2018 Mclaren 570 Coupe on 2040-cars

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The McLaren 570GT is slower and softer, and maybe that's a good thing

If there was ever a car that could do with a bit less going on, it's the new McLaren 570S. The company's design chief, Robert Melville, says that McLaren design is a "purist statement" with no excess. We think he need to examining the prescription of his spectacles. In the case of the 570S particularly, there's a distinct possibility that less might actually be a great deal more. Now, meet the new GT version of the 570S, which makes its debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. The on-sale date is in July, with the first US deliveries taking place in late 2016. This is a case where GT does not mean performance, but instead the traditional definition of Grand Touring. With a swipe of his felt tip pen over a just a few panels (roof, rear wings, and deck), Melville and his team transformed the look and mien of this British mid-engine supercar. They've transformed its usefulness, too, with a sizeable hatchback behind the driver and passenger that gives an additional 7.8 cubic feet of space, now 12.4 in total. As vehicle line director Andy Palmer puts it, "more than that in a Ford Focus." And he should know, having worked on that ubiquitous Ford in a former life. The side-hinged glass rear hatch means curbside loading is possible, although you'll have to luggage across the coachwork, so watch for those brass sliders and zips. The hinge side varies according to left-versus right-hand-drive markets. The redesigned aluminium panels and additional trim adds more than 80 pounds to the car's claimed weight – 2,976 pounds compared to 2,894 in the 570S. There's an associated (though negligible) reduction in acceleration time with the GT, too – 3.4 seconds to 62 miles per hour, up from 3.2 in the 570S. The larger 0-124-mph sprint takes 9.8 seconds, compared to the S' 9.5, but never fear, the top end remains unchanged at 204 mph. The basic carbon-fiber tub remains, as does the mid-mounted Ricardo designed-and-built M838TE engine – a 3.8-liter, 90-degree, quad-cam, dry-sump, twin-turbo V8, which pumps out 562 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, running through a seven-speed, twin-clutch, semi-automatic transmission to the rear wheels. There are, however, chassis changes to suit the GT car's long-distance ambitions. While a significant minority of 570S owners will take their car to the track for the occasional speedy lap or two, McLaren says that even fewer GT owners will indulge themselves like this.

2016 Canadian Grand Prix: A tale of 3 starts and 2 stops

The first curve in the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix happened before Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton sat on pole in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari behind. That order changed as soon as the lights went out. Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg started well enough, but Vettel flew off the line, passing Hamilton in just a few meters. Vettel led through Turn 1 while Hamilton defended against Rosberg trying to pass on the outside by using the entire track. Hamilton bumped his teammate, sending Rosberg into the concrete runoff with an " infuriating but fair" maneuver Hamilton blamed on understeer. The Brit stayed second, his teammate fell to ninth by the time he rejoined the circuit and got back on the gas. The Ferrari finally looked an even match for the Mercedes, Vettel slowly building a gap out front. On Lap 11 the Honda in Jenson Button's McLaren self-ignited just after the hairpin, forcing Button to pull over on the Casino Straight. A Virtual Safety Car slowed the field, convincing Ferrari to pit its drivers. Vettel came in, handing the lead to Hamilton. The marshals cleared Button's car more quickly than expected, so the scuderia didn't get the full time advantage it expected, sending Vettel back on track seven seconds behind the Mercedes. Button's and Ferrari's unplanned stops decided the race. Ferrari had always planned to run a two-stopper, but the early pit didn't give the team a chance to gauge the ultra-soft Pirelli. The ultra-softs lasted longer than anyone expected. Hamilton only pitted once, Vettel had to pit again, and the Ferrari simply couldn't close the gap to the Mercedes even with newer tires. Post-race commentary accused Ferrari of two blunders: giving up track position, and not taking advantage of Mercedes' only known weakness of not being nearly as good in dirty air. If the ultra-softs had fallen off a performance cliff, however, Ferrari's play would have been considered daring and brilliant. Hamilton took his second win of the season, followed by a hard-driving Vettel five seconds later. Valtteri Bottas and Williams got everything right, the Finn taking advantage of a one-stop strategy, a perfectly-timed pit stop, and more unusual Red Bull issues to finish third. It's Williams' first podium of the year. Max Verstappen claimed fourth after two pit stops, holding off a frustrated Rosberg who had to make an unscheduled stop to remedy a slow puncture.

McLaren 675LT is already sold out

You wouldn't associate McLaren with doing things slowly, but we didn't anticipate how fast it would sell out of the 675LT. The British racing team turned exotic automaker revealed the 675LT as a longer, more hardcore version of the 650S at the Geneva Motor Show this past March. At the time it announced that only 500 examples would be made. Now just two months later, McLaren spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed to Autoblog that the entire production run has already sold out. "Around half the buyers" who placed their orders for the 675LT, Bruce tells us, "are new to the brand." The other half, by extension, are existing McLaren customers who already own (or have owned) a 12C, 650S or P1. The 675LT sits in the company's new Super Series alongside the aforementioned 650S and the more accessible Asian-market 625C. With 666 horsepower on tap from McLaren's signature 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, the Longtail will rocket to 62 in under three seconds en route to a top speed of 205 miles per hour. It comes exclusively in fixed-roof-coupe form and retails for GBP259,500. That's equivalent to about $400,000 at current exchange rates, and comes out to about the same (in either currency) as what Lamborghini charges for an Aventador. Related Video: