McLaren teases 570S 'Longtail': Update!
Woking has circulated another teaser of its forthcoming LT. It gets straight to the point
Update, 13.06.18
Well, there you go. Short of doing away with the cover altogether and having the exhaust manifold open to the heavens, it hardly seems like McLaren could have been more direct with the LT's new top-exit tailpipes. You can draw your own conclusions about the styling implications, but we rather like the result, which are pleasingly reminiscent of Harrier jet nozzles. Or something.
Certainly they're going to be on the warm side with the engine running. Just visible south of them is the fixed spoiler we speculated about, which is plainly not made of the same thing from end to end. You'd suspect that's a heat-resistance coating of some sort in the middle - which does rather double down on the idea of an LT version being more extreme. What else have we learnt? Well, McLaren has confirmed the car's global public debut for the Goodwood Festival of Speed next month, and that the car will be 'limited to the few'. No kidding.
Original story, 06.06.18
Rumour of more performance-orientated version of the 570S has been bubbling since the spring, and they've now been all but confirmed by the teaser pic of said car currently doing social media rounds. The logic of what Autocar has previously called the 'LT' version isn't hard to suss out: there is, after all, quite a lot of daylight between the 570hp Sports Series and the 720hp Super Series - one that would be quite nicely filled by a 570S with 600ish horsepower.
The photo, of course, tells us nothing about where the output of McLaren's V8 has finished up, but it does substantiate a few other things you'd expect from an LT. Firstly, there's the volume of carbon fibre on show; a sure sign that Woking's engineers have worked hard to subtract yet more mass from the standard car's already modest kerbweight. Secondly, there's evidence of a heavily enhanced aero pack: obvious in the new fin located aft of the back wheel, but also in what looks like a mount for a fixed wing above the lip of current spoiler.
Thirdly, and most tantalisingly, where's the exhaust gone? In the 570S, it exits on either side of the diffuser, adjacent to the body work. Plainly this isn't case for the LT - and with no sign of them exiting at thigh-height (as they do in the 720S) it seems likely that McLaren has found an even more direct route from engine bay. That suggests a notable degree of re-engineering for the new model, and makes the idea of near £200k 570S seem all the more plausible.
That's all just guesswork, though. For now the cards remain firmly pressed to the side of the Technology Centre, ahead of an official launch. Given the nature of the car, and the timing of the teaser, you'd probably get short odds of something appearing at Goodwood next month. Either way, we'd bet that Woking's pocket-size supercar is about to become even more desirable.
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