McLaren 675LT unveiled – Longtail returns with 675 PS

Having been teased late last month, the McLaren 675LT has finally been fully revealed. The track-optimised top dog of Woking’s mid-tier Super Series, which will be available only as a coupé, will make its world premiere at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show next week.

Despite the revival of the “Longtail” name, this isn’t some super-stretched Le Mans racer in the vein of the 1997-spec F1 GTR and the F1 GT homologation special. Only the rear spoiler/airbrake has actually been made longer – it’s some 50% larger than the one on the 650S, yet, due to its carbon fibre structure, actually weighs less.

Nevertheless, the 675LT is still one tasty package – over a third of the parts have been revised over the 650S. The car’s aerodynamics have been thoroughly revamped, with a redesigned front bumper, a larger front splitter with endplates, full-length “door blades,” new small air intakes beneath larger, more pronounced side intakes aft of the doors, as well as a louvred rear bumper incorporating a huge carbon fibre diffuser.

Twin round titanium tailpipes replace the rectangular units on other Super Series models and, despite a more complex design, the exhaust system now weighs 1.1 kg less. Louvres in the rear screen (made from lightweight polycarbonate) and exposed portions of the rear deck are designed to vent hot air from the engine bay as efficiently as possible.

The weight saving theme continues inside, with Alcantara-upholstered carbon fibre bucket seats and deletion of air-conditioning, although the latter can be installed at no extra cost. All in all, McLaren claims the 675LT is over 100 kg lighter than the rest of the range, with a dry weight of just 1,230 kg.

Pushing the 675LT is a highly uprated version of McLaren’s stalwart 3.8 litre twin-turbo V8. Over half of the parts are new – with more efficient turbochargers, a new design for the cylinder heads and exhaust manifolds, new camshafts and lightweight connecting rods, as well as a faster-flowing fuel pump and delivery system – so much so that the mill gets a new unique codename: M838TL. A seven-speed DCT is retained.

Power has been raised to 675 PS (hence the name), and, coupled with the lower weight, the 675LT delivers an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 549 PS per tonne. The performance figures for this land missile are downright astonishing – it shoots from zero to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds and hits 200 km/h in 7.9 seconds, before topping out at 330 km/h.

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