McLaren 600LT Spider: topless at 196mph

Difficult to get hold of then, but not impossible, not least once over the £201,500 starting price. Unlike the 600LT coupe, which the factory stated would be built for no more than 12 months, its convertible sibling comes without a stated production limit. “Limited” is all McLaren is saying about that.

The fifth model to wear LT badges since 1997, and only the second convertible, the 600LT Spider is essentially a 600LT coupe with an electrically-powered, three-section retractable hard-top and an extra 50kg in weight. Despite the extra mass it tips the scales with a dry weight of just 1,297kg which, claims McLaren, is 80kg lighter than the opposition.

Other than that, it’s all pretty much 600LT business as usual – including, most importantly, the twin bazooka exhausts aiming skywards out of the rear deck, just aft of driver and passenger’s heads. With the rear screen and top down (the roof panels disappear beneath a tonneau panel), you won’t be needing the radio for aural stimulation. In fact, for the truly dedicated the radio is a delete option.

Already a pretty car (McLaren’s prettiest?), the Sports Series in LT form displays its extra power, extra downforce and extra track focus by adding a purposeful new look built around a new front splitter and rear diffuser, new sills and a big rear wing fixed to the extended tail section. What works for the coupe works just as well for the new Spider.

Top up, it mimics the coupe’s profile (as well as offering a 52-litre luggage space at the back); top down it looks seamless enough to have been designed this way from the start – which it undoubtedly was. In the McLaren way, the carbon-fibre MonoCell II monocoque and carbon-fibre body (exclusive to the LTs among Sports Series models) are rigid enough not to need strengthening after the top’s been lopped off. Impressively, too, the Spider’s aero is said to be just as effective as the coupe’s with the same 100kg of downforce at 155mph.

As a coupe the 600LT has been acclaimed as the sweet spot in the McLaren range, and its engaging dynamics and track focus with stopping, steering and cornering are set to be replicated in the new convertible.

The numbers mirror those of the coupe. The 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine has the same 600PS (592bhp), and performance is only the tiniest smidge behind: 0-62mph takes 2.9 seconds and 0-124mph 8.4 seconds. Top up it will hit 201mph, top down you’re pegged back to 196mph.

“The McLaren 600LT Spider adds a new dimension of excitement to the most extreme model in the Sports Series family, while losing none of the Longtail focus,” said McLaren boss Mike Flewitt.

“Limited availability” is just as much, if not more, of a drawcard in the supercar stakes these days as claims of dynamic excellence, but will the 600LT spider sell out as quickly as the 675LT did, especially given the fact that car did have a numbered production limit? 

Oh well, there’s always the equally new McLaren 720S Spider for fast summer fun, McLaren style…