McLaren 600LT revealed: Update!
Further information about the 600LT has come to light. And guess what? We don't want one any less
UPDATE - 11-07-2018
So with the dynamic debut of the 600LT fast approaching (we're about 24hrs away, in fact), Woking has furnished us with a little more detail about the fourth car to wear the 'Longtail' designation. Most notable, of course, are the numbers it declined to reveal previously. The smallest is our favourite: deleting the door pockets and the glovebox apparently saved the car 1kg of its 100kg total weight loss. The team confessed to agonising about that loss of practicality for the sake of a solitary kilogram - but we like it. No messin'.
Of course, the second smallest number is slightly more significant, and that's the 2.9 seconds the 600LT takes to get to 62mph - making it (as we suspected) 0.3 seconds quicker than a standard 570S. And if that seems too marginal, by the time the newcomer hits 124mph, it will be fully 1.3 seconds clear of its less powerful sibling. Top speed remains the same at just beyond 200mph.
If that's a mild surprise given the extra power then don't forget that the Longtail's enhanced aero package has endowed the car with considerably more downforce than the 570S. In fact at 155mph, it's now delivering 100kg of the stuff thanks to that new front splitter, extended rear diffuser and that fixed rear wing - which will apparently end up with a (wipeable) black coating on its heat-resistant section after heavy track use. Very Le Mans.
Supporting that rear wing actually adds 3.5kg to the car's kerbweight, but everything else done to the car is inevitably in the minus column. That new exhaust system accounts for 12.6kg, and the wheels (including the Trofeo tyres) contributes another 17kg to weight loss. If you're brave enough to delete the air con that'll save an additional 12.6kg, and the funkiest optional seats account for another 24.6kg. Different components make a difference, too - the suspension being 10.2kg lighter, with 9.3kg saved through the increased use of carbon fibre panels and thinner glazing.
It all feels likely to add up to something pretty spectacular; a notion McLaren doubles down on by stating that the new model's cornering speeds exceed those of a 675LT - the car it was benchmarked against. If that little lot has further peaked your interest, you'll be happy to hear that the order books are open ahead of production starting in October of this year. Count on us to report back with some driving impressions a good while before then though...
SPECIFICATION - MCLAREN 600 LT COUPE
Engine
M838TE, 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, 3,799cc
Power 600hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque 457lb ft @ 5,500-6,500rpm
Drivetrain
Longitudinal mid-engined, RWD
Transmission
7 Speed SSG. Normal, Sport and Track modes
Steering
Electro-hydraulic; power-assisted
Chassis
Carbon fibre MonoCell II monocoque, with aluminium front and rear crash structures
Suspension
Independent adaptive dampers, dual aluminium wishbones. Normal, Sport and Track modes
Brakes
Carbon Ceramic Discs (390mm front; 380mm rear); Aluminium Calipers (6-piston front; 4-piston rear)
Wheels
Front: 8J x 19; Rear: 11J x 20
Tyres
Pirelli P-ZERO™ Trofeo R (P-ZERO™ no-cost option)
Front: 225/35/R19; Rear: 285/35/R20
Lightest dry weight, kg (lbs)
1,247 (2,749)
DIN Kerb weight [fluids + 90% fuel], kg (lbs)
1,356kg (2,989)
Fuel tank capacity, litres
72
Performance
0 -97km/h (0-60mph)
2.8 seconds
0-100km/h (0-62mph)
2.9 seconds
0-200km/h (0-124mph)
8.2 seconds
0-300km/h (0-186mph)
24.9 seconds
0-400m / ¼ mile
10.4 seconds
Maximum speed
328km/h (204 mph)
200-0km/h (124mph-0) braking, metres (ft)
117 (384)
100-0km/h (62mph-0) braking, metres (ft)
31 (102)
ORIGINAL STORY - 28-06-18
The last time McLaren pulled back the veil at Park Royal Studios to a room full of journalists, it was to reveal the Senna, the most brutal looking hypercar launched since the Gumpert Apollo in 2005. The firm anticipated a mixed reaction - and got it. This time around, it was plainly on safer ground. The 570S, introduced in 2015 to univeral acclaim, is arguably McLaren's best road car already - consequently, the notion of increasing the power, reducing the weight and fettling the aerodynamics was met with nodding consensus; ditto the idea it being dubbed a 'Longtail'.
The 600LT (because 600hp) will be the fourth McLaren to bear that name since Woking legitimately attached it to the elongated F1 GTR. For the record, the new model actually is 74mm longer than the standard car. To the eye, this barely registers - but that hardly matters, because the LT version is just so fist-pumpingly good to look at. Where the base model is perhaps a little bit too delicately pretty for its own good, the new front splitter, side sills, extended diffuser and fixed rear wing - all in carbon fibre, and all contributing to the car's superior downforce - add up to a much more muscular presence. And that's before you get to the protruding vents of those diverted tailpipes.
The reasoning behind the 600LT's unique exhaust is familiar enough. McLaren has been enthusiastically seeking a quicker exit for the V8's gasses since forever. The P1 had its tailpipe positioned for such a departure; so too the 720S. Pursuing a further reduction in back pressure and additional weight savings, the engineers sought to improve the design still further and have ended up with the top-exit solution that also handily distinguishes the 600LT from anything else in the firm's lineup. That's no coincidence, of course, and nor is the promise of an 'incredible aural experience' (invariably the manufacturer's Achilles heel).
The exhaust and composite ancillaries are the most visible part of the car's makeover though. McLaren claims to have altered 23 per cent of the 570S's parts - most of them swapped out for something lighter or stronger or (more often than not) both. To that end, the 600LT gets the forged aluminium double wishbone suspension and braking system from the Super Series models, and features the carbon fibre racing seats first seen on the P1. If you want, you can even have the super-lightweight seats from the Senna. Include all the lightweight options - which you'd imagine most buyers doing - and a dry weight of 1,247kg ought to result.
Compared to the DIN kerbweight of a 570S Coupe, McLaren claims a 96kg reduction in mass - and a power-to-weight ratio of 481hp per tonne (dry). The extra 30hp extracted from the same 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 cooling system. There's slightly more torque, too: only 14lb ft of it admittedly, but enough, you'd imagine, for the 600LT to trouble the 3.0 seconds to 62mph barrier (given the heavier, lowered powered 570S currently breaks the tape at 3.2). Not that McLaren makes an especially big deal of an inevitable increase in straight-line speed - the onus instead being on the kind of 'driver engagement' that befits the LT moniker.
Alterations made elsewhere reflect this aim. The tweaked chassis comes equipped with bespoke Trofeo R tyres and gets quicker steering, too. The engine mounts are stiffer as well, and the team claims to have coaxed sharper responses from the throttle and brake pedals. All are said to add to the 'wow' effect - and with 'substantially increased downforce' added in to the equation, it's fair to assume that the engineers have probably made inroads into delivering a more dynamic experience on track; a promise the firm certainly delivered on with the 675LT.
The price for all this extra goodness? Well, the new model, in Coupe format (there will be a Spider eventually, too) starts at £185,500 - which is a £35k-ish premium over a standard 570S. In the rarefied world of supercar silliness, that sounds fairly reasonable to us; not least because a limited production run (McLaren won't say exactly how limited) ought to mean that the 600LT's prices stay unreasonably firm for the foreseeable. Manufacturing is expected to start in October, and will last for 12 months, with the Sports Series model due to be replaced in 2020. If the 675LT Spider is anything to go buy - which sold-out in two weeks - you'll have considerably less time than that to reserve a build slot.
Sorry - I forgot - he doesn't get out of school until 3.45 .....
Sorry - I forgot - he doesn't get out of school until 3.45 .....
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