Being on Winter Break has given me much-needed time to decompress from school, in addition to catch up on photography. This Winter Break I wanted to try to expand my photography a little more, and I decided that Scottsdale is full of cool people and nice car dealerships, so I wonder if I could go anywhere there. Thus, this is how I ended up at the McLaren Auto Gallery in Scottsdale, due to hearing that they had McLaren 675LTs. With a big, appreciative thank you to the General Manager, Gina, and technician Krystian, I was able to take pictures of the brand new McLaren 570S and the limited production McLaren 675LT, as well as see the other four 675LTs present.
I'll admit that at first, when I saw pictures of the 570S online, I wasn't a fan of the design. It just looked odd to me. However, seeing one in person changed that completely. I find it interesting how there are a lot of design cues reminiscent of the McLaren P1, like the swooping, multi-edged sides, the mirrors, the round greenhouse, and the rounded, LED strip taillights, with diffuser underneath. Sharing the same heart, albeit detuned, as its older brothers the 650S and P1, its 3.8L twin turbo V8 still makes a healthy 562hp@7400rpm and 443lb-ft@5000rpm. This could be heard as the engine turns on, since I heard it start up several times when cars in the garage had to be moved around for the various work tasks that had to be accomplished that day. And of course, it has plenty of genes from Formula One, such as the carbon fiber tub that forms the basis of the car, the 7 speed gearbox, and all of its other go-fast software and hardware.
As special as the 570S is, however, it was not the star in my eyes of my visit. After all, McLaren hopes to produce 5000 of these per year, making it the "volume supercar" for them, like the Gallardo/Huracan is to Lamborghini. No, instead, the "star" of my visit is the McLaren 675LT. Only 500 were produced, and McLaren Scottsdale had a whopping five LTs at their dealership, including one with a special paintjob that looks like Mexico Blue. However, the one in the garage that I could take pictures of (well, there was a blue one in the showroom as well, but the positions I could take photos of that were a bit restricted) was this beautiful grey example with orange seats and brake calipers. Pictures don't give its aggressiveness proper justice. The diffuser is massive, as well as the splitter and spoiler. The exhausts, once nicely integrated into the body work on the 650S, now jut out in an "in-your-face" manner to remind you that this is no 650S with a bodykit on it.
The 675LT gets its name from two sources. The LT, LongTail, designation comes from McLaren's 1997 F1 GTR "LongTail", approriately named as it was McLaren's FIA Homolgation model that featured a very long tail with its direct-from-racing aerodynamics. The 675 comes from its increased power output of 675PS, which, interestingly (and I find appropriate), is 666hp. Meanwhile, to fit into that new, aggressive aero package, the 675LT lost 220lbs/100kg compared to the 650S, with 40% more downforce helping glue the car to the road. With a 0-60mph time of 2.9s, 0-100mph time of 7.9s, and a top speed of 205mph, the car performs as amazingly as it looks.
I have to say, originally I did not have much of an opinion on the 675LT. But, after seeing it and hearing it in person, as well as talking to Krystian about it, I love it. It really is an amazing synthesis of performance and engineering.
And again, thank you Gina and Krystian for letting me take pictures at your dealership!