Another orange supercar... and another
measure of sympathy. This time, feel sorry for McLaren's 12C. While the
motoring world revered its engineering achievements and marvelled at its unique
mix of urbane civility and neck-snapping acceleration, no-one really loved it.
As celebrated as the 12C was, it seemed to lack a little something in the
loin-girding department - something that its natural rival, the Ferrari 458
Italia, had by the Tuscan wine barrel.
The visceral Italian stirred the blood with
the automotive equivalent of dramatic hand gestures, whereas the Englishman
straightened its tie and clicked to the next Power Point slide. Make no
mistake, the 12C was a wonderful car, as fast and as agile as the Italian and,
thanks to the settings available in its ProActive Chassis Control (PCC) system,
easier to live with as an everyday vehicle. But still, the 458 got the nod.
What to do then if you were sitting behind that powerful computer in Woking?
Well, first, you could confuse everyone.
McLaren
has incorporated styling elements from the P1 hypercar into the 650S
When the 650S was first revealed at the
Geneva Motor Show in March, McLaren announced it would slot in between the
ultra-exclusive P1 hypercar and the 12C. And car fans were left dumbfounded.
While the price - $418,335 (a good $55,780 more than the 12C) - certainly
suggests it's a different car, that new nose aside, you'd be hard-pressed to
point out any other exterior and interior differences between the two.
Soon after the international reveal,
McLaren sensibly suspended production of the 12C, so the 650S does replace it.
And, yes, it is based on the same carbon tub as the donor car and, yes, it is
the same powertrain, but the 650S differs a lot more than you would think. For
one thing, 25% of the parts are different and the changes McLaren has made are
focused on functionality and improving the performance.
The
650S's 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine develops 641bhp
The most noticeable change is that Pl-like
nose. More than just aligning itself with the design of the hypercar, it
represents significant aerodynamic lessons learnt from the hypercar. At 240
km/h, this nose increases the downforce by 40% while also improving cooling.
You need to get behind the wheel to notice the other two major changes, though
...
Firstly, thanks to new pistons, cylinder
head, cam timing, exhaust valves and a little ECU remap wizardry, the same
engine that did duty in the 12C now delivers 478 kW (up 18 kW) and 678 N.m of
torque (up 78 N.m). And, secondly, Woking's white-coats have reworked the
spring and damper settings. At the pre-drive briefing, McLaren's staff not only
described the 650S as quicker than the 12C, but it also used phrases such as
"more engaging", "more communicative" and boasting "a
heightened sense of urgency".
Airbrake
deploys to improve stability when lifting off or cresting a hill
To show us exactly what the engineers
meant, McLaren invited us to drive the fixed-roof and Spider versions of its
new creation on the mountain passes of Malaga in Spain and on a very special
racetrack - the famed Ascari private race circuit that loops along the
Andalusian hills.
In a nutshell, yes, the car is noticeably
faster - and we'll get to that later - but most apparent is the difference in
the ride and handling. The PCC system still allows you to toggle between normal,
sport and track modes, but the spread of talents between those markers has
grown. On the oft-broken asphalt of Andalusia, in normal mode the 650S
displayed a level of damping a car of this nature simply has no right to have -
in fact, it's even more civilised than the 12C. McLaren's engineers have
reworked the suspension top mounts to include a layer of nitrogen gas that
further dampens any vibrations transferred into the cabin from the road surface
via the 235/35 R19 (front) and 305/30 R20 rubber. These, incidentally, are
Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, which were an option on the 12C.
