2019 Mclaren 600lt Coupe Huge Msrp! Mso Ceramic Gray! Mso Clubsport P on 2040-cars

Auto blog

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:

2020 McLaren GT Suspension Deep Dive | A grand tour underneath

This is not the first Suspension Deep Dive I’ve written that featured a McLaren. The last one happened just over 10 years ago, if you can believe it, after a colleague and I had the chance to photograph an early naked rolling chassis of the MP4-12C before it went on sale. But this McLaren GT came to me as a fully operational machine, which allowed me to scrutinize it in my own driveway. That meant using my own tools, of course, which was frankly nerve-wracking when it came time to lift it. But it wasnÂ’t as bad as IÂ’d feared, as the jack points (more like zones) were clearly marked with stickers that depicted a floor jack icon that looked encouragingly like my own aluminum race jack. WhatÂ’s more, IÂ’d recently bought soft rubber jack and jackstand pads meant for safely supporting vehicles such as this. Thing is, the GT sat so low that I couldnÂ’t slide my floor jack underneath without additional measures. In front, this simply meant raising the carÂ’s nose lift, which weÂ’ll see later. But the rear has no such system. To gain the needed clearance I had to drive this quarter-million-dollar GT up onto a 2x6 laid flat on a square of plywood as if I were leveling a motorhome to make the fridge work properly. Yes, really.   Even with the front wheel safely removed, the GTÂ’s huge carbon-ceramic brake rotor blocks most of the view and makes it hard to see much of anything else. The main exception is the top end of what looks like a somewhat familiar damper assembly.   Like the MP4-12C and 720S, the McLaren GTÂ’s shocks are inverted to minimize unsprung mass. The damperÂ’s narrow shaft (green arrow, and hidden by a protective telescopic boot) makes up the moving end at the bottom, while the more massive business end and its horizontally arrayed and electronically controlled damper valves (yellow) are fixed to the chassis at the top. The higher of the two lumps is the compression valve, the lower one is the rebound valve. The McLaren GT parts ways with the MP4-12C and 720S at this point in a big way. Those Super Series cars have a kinetic hydraulic roll stabilization system, in which transverse piping links the compression valve on this side to the rebound valve on the opposite side, and vice-versa. But here we see a traditional stabilizer bar (red) of the same sort as the 570GT and 570S, albeit with a different specification that befits the GTÂ’s role as, well, a GT.

2020 McLaren GT | Grand Touring, with an edge

As the winter settles in, I find myself reflecting on the most memorable cars that I’ve tested this year. Chief among them, the McLaren GT. I drove the GT on a damp midsummer evening. After a lengthy heatwave, temperatures dipped into the low 60s and it was raining lightly. Not the ideal time to drive a $263,000 supercar. And yet, it was impossible not to be excited and curious.  McLaren has come a long way in a short time. With a decade under its belt as a standalone automotive operation, the company is delivering on ambitious growth plans and now counts four product lines in its portfolio, ranging from the Ultimate to this GT. ItÂ’s a surprising trajectory considering McLaren is best known for making shooting stars, like the 1990s F1 that captured the zeitgeist for supercars of that era. The F1 was followed by the indelible Mercedes-McLaren SLR from 2003-2010.  It wasnÂ’t until 2011 that McLaren Automotive — freshly spun off from the racing team — attempted a credible road-going car that could actually be purchased and driven by normal enthusiasts. That car, the 12C, was a first step that ultimately led to proliferation of vehicles and technology for McLaren. After a few hours of spirited driving the GT, my conclusion boiled down to one word: maturity. It over-delivered as a grand tourer, though the car is about as much of a GT as the Ford GT, which is to say, not much. My back was a little tight when I returned home, fatigued but not abused. The McLaren GT is a driving workout on par with an Audi R8 or Lamborghini Huracan. Performance? It has plenty. But also notable, the fit-and-finish is solid, the looks are striking and it felt like the product of a company thatÂ’s been doing this for awhile, which McLaren hasnÂ’t. Certainly competitive with Ferraris and Lamborghis and interesting in its own way. A small shop like McLaren is always going to face challenges achieving scale and consistent prosperity, and the pandemic wreaked havoc on the automaking and racing units. Still, the GT is indicative the company can expand without overreaching. As I parse my notes from that drive, hereÂ’s three takeaways that remain with me, months later, crystallizing the GTÂ’s place in the modern performance world. Exterior design: More than just the doors The GT is one of the best-looking McLarens of this or any era. The cowls on the side behind the doors give the car a sinister, almost Decepticon vibe, but the rest of the car is relatively subtle.