Test McLaren 765 LT Spider: touch the carbon fiber

I want to take advantage of this horrendous public parking lot full of random columns and ramps set up as a bad idea to quickly tell you what neither you nor I want to waste time on: that this car has a lot of parking sensors, a box that turns into a 360º monitor (which can already be good, because it costs 4,470 euros) and a C-pillar with concealed crystals to facilitate maneuvers; that has all the current security and connectivity assistants expected from any low-cost utility.

It also has ABS, ESP, air conditioning and hands-free compatible with Apple and Android (although it will do you little good, because the engine has no way of silencing itself and you will hardly hear anything else inside)… And, as you suspected, this portent of design, technology, mechanics and aerodynamics is not the most appropriate or discreet thing in the world to go for bread or take to school the only child that would fit in it, to your right. Already? Ready for a fast-paced experience aboard a beast of more than half a million euros, of which there are only 765 units, with those same horses to which it owes its name and a torque of 800 Nm?

Well, press the hidden handle in the air intake of the door, do not hit any pipe when raising it by pulling it up a little, do not leave anything protruding behind the seat when pulling it down and closing it, stretch your back a little and relax your neck and to enjoy a (I mean, British) roller coaster, just arrived from Woking, in England, which, I warn you, nobody said had to be exactly comfortable. But first, let’s locate the button to the right of the steering wheel that will raise the chassis a few centimeters up to 63 km/h to save urban ramps and speed bumps without destroying the diffusers on the ground.

McLaren 765 LT Spider test

And since we have to hit the road and it’s raining a lot outside, let’s not get too distracted, when pressing the nuclear red button, with its roar -amplified as in the best auditorium by the depths of the garage-, the feeling that they are already looking at us from a thousand kilometers around, nor the white smoke that comes out in the form of steam to announce the mystery, the birth of such a Messiah. We have a new god of sportsmanship! Praise be to the maker of the legend, Bruce McLaren, and his disciples at McLaren Automotive, for following his message and the tradition (started in 1994, with F1 on the road) that ordinary mortals can drive machines with this last name. that until then were only reserved for speed heroes, both on earth and in the sky, such as Bruce himself, Fittipaldi, Hunt, Prost, Senna, Lauda, ​​Hamilton, Alonso or Sainz, who lent me his orange papaya cap and Today it will be the best complement as soon as it stops raining.

At 40 an hour, between narrow streets, I don’t know if the car or me suffers more, because everything rumbles, the sun visors screech and at every touch of the accelerator, even with the controls on and in Comfort and automatic mode, the McLaren 765 LT (by long tail -long tail-) twists and asks to fight so that you stop fighting against its jerks or its rigid suspension and brace with its small steering wheel to avoid each chicane of potholes or cones of works, and that you ascend at once to the paradise of sensations.

Finally, the morning clears and, after darkening the carbon and glass hardtop (10,860 euros) by means of a button to remove driving aids without dazzling me with the keys on the console, I can slow down, press the button that removes it and hide in 8 seconds and listen to the new tune in Sport mode (the most radical after Track).

It is now that I revel in the extraordinary racing feel of this exclusive mixture of leather, Alcantara, fiberglass and the ubiquitous carbon fiber, the latter material with which McLaren has built its brand image as a tribute to the safety monocoque chassis built with it that revolutionized Formula 1 since the early 1980s… and that all the teams continue to use (improved) today.

Although the box has turned orange as I have been asking for sportsmanship, there is a key that folds it and only lets you see the basic information on the edge, in the style of a single-seater, with an LED rev counter to know at what speed to change gear and the speedometer, yes, which is required by law, that after all, this is a vehicle for public roads… but that can be enjoyed in every meter of mountain road. ,

I leave space and, without ever disregarding safety or common sense, I squeeze its V8 biturbo until I stick to the seat due to its brutal thrust and it is now that all its settings, its tires -already at optimum temperature- show off in an incredible sensory climax.

a real airplane

I put my cap on again -although I couldn’t think of a more honorable place to lose it- and with the most radical configuration I let the engine (always invisible under the bodywork), give the C of the chest in the form of a roar in each acceleration and backfiring as soon as you lift your right foot and reduce with the paddles (fixed and carbon, as it should be). In the most radical braking, the huge rear wing, in the purest style of the flaps of an airplane, automatically unfolds to help in the operation and not over, offer greater aerodynamic resistance and preserve very effective brakes despite not being those of the circuit pack (21,450 euros).

Between flight and low flight, the morning passes as fleeting as this roadster, which makes you fly while it sticks to the ground, turning very flat and warning of possible excesses. The phone rings and makes me want to throw it away, but only the painting costs 6,480 euros and it’s not a plan. So it’s time to land, hide the 765 LT and find a place to see my team at the next Grand Prix. Before, a child yells: “Look, mom, a Ferrari!”. I’ll take that as a compliment…

My opinion

With more than half a million euros -between base price and extras-, perhaps it is not the most appropriate to say that the 765 LT is a ‘car’ or that it ‘gives’ sensations more typical of pilots than drivers. Because even in that it is different from all this phenomenon (better this way?) of engineering.