When we reviewed the coupe version of the McLaren 600LT several months back, we equated McLaren Automotive's product development to that of a fast-food restaurant: a core set of ingredients combined into novel, if familiar, dishes. It was a compliment of sorts, an appreciation of the small company’s ability over the past eight or so years to take a twin-turbo V-8, a carbon-fiber tub, and a couple of different suspension systems and turn them into a bewildering array of variations. McLaren remembered that, possibly more for the fast-food reference than for our wide-eyed wonder at the young company's resourcefulness. We know, because a representative of the company mentioned it to us shortly after we'd hopped out of the McLaren 600LT Spider. That the company had only hours earlier served us a delicious cheeseburger in the paddock of the racetrack we'd just driven is curious. As you might have gathered, the 600LT Spider is the 600LT coupe but with a retractable top. It uses the 592-hp version of the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-8 from the coupe. That engine, like the whole of the track-oriented 600LT coupe and Spider, is a variation on the 562-hp twin-turbo 3.8-liter V-8 that powers the 570S and 570S Spider. The engine is bolted to the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that serves, with minor variation, in every other McLaren model of the modern era. The 600LT Spider's structure is a carbon-fiber tub that evolved from the original one used in the 2012 MP4-12C. Sprouting from the basic structure of all 600LTs are the forged-aluminum control arms from the one-step-up 720S model. McLaren then takes the vented and bewinged body of the 600LT coupe and adds the retractable roof mechanism of a 570S Spider. So, you can view the 600LT Spider as a 600LT coupe but without the top bun or as a 570S Spider with McLaren’s special LT Sauce™. But I wasn't thinking about burgers when we were driving the Spider fast around the track at Arizona Motorsports Park, tucked up against Luke Air Force Base and down the road from a state prison outside Phoenix. Mostly I was thinking, "Dammit, I am not going to screw up Turns 5 through 7 again!" every single lap, after screwing up Turns 5 through 7 again. Occasionally, I wondered, while surrounded by the entirely microsuede-covered interior, if this is what a diamond ring tucked into one of those fuzzy jewelry-store boxes feels like. On track, we weren't thinking about the ill-fitting hardtop that caused a gnarly air whistle from the top of the passenger-side window. We weren't concerned in the slightest about the value of our test car, which carried something like $60,000 in optional equipment beyond its quarter-million-dollar base price. We weren't concerned in the least about the car's stiff on-road ride or its loudly humming Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R track tires. We were just having a blast. The 600LT's easy playfulness reminds us of a Lotus Elise but one with big grip and big power. So reassuring is the car's handling, so preternaturally balanced is it, that you'll be going fast right away. It is righteously quick on course, but that speed is accomplished without the looming doom that accompanies some supercars, like they're always on the knife's edge. The 600LT Spider certainly feels more buttoned-down and precise than the 570S on which it's based, but it doesn't quell the lesser model's friskiness. The 600LT’s brake pedal is perfectly firm, and the system, with standard carbon-ceramic discs, doesn't soften after 10 hard laps. The car's sneaky speed does what it can to make the brakes look bad, but it generally fails. Its steering is a thing of real beauty; it feels natural, not like a computer simulation of what natural steering feels like. The paddle-shifted transmission fires off electron-quick gearchanges without upsetting the balance of the car. Yes, we like it. We like it just about exactly as much as we like the 600LT coupe, which is all but identical save for the 110 pounds McLaren says the power-roof mechanism adds to the coupe's roughly 3150-pound curb weight. The beauty of the carbon-tub construction is that no additional structural reinforcements are required to maintain the coupe's stiffness. Like getting a little breeze under your helmet? Get the Spider. Prefer the slightly less busy styling of the coupe? Then get the coupe.
2020 McLaren 600LT - YouTube |
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