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McLaren’s hot, new 675LT may be a higher-performance variant of the 650S, and also the LT portion of its name comes from the wild 1997 F1 GT "Longtail" homologation special. That rare McLaren menaced the road with radically elongated bodywork, racy mechanics, and a stronger power-to-weight quantitative relation than the automotive on that it absolutely was primarily based. The 675LT has 2 of these things, however its tail? Quite rudimentary, we’d say.
In fact, the 675LT is simply one.5 inches longer than the 650S, and it seems an honest stretch of that further length comes from the sports car’s epic chin splitter. the remainder goes to a rather longer active rear spoiler that McLaren claims is fifty p.c larger than the one fitted to the 650S. McLaren says that a “focus on outright performance, weight reduction, and supreme levels of driver engagement” outline a Longtail, therefore perhaps we’re simply being too literal. That said, the mighty F1 GT Longtail got a lot of tail—the automotive was a full twenty five inches longer than the regular F1—not to say a full aero kit that entirely altered the supercar’s visuals.
We Still Love You
Setting aside the 675LT’s length issue, there’s very little question it’ll be associate epic factor to drive. The 650S on that it's primarily based isn't any slouch, and McLaren says it swapped out over a 3rd of that car’s elements to scale back weight and increase power. Standout visual variations embrace a ventilated polymethyl methacrylate rear window; a contoured, P1-like rear connective tissue with skinny horizontal diode taillights and 2 huge Ti exhaust outlets; a excess of additional scoops and vents; and a carbon-fiber mechanics package. The 675LT is 220 pounds lighter than the 650S, due to the plastic car window, further carbon-fiber body panels, a redesigned system, and carbon-fiber seat shells.
The same twin-turbocharged three.8-liter V-8 latched between the 650S’s rear wheels is gift here, however McLaren massaged it for an additional twenty five H.P. and sixteen lb-ft of force. whereas the car’s name is drawn from its 675 metric power, we tend to tabulate its would possibly as 666 devilish H.P. and 516 lb-ft of force. With less McLaren to haul around, the V-8 punches the 675LT to sixty two mph during a claimed two.9 seconds—0.1 faster than McLaren’s expressed time for the 650S—and on to a prime speed of 205 mph. The LT uses the 650S’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, and power remains routed to the pavement through the rear wheels.
It’ll Kick Tail, however ought to It Have Kicked Its Tail?
Unlike, say, the P1 GTR that McLaren is additionally debuting at the Geneva motor vehicle show, the track-focused 675LT remains road-legal. the inside is “stripped out” however it’s no penalty box—the sweet carbon-shelled seats, for instance, square measure upholstered in fake suede and square measure like those fitted to the P1 hypercar. And if the 650S’s charming adaptative suspension is any indication, the LT ought to maintain an honest ride quality. Production of the coupe-only, roughly $345,000 675LT are going to be restricted to associate as-yet-unannounced figure. (Update: McLaren has proclaimed rating and confirmed that production are going to be "strictly restricted to five hundred units globally.") Deliveries can start in fall 2015.
McLaren is clearly trying to spin its 2 (soon to be three) model lines into varied offshoots and special editions, each to stay things recent and to stay flush customers lining up at its door. The 675LT may be a worthy addition to make sure, however we tend to can’t facilitate however would like it force a lot of tail.
