Forget all the fancy stuff from Italy – the really interesting supercars are being built here in Britain….and business is booming.
I’m talking McLaren Automotive, the Surrey-based manufacturer, and they’re doing some amazing things right now just five years after the company was formed.
The 570S took my breath away when I was lucky enough to get behind the wheel for the first time, especially when I was allowed to take it with the foot to the floor round the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold in the deep south.
But that was surpassed a wee while ago here in Scotland when I got hold of their latest creation, the 675LT Spider. It is undoubtedly one of the most sensational cars I ever driven but it’s also a masterpiece in the dark art of weight saving.
One of their technical specialists, Mark Gayton, who’s the project manager for the 675LT is a touch obsessive about it. Not his own – he looks trim and fit – but all around he sees ways of making things lighter, so they’re more efficient…….and go faster.
“When I’m on a plane I see all this extra weight they’re carrying around. Even the curtain which closes off the different sections is adding unnecessary weight and that’s apart from all the duty free stuff they try to flog. All of that adds to fuel consumption and affects the performance of the plane”.
He certainly practises what he preaches. The new car is 100 kgs lighter than the coupe on which it’s based in spite of the extra components needed for the folding roof.
The attention to detail is phenomenal. The five steel nuts on each wheel were replaced with lightweight titanium ones and reorganising the electrical system managed to trim 3 kgs. The windscreen glass is 0.5 mms thinner and the titanium exhaust system isn’t just featherweight, it produces an amazing roar and rasp at the back end.
Sometimes this mechanical tightening of the belt led to unintended consequences. Small weightsaving modifications in the engine forced replacement of other components which eventually led to around 50% of the powertrain having to be changed. The cooling system is more efficient with the radiators turned sideways, the whole rear of the car is carbon fibre for lightness and strength and improved aerodynamics produce 40% more downforce to keep this flying machine on the road.
The end result is what McLaren call “the most engaging Spider yet.” At £285,000 it’s also a hefty investment……and that’s before the more than £29,000 of extras fitted to the test car.
That hasn’t put off buyers. The total production of just 500 cars was sold out in just two and a half weeks when the car was announced…..even before any of them were built. The limited run is part of the appeal of course and it has proved to be a major factor in McLaren Automotive’s success, already turning a profit even before its sixth birthday.
Company executives tell you that with a wry smile, comparing their achievements with those of their Italian rivals Ferrari – they don’t utter their name, referring to them only as the “F-word” – who have struggled to get their books to balance over countless years of production.
McLaren don’t stand still. They brought out five new cars last year and currently spend around 30% of their turnover – about £120 million – on research and development.
Cash flow doesn’t seem to be an issue. Customers who want something special are lining up to throw money at them. Fifty of them were happy to write a cheque for £1.98 million each for their P1 GTR programme which not only gave them their own track-only car but would have it transported to Grand Prix circuits around the world to play with over the following two years.
They have a seven-month order bank for their range of Sports Series supercars and are taking on an extra 250 staff to step up production from their total output of 3,000 this year to around 5,000 in six years’ time. By then they’ll have created fifteen new cars or derivatives of existing models but unlike Bentley or some other upmarket brands, there won’t be an SUV.
“We don’t want to build one, we don’t need to build one and our customers aren’t asking for one,” was the explanation from one McLaren boss.
They specialise in the very best of British performance cars and the 675LT is exactly that.
It gets its name from its power output 675 PS, or an astounding 666 bhp while the LT comes from the three McLaren F1 GTR Longtails which were homologated to stay competitive in sportscar racing in the late Nineties.
To describe this car as exciting is a huge understatement. McLaren brought a handful of pre-production cars to Scotland to introduce it on the road for the first time to an international group of motoring writers. I was a touch nervous, not least because I was handed the keys to their only right-hand-drive model, but delighted to be presented with a demanding 200-mile test route round the west coast taking in Oban, Tayvallich, Inverary and the Rest and be Thankful – some of the best roads and scenery we have to offer.
Sadly the weather wasn’t the best but the car behaved itself impeccably although at times I had to tread carefully round standing water and some nasty potholes which reverberated through the whole car.
By the afternoon, the clouds parted and I was able to drop the top, let in the fresh air and country sounds and enjoy the delicious chorus from the back end.
The car is superbly balanced and delights in being put through its paces with breathtaking acceleration but also the ability to bring things to a halt through the carbon ceramic disc brakes, aided by the carbon fibre airbrake wing which rises under extreme braking to keep the whole business stuck firmly to the road.
It’s not only sensational to drive – it looks amazing too with its iconic lifting dihedral doors. Every time I stopped I was pounced on by bystanders who just wanted to photograph it and in the case of one small wide-eyed boy at Inverary, to sit behind the wheel of this incredible machine.
CAR: McLaren 675LT Spider
PRICE: £285,450 (£314,520 as tested)
ENGINE: 3799cc twin turbo V8 mid-engine rear wheel drive
POWER: 666 bhp
TORQUE: 700 Nm
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 203 mph 0-62mph 2.9 secs
ECONOMY: 24 mpg combined
CO2 EMISSIONS: 275 g/km
TT Rating: 
