tints that function as sun visors, or that one can add more carbon or white gold if desired. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery McLaren Speedtail collections McLaren Coupe Hybrid Performance Supercars McLaren Speedtail

McLaren 720S Spa 68 edition honors McLaren's first F1 win

A couple weeks after McLaren announced a special six-car run of 570S models to commemorate significant moments in the automaker's history, the company has debuted another special edition with racing ties. The "720S Spa 68" collection, fittingly commissioned by McLaren Brussels, honors McLaren's first Formula 1 win which took place at the '68 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps 50 years ago. It was Bruce McLaren's fourth and final F1 victory before his sudden death in 1970. As McLaren notes, the maiden win in June '68 was later followed in the years since by eight constructor championships and 12 drivers' championships, the first of both in occurring 1974 with Emerson Fittipaldi driving. The three 720S cars all wear MSO's Anniversary Orange paint, the hue of which has been done in the style of the original 1968 M7A F1 car. There are outlines of the track on the bodywork and on the headrests, and numerous inscriptions also note the occasion. There's also a numbered plaque to mark the series number. There's an orange script on the carbon fiber sill cover just inside the door. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Two of the cars have reportedly already been spoken for, so there's still an available special edition car left for one lucky buyer. Related Video:

McLaren P1 GTR Senna tribute car built by MSO as the ultimate P1

McLaren just finished what looks to be one of its most incredible MSO ( McLaren Special Operations) projects ever with a P1 GTR. As is obvious in the photos, this P1 GTR is meant to celebrate the McLaren MP4/4 F1 car Ayrton Senna raced to complete dominance in the 1988 championship season. There is no shortage of Senna projects going on over at McLaren, clearly. This car has been in the works for three years running, along with McLaren's actual car, the Senna. Don't be confused, however, this is a one-off P1 GTR that a McLaren collector/Ayrton fan commissioned to be built. The livery isn't the only thing that sets it apart from other P1 GTRs either. McLaren says this car has a unique engine specification. Its heat shield is made out of 24 carat gold; the rear cover is made out of Lexan (type of plastic) and it has modified engine bay shrouds. We're not told how much more power it makes, but apparently it's more than the 986 horses in your standard P1 GTR. This Senna fan managed to wrangle the McLaren engineers into designing him a bespoke aero package for the car too. It has new front dive planes, a wider front splitter, Gurney flap, new barge boards and bigger endplates on the rear wing. Even more downforce is generated by inboard secondary wing elements. A "normal" P1 GTR produces 1,433 pounds of downforce, but this car brings that up to a whopping 1,763 pounds. Yeah, it's going to stick just fine. The design and customization on this car is pretty next-level. McLaren Rocket red and Anniversary white are the same color codes used on the F1 car. Both doors have the Marlboro barcode that was used in lieu of Marlboro script when regulations changed to bar that sort of advertising. Senna branding is all over the thing, everywhere you look. The seats are actually the same ones McLaren used in the Senna (actual car) itself. Yeah, there's a whole lot of Senna going on here. With the unbelievable attention to detail and expense that went into this car, we wonder what the owner's plans are for it. Will it live at the track (we hope) as the extra power and aero suggests? Or is this something to be put away in a collection because it's just too freaking special? Call it a good problem to have. This thing is awesome. Related video:

McLaren displays six bespoke 570S models with historic themes

McLaren Beverly Hills has commissioned a special collection of 570S models, both in Coupe and Spider configuration, to commemorate McLaren's racing history. The collection, named Racing Through the Ages, features six cars done up in three themes: Muriwai, Papaya Spark and Sarthe Grey, all neatly tying in with specific periods in McLaren racing, and all with the GT4 racing stripe decorating the exteriors. The first of the car themes, Muriwai, stands for Muriwai Beach in New Zealand, the place where Bruce McLaren first took part in a race at the age of 15. McLaren also built a house with the same name in Woking, and the color theme is similarly bluish white, with the car wearing MSO Defined Muriwai White paint and a McLaren orange "Speedy Kiwi" logo. The second, Papaya Spark, is done in a color reminiscent of McLaren's 1960s-1970s racing livery, from the time McLaren claimed Can-Am, Indy 500 and Formula One wins. The car's fixed rear wing is painted Burton Blue, in the style of the original racers. As for the third one, Sarthe Grey, it's easy to guess the Le Mans reference: these cars commemorate McLaren's 1995 win with F1 GTR cars claiming first, third, fourth, fifth and thirteenth place. The hue of the two Sarthe Grey cars here imitates the paint color on the winning F1 GTR, and the rear wing reads "24 HEURES DU MANS – WINNERS 1995". Each of the six cars wears a numbered plate with the text "1 of 6 – Racing Through the Ages", and the interiors – right down to ignition keys – are matched to the respective theme. "It's exciting for us at MSO any time we are able to merge McLaren's racing heritage with current McLaren Automotive road cars," said Ansar Ali, the Managing Director of McLaren Special Operations. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

McLaren 720S Spider debuts with new roof, colors, glass flying buttresses

McLaren Automotive's special gift to attendees at the company's Winter Ball was the reveal of the 720S Spider. Coming about 18 months after the launch of the 720S Coupe, McLaren has made a few specific changes compared to the hardtop, like frameless doors and new rear spoiler programming, along with wide improvements over the last Super Series roadster, the 650S Spider. The carbon Monocage II tub in the fixed-roof 720S becomes the Monocage II-S in the Spider. Even though the tub discards the overhead spine, new carbon supports at the tub's rear return the lost rigidity. The 650S used steel supports fitted into its Monocage; switching to carbon means saving 15 pounds in the rollover protection structure compared to the predecessor car. The Monocage II-S needs no extra strengthening elsewhere, keeping the slim A-pillars and header rail of the 720S. A new hardtop mechanism operates the standard all-carbon-fiber roof. Electrically instead of hydraulically actuated, the mechanism is another source of weight loss and performance gain. The motors raise and lower the roof in 11 seconds, at speeds up to 31 miles per hour. The operation happens six seconds faster than on the 650S Spider, at a top speed 13 mph higher. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The rear end's carbon fiber deck has been redesigned to stow the roof, leaving a two-square-foot cubby underneath for luggage when the roof is up. To maximize visibility to the rear-three-quarter, McLaren made the buttresses extending from the roll hoops to the fenders out of glazed glass. Customers wanting more visibility skyward can order an electrochromic glass roof that tints or goes all clear with a button push. Kitted out so, the glass top tints automatically when the car's turned off, then returns to its last setting upon restart. The M840T 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 possesses familiar gumption here, being 710 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. McLaren redrew the underfloor aero and tuned the rear spoiler to manage the Spider's unique airflow. Because the 720S Spider puts on just 108 pounds more than the coupe, performance varies by only a tenth of a second in some cases. The 0-60 dash transpires in 2.8 seconds, the top speed clocks in at 212 mph, both the same as the coupe. Gunning on to 124 mph takes 7.9 seconds, the quarter-mile needs 10.4 seconds, both times a tenth more than the coupe.

McLaren and Alonso will use Chevy engines at Indy 500

Fernando Alonso will have a Chevrolet engine in his McLaren when the double Formula One champion attempts to win next year's Indianapolis 500 in his second attempt, the British team announced on Tuesday. The 37-year-old Spaniard led 27 laps last year on his debut at The Brickyard in a Honda-powered Andretti Autosport car before retiring with an engine problem with 21 laps to go. The 2018 Indy 500 winner, Australian Will Power, won with Chevrolet-powered Team Penske last May. "Having Chevrolet power behind me means we're putting ourselves in the best possible position to compete at the front," said Alonso in a McLaren statement. The double Monaco Grand Prix winner, who won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota this year, left Formula One at the end of the season last month and is targeting Indianapolis as the final part of the "Triple Crown of Motorsport": winning the Formula One championship (or Monaco), Le Mans and the Indy 500. The late Briton Graham Hill, also a two-times Formula One champion who died in 1975, is the only one to have done it, completing the triple in 1972.Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video: Motorsports Chevrolet McLaren Racing Vehicles IndyCar

Novitec N-Largo McLaren 720s boasts big presence to match big power

If a carbon tax referred to a penalty based on how much carbon fiber were used to build a car, specialty tuner Novitec Group would be looking at a hefty bill for its most recent creation. The Novitec N-Largo adds not just a styling kit, not just a performance upgrade, not just a suspension adjustment, but all three to the already massively talented 720s supercar. Based in Germany, Novitec has made a name for itself tuning elite performance and luxury cars, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royces, Maseratis, Teslas, and McLarens. In the past, Novitec has offered its takes on McLaren's 540C, the 570S, the 570GT, and even a different example of the 720s. But this new build has a much more assertive personality than the previously subtle makeover. Limited to just 15 examples, the N-Largo gives the 720s a look similar to that of the McLaren Senna. Using molded carbon fiber, the N-Largo ditches the soft and suave curves of the stock car for a more aggressive demeanor. The car can been lowered 1.3 inches with sport springs, and it sits on staggered Vossen MC2 forged center-lock wheels, 20-inch in the front and 21-inch in the rear, wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero rubber. Novitec N-Largo McLaren 720s View 26 Photos Novitec notes that the new bumpers completely replace the original McLaren parts and bolt to the secure original connection points. The styling kit was not devoid of practical thought, either, as the kit maintains the aerodynamic and cooling bits that help make the 720s such a deadly performance vehicle. The N-Largo also adds a new rear airfoil attachment that is claimed to increase downforce. Most importantly, Novitec crafted three different levels of performance tunes for the 720s. According to Vossen, an auxiliary control unit plugs in and adapts to the electronic engine controls on the car. In the most powerful stage 2 configuration, which includes a performance exhaust, the N-Largo shows up to the tune of 794 horsepower and 648 lb-ft of torque, 84 more horses and 80 more lb-ft than the standard 710 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque from the twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8. According to Novitec and Vossen, this gives the N-Largo a 0-62 time of 2.7 seconds, a 0-124 run in 7.5 seconds, and a top speed of about 215 mph. There's no word on pricing or availability, but we can tell you this: Novitec is already working on an interpretation of the McLaren 600LT. We have a feeling it might be even more braggadocious than the 720s. Related Video: