Another new feature on the 650S is the
carbon-ceramic braking system and it's definitely worth a mention. Easily the
best road-going example of this setup I've experienced, the brakes don't
display the usual dull-and-wooden-until- they-bite characteristics. Instead,
there's plenty of feel right from the get-go, allowing you to modulate your
inputs from gentle to heavy braking.
But this car was not designed for pottering
around Spanish villages. So what's this beast like when its ears are pinned and
you're pushing on?
There's no better place to test this than
the private playground of Dutch gazillionaire Klaas Zwaart. His 5.43 km,
FIA-compliant Ascari circuit is a very technical track packed with a mix of 25
low- and high-speed corners that find meagre driving skills and poorly set-up
cars wanting.
The
650S’s front end appears infinitely meaner than the benign 12C’s, with a
sculpted front bumper and serpentine grille that features a thin band of
LED-based combination headlamps
With McLaren test driver Charlie Hollings
talking me through proceedings, I had one sighting lap and then six hot ones to
both explore the 650S's abilities and test my own. Compared with the 12C Spider
we tested in the 2014 Performance Shootout, the first change I noticed was the
sound. The 650S is louder and distinctly barkier on downshifts.
The next thing I detected was how my
driving skills had suddenly declined. Where the 12C's ABS and ESC safety
systems would flatter me in track mode and wait patiently to mop up the mess,
the 650S asked me to put my money where my mouth is.
The interior designers have created a luxurious,
spacious cabin that dresses advanced acoustic and electronic technologies
With the stability systems all but absent,
the rear of the car is a lot squirmier and hairier under both braking and
acceleration, but a phenomenal level of front-end grip counterbalances it. Get
it all right - hit your braking markers and turn in with the weight loaded up
on the front suspension - and the 650S shimmies and dances before pivoting
beautifully and settling down on its haunches, ready for throttle input on
exit.
To do this time and time again, however (as
Charlie demonstrated when he took charge on an actual hot lap), demands a high
level of skill, especially with the remapped engine's new sense of urgency as
the rising torque arrives like someone's bugled the cavalry. In track mode,
above 5 000 r/min and at 85%-and-above throttle, the upshifts are more brutal
as electronic black magic now induces momentary cylinder cut-out that
circumvents the usual seamless shift to allow something far more urgent.
The
650S is equipped carbon-ceramic brakes standard, stiffening the springs 22
percent in front and 37 in back, and mounting forged 19-inch-front and
20-inch-rear wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Corsa rubber
More than a speedier shift, it adds further
decibels to the engine's new sound. And that's the crux. What makes this 650S a
fundamentally different car to the 12C is not only the improved stats, but also
the sense of excitement and exhilaration with which it's imbued.
Does it match the 458 for drama, though?
The answer remains no. And that's a good thing. McLaren doesn't make Ferraris.
Woking's cars have distinctive personalities. The 650S's triumph is that it is
as civilised as the 12C - more so, even - but has a far more unruly side, too.
It's still wears its tie, but sometimes as a headband.
