McLAREN 765LT

720S NOT ENOUGH? ARE YOU MAD?

ADAM BINNIE

JUST WHEN YOU thought the McLaren 720S had more power and grip than you could ever need on the road, there emerges an even hotter version, full of bits from the Senna, called the 765LT.

In McLarenspeak, LT, for Longtail, signals more driver engagement, optimised aero, and a drop in weight. The licence plate holder, for example, is now made from carbonfibre.

Because this is a McLaren it uses a twin-turbocharged V8, and because it’s a Super Series car it displaces 4.0 rather than 3.8 litres. It’s not a bespoke power unit, starting life as the flat-plane-cranked, dry-sumped M840T found in the 720S. But from there it gains some specific LT upgrades.

Grunt increases to 563kW and 800Nm courtesy of more boost, working with, among other things, forged aluminium pistons and a threelayer head gasket from the Senna.

The result? The 765LT is nearly as fast as the P1 and Senna – 0-100km/h falling in an identical 2.8 seconds, while 0-200km/h takes two tenths longer at 7.0 seconds dead.

Numbers don’t really do it justice. Like the 720S, it’s shockingly fast up to road-legal speeds. But from there it just doesn’t let up – and it’s the second half of the 0-200km/h sprint where this model really piles on the pressure, getting there before the standard car by nearly a second.

This is partly down to a weight saving of 80kg, as well as shorter gear ratios, allowing top speed in seventh and closer stacked gears below it. The way the 765LT rips through its revs is alarming and will ping the limiter before it relents, such is the ferocity with which this engine spins up, and the endless shove at high rpm.

PLUS MINUS

Performance; relatively easy to drive fast; it’s not a Ferrari

Extra pace irrelevant on the road; at this price, just buy a race car and a trailer?