What's this?
It's called the McLaren 570S and it's the first model from the company's new Sports Series range, sitting below the existing supercars such as the 650S, 675LT and the mighty P1.
Sports Series? Sounds American.
While the McLaren 570S is making its debut in the States (at this week's New York Auto Show), it is as British as the rest of the McLaren line-up, built in the company's factory in Woking in Surrey and taking much inspiration from the Super Series and Ultimate Series.
Indeed, it looks very P1-ish.
There's no escaping that fact, and there's little to choose between the McLaren 650S and the new 570S in terms of dimensions either. However, it is an all-new design and McLaren has even redesigned the carbon fibre chassis it calls the 'MonoCell' to make it easier to get in and out of the cabin, as this is supposedly the most suitable McLaren sports car to drive every day.
No bucket seats and racing harnesses then?
Surprisingly not. Or not, we should hasten to add, in the initial press photographs. Buyers' money will gladly be accepted to upgrade and customise the cabin to their hearts' desire of course so there are bound to be lightweight carbon fibre racing bucket seats with integrated fire extinguishers or something available. Nonetheless, the standard cabin looks special. It's swathed in soft leather, which can be colour coded to the exterior paint and apparently there's even somewhere to store your Twiglets for those long motorway journeys McLaren seemingly expects 570S owners to take in their stride.
The natty IRIS upright touchscreen is standard, measuring seven inches, and its high-tech appearance is offset nicely by a new TFT display screen that takes the place of the main instruments. It's customisable and changes its layout depending on the driving mode selected.
Ah, now we're talking. Tell me more.
The 570S has Normal, Sport and Track modes as in other McLarens, but the suspension is quite different. Anti-roll bars are now used front and rear, in conjunction with double wishbones. There is adaptive damping too, though they're not linked.
Presumably there's plenty of power to keep it busy?
McLaren isn't being enigmatic with the new car's name... It has 570hp to play with, produced at 7,400rpm. That's backed up by a sodding great 600Nm of torque, available between 5,000- and 6,500rpm. All that comes courtesy of the latest evolution of McLaren's twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 engine. Performance stats include 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 204mph. Naturally, power is to the rear wheels only and via the company's seven-speed SSG gearbox.
Lovely. Anything we don't know as yet?
Well, McLaren has told us that the dry weight of the 570S is 1,313kg when fitted with lightweight options, but has not yet released pricing details. It's expected to start at around £145,000, placing it into direct competition with the Porsche 911 Turbo S. Not that the Sport Series stops there. The 570S is only the start of range.
Shane O' Donoghue - 31 Mar 2015