BEAUTY
R
ear windows don’t generally get called out too often in supercar reviews, and certainly not for their providence of any sort of view rearward, but the little rear window of the new McLaren 720S Spider is not only larger than most, but, unlike that of its coupe counterpart, it also rolls down just like the side windows, even getting its own switch between the seats next to the one that makes the roof itself silently disappear beneath the rear deck in just 11 seconds. Thanks to that “rear drop glass,” as McLaren calls it, I am unable to report on the various nuances of the Spider’s uniquely tuned optional 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system. I’m quite sure it’s lovely, and had McLaren left its gorgeous, shimmering teal roadster with me for more a few additional days (or years), I’d surely get around to listening to it. But, alas, I returned having switched on the audio system once. Maybe. No regrets, though. My music would be there later; I had only a few days to savor the twin-turbo V-8’s clear, baritone voice, crooning a repertoire ranging from prickly pulsations at idle to a full banshee wail near its 7,000 rpm power peak. Its rorty tones rise and fall in concert with my right foot while wispy swirls from the turbos whoosh in the background, with periods of spirited driving punctuated by an occasional firecracker “bang!” during downshifts, especially after twisting a dial on the dash to activate the separate Sport or Track settings for the engine and suspension.
C U LT U R E
The textured and dynamic and highly addictive sounds of the 720S’s mellifluous, high-revving 710-horsepower V-8 are intense enough with all windows sealed, given that the only things standing between it and your ears are the rear cabin wall and that vestigial rear window. Drop said glass, and all that character and energy is effectively mainlined directly into your cerebellum. You get the point: It sounds good. And being both a supercar and a convertible, the 720S Spider can overload most of your other senses, too, with explosive acceleration, face-bending cornering grip, and brakes strong enough to dislodge your eyeballs from their sockets. Admittedly, those same words could be used to fairly describe the 720S Spider’s primary competition, namely the Ferrari 488 Spider and the Lamborghini Huracán Spyder, and while the McLaren boasts a nearly 200-pound weight advantage over its lightest Italian counterpart, when the slowest among them hits 60 mph in 3.1 seconds—the 720S gets there in 2.8, says McLaren—the statistical differences are purely academic. They’re all thrilling. What makes the beautiful, sparkling $411,300 roadster by an esoteric British race car company so strikingly different—and worth featuring in DuJour—is its clarity of purpose. The 720S is the superlative supercar, a lean, fastidiously engineered instrument of speed: nothing sentimental, nothing evocative of anything else, no superfluous frippery. This is particularly apparent inside the 720S’s cabin, which, like those of other McLarens, is rather narrow, set within a carbon fiber tub structure that McLaren leaves exposed on the door sills. Very sexy. Getting in requires some practice, but McLaren points
T R AV E L
The 2019 McLaren 720S Spider in Belize Blue.
McLaren’s Superlative Supercar
Lean and meticulously engineered, the new 720S Spider is as purposeful as it is sexy. BY STEVE SILER
GUTTER CREDIT HERE TK
STYLE
LIFE
