2017 Mclaren 570 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lanzante building 11 Porsche 930 restomods with actual F1-raced engines

In " Casino Royale," James Bond gets a lesson in tailored clothing when Vesper Lynd gives him a new dinner jacket. Bond tell her he already has a jacket, and Lynd replies, "There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets. This one is the latter." News from Lanzante makes us paraphrase that line in saying, "There are 911 restomods and 911 restomods." Lanzante's is definitely the latter. The English engineering firm is building 11 Eighties-era Porsche 930s with genuine TAG-branded Porsche engines that the McLaren Formula One team used to win 25 races. From 1984 to 1987, Porsche built a 1.5-liter turbocharged V6, branded as the TAG-Porsche TTE P01, for the McLaren MP4/2 and MP4/3; if the naming seems odd to cover four years, it's because McLaren raced the MP4/2B and MP4/2C in 1985 and 1986. The engine produced more than 1,000 horsepower in qualifying trim, and 750 hp in race spec. In its first three years on the grid, the engine powered McLaren to two Constructor's Championships, and three Driver's Championships for Niki Lauda and Alain Prost. During that time, McLaren built a prototype Porsche 930 with that TAG engine, but kept it so far out of sight that people spoke of it as a rumor. The English carmaker finally proved the rumor true a few years ago when it put the prototype on display in the lobby of its Woking headquarters. Enter Lanzante, which has a history with McLaren going back to at least 1995, when it prepped the Veno Clinic McLaren F1 GTR that won Le Mans that year. More recently, it built road-legal P1 GTRs called the P1 GT, and a one-off P1 Longtail. McLaren sold Lanzante the 11 engines for this run of monstrously overpowered Porsche coupes, and Lanzante showed off the first example at the recent Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca — news that somehow got lost in the general Porsche overdose and Moby Dick revival. Built just like the original McLaren-Porsche prototype, no one will think anything's astray with the new version's white bodywork and RUF wheels. The camouflage continues inside, where a pair of upholstered racing buckets might offer a small clue. The instrument panel gives things away, containing a tachometer branded "TAG Turbo" with a 9,000-rpm redline, and a water temperature gauge. Cosworth is restoring the engines for the program, and each of the 11 examples gets a plaque in the engine bay listing its engine's race history.

The ghoulish McLaren 600LT Spider by MSO lurks in the night

McLaren will use anything as an excuse to show off the customization prowess of its McLaren Special Operations (MSO) division. In the past, it has released bespoke cars to celebrate Le Mans, fashion designers, various historic racing achievements and Canada. With its recent creation, McLaren is using the 2019 Geneva Motor Show to display what a 600LT Spider could look like with a few special touches. According to McLaren, about half of all 600LT Coupe buyers use MSO in some form or another, so it assumed fans and customers would like to see similar treatment on the open-top Spider version. McLaren has shown MSO projects regularly at Geneva, and with overall demand and production ramping up, it wasn't about to stop in 2019. This show car is meant to be somewhat of an ode to the 600LT's predecessor, the 675LT, and uses Napier Green as the accent color, an original paint from the 675LT. The main body color is called Dove Grey and gives the car an under-the-radar smoky look. To apply the Napier Green — which outlines several aero pieces, appears on the brake calipers, and stripes across the side of the body — McLaren used a method previously only done on race cars. As it did with the 720S GT3 and 570S GT4, McLaren applied the paint by compressing it into a "light and flexible film." No supercar is complete these days without splashes of carbon fiber, and the MSO 600LT adheres to the trend. The exposed carbon fiber aero kit and the door scoops were given a satin finish to contrast the gloss black wheels. The interior has several optional features, as well. It has carbon fiber racing seats that were first developed for the McLaren Senna, with 600LT embroidered into the headrests. It also features an Alcantara headliner and steering wheel, as well as green contrasting elements all over the place. More carbon fiber was applied to the door inserts, the tunnel sides, the gear select housing and the infotainment surround. The 600LT by MSO is not one of McLaren's most outrageous works, nor does it have a specific theme for its debut, but it will surely draw plenty of attention in Geneva. Since driving one, we've spent most of our time daydreaming about what it'd be like to craft our own. Related Video:

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: