McLaren 720S Spider Roadster surprises with low weight
The roadster’s design is as close as possible to the 720S Coupe, but the C-pillars, even with the top up, give it away. And especially for the newcomer, the company came up with an original drawing of forged ten-spoke wheels (diameter – 19 inches in front and 20 in the rear).
McLaren has created an open-source version of its 720S supercar, the 720S Spider. Thanks to the Monocage II-S carbon fiber monocoque, an evolution of the base from the coupe, the roadster did not need additional reinforcements to provide the necessary body rigidity. As a result, the 720S Spider’s dry weight (1332 kg) was only 49 kg more than that of the closed McLaren 720S (mainly due to the roof folding mechanism). The British also claim that it is 88 kg less than that of the “closest rival in the class.” No name is given directly, but 1,420 kg dry matter is a Ferrari 488 Spider.
The hardtop is made of carbon fiber and is electrically operated. The company says it has a record-breaking 11-second transformation time among supercars, six seconds faster than the McLaren 650S Spider. The roof can be raised and lowered at speeds up to 50 km / h (for the 650S, at 30 km / h). Another new folding mechanism is twice as quiet as the previous one.
The front spider pillars are no thicker than the coupe. The firm considered them to be strong enough to provide roll-over protection. Behind the seats are fairings with an integrated protective structure, which is made of carbon fiber instead of steel on the first generation of the Super Series. And behind the fairings is a unique design element: buttress struts with glass sections.
Rear “floating” racks perform several functions at once. They serve as an aerodynamic element that organizes the correct flow of air in the rear of the car. They reinforce the body structure. And they just add models of beauty and showiness. Glass sections, among other things, improve rear visibility. Check out monster subwoofers for car.
The V8 4.0 engine with two turbochargers (720 HP, 770 N • m) with a seven-speed “robot” SSG and rear-wheel drive is the same as in the 720S coupe. Since the mass of the brothers differs by less than four percent, the acceleration from zero to 100 for the spider takes exactly the same 2.9 seconds as for the closed 720S. And the acceleration from standstill to two hundred here turned out to be only 0.1 s slower – 7.9 s. The roadster performs braking from hundreds of kilometers per hour in 2.8 seconds at a distance of 30.3 m versus 30.0 m at the source.
As an option, you can order a roof with electrochromic glass, switchable between transparent and opaque modes. The interior echoes the coupé, including a unique swivel instrument cluster.
The maximum speed of the spider with the roof up is the same as that of the coupe – 341 km / h. With the top retracted, you can develop 325. By the way, like the coupe, there is a rising wing. But adjustments have been made to its control program: the position of this plane adjusts to the position of the roof (retracted or raised) in order to obtain a sufficient level of downforce in any case.
By optimizing the power structure and roof mechanism, the engineers have carved out space for rear luggage in the open model. When the top is raised, there are 58 liters of free space under the decorative cover. The main trunk is located at the front, its volume is 150 liters.