McLaren’s 600LT

IT WAS ONLY A MAT TER OF TIME BEFORE McLaren revived its Long Tail badge, given the over whelming success of the terrific 675LT. Akin to Porsche’s GT moniker, the LT designation ha s now been applied to a Spor ts Series model for the first time, taking the already ballistic 570S a s its star ting point. The benchmark for the 600LT wa sn’t a rival’s c ar, but the 675LT, despite it hailing from the cla ss above. In fact, the £185,000 600LT sits in a niche of its own: more expensive than Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS but less than a GT2 RS, and with a power figure in between the two. The focus ha s been on weight reduction, enhanced aerodynamic s, more power and a track bia s for the cha ssis dynamic s. Out of these, an increa sing obsession with losing the kilograms seems to have come to the fore, borne out by CEO Mike Flewitt’s a sser tion that, while his firm is inevitably in a power race with its rivals, ‘it would be cool to be in a weight race a s well. Actually, I think we’d be winning it right now.’ The overall goal, McLaren says, ha s been to get more driver enga gement than in a 675LT, while also of fering more comfor t, practic alit y and improved quality. On some circuits the 600LT is apparently even fa ster than its older brother, and the broad smiles of those within the firm who’ve driven the c ar sug gest the latest LT is a cracker. Deliveries star t in October, with production numbers limited.

 

 

 

Weight
McLaren’s engineers have mana ged to remove more than 100k g from the 570S, bringing the dr y weight of the 600LT down to 1247k g. There’s a 21k g saving in the seats (the Senna’s buckets are an option and save a fur ther 3.6k g), 17k g in the new wheels, 3. 3k g from the wiring harness, 5.6k g in thinner carpeting , 2.1k g in thinner gla ss (all bar the rear side windows), 7.2k g from the use of carbonfibre body panels (front and rear bumpers, plus an optional carbon roof), 4k g in the brakes (comprising more ef fective but lighter components from the 720S), 1k g by losing the door pockets and glovebox, and 12.6k g if you make do without air conditioning. Forego the hi-fi and you’ll save a fur ther 3. 3k g.

Engine

There are no internal changes to the engine, and the 600LT retains the smaller, 3.8-litre McLaren V8. Ex tra power and torque – now 592bhp with 457lb f t, up from 562bhp with 443lb f t in the 570S – is achieved by an ECU remap and the 600LT’s star feature: a top - exit exhaust. Inspired by that on the Senna, and designed to save weight, reduce backpressure with shor ter pipework and improve the noise in the cabin, we’re told it spits blue flames that illuminate the rear-view mirror. The twin-clutch gearbox gains an ‘iner tia push’ change in Track mode, meaning the ignition isn’t cut during the shif t to maintain ma ximum acceleration, while stif fer engine and transmission mounts a ssist handling.

Dynamics

McLaren’s aim ha s been to combine the low-speed nimbleness and driveability of its Spor ts Series cars with the improved highspeed stability of models such a s the 720S. So the 600LT’s dampers are recalibrated, with an 8mm drop in ride height and a wider track married to higher spring rates and stif fer, hollow anti-roll bars. The steering ha s a five per cent quicker ratio and apparently of fers the driver ‘increa sed feedback’, while a bespoke Pirelli Trofeo R tyre is standardfit. ‘It’s not just about numbers,’ says project mana ger Philippe Humbrecht. ‘It’s so enjoyable to drive – the way it reacts is ver y enga ging and gives you confidence at a higher level.’ Sounds like our sor t of car.

Aerodynamics

The 600LT is 47mm longer at the rear: hardly akin to an F 1 GTR Long Tail, but enough to give the car a more purposeful look that’s accentuated by the new rear wing. All the aero is fixed, but the larger front splitter (adding 27mm to the leng th at the front), rear wing and other fine-tuning means there’s now 100k g of downforce at 155mph. That rear wing can withstand 300deg C, too, enough to cope with the 240deg C exhaust ga ses.

sources: Evo UK, 9-18

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: