The steering is so precise and perfectly balanced it makes you want to get up in the middle of the night to go foraging for more corners to devour
McLaren 675LT
Rating: 
Three weeks from today, whatever the weather, my radio team, wife and several pals will be lining up with thousands of others to puff, pant, prance and dance our way around the Windsor Half Marathon.
‘Very hilly’ is the general reaction from anyone who’s ever encountered it before.
Mmm, can’t wait.
The rapid-fire gear changes occur so quickly in the McLaren 675LT it’s like the transmission is already waiting somewhere in the future for us all to catch up and skip the light fandango
The thing is, I wish someone would tell my legs they are the same legs that made it around 26.2 miles (actually 27 on the day, according to my Garmin running watch) of London tarmac way back at the end of April.
I thought I would be able to run for ever once my first marathon was in the bag. Not so though, it seems, not so at all.
There may however be a reason for my legs’ lacklustre recent form.
As a result of much more regular long runs and a semi-strict diet, when I ran London 2015 I was around a stone lighter than I am now. I can actually remember feeling tight and light (for the first and last time in my life) on the starting line.
Having done the maths I now know that 12st 4lb down from 13st 4lb is a 7.5 per cent reduction in my fighting weight. Which bizarrely is the first thing that popped into my mind after I’d spent my first few hours in the ridiculously brilliant new McLaren 675LT.
‘LT stands for Longtail, Daddy,’ announced my six-year-old co- columnist, Noah Nicholas Martin Evans. I don’t know how he knew this but he was absolutely correct.
Even though the 675’s engine only sees a relatively minor increase of 25bhp over the 650, 40 per cent of all the parts within are brand new and more efficient
The 675LT (I think the longtail ref may primarily be a nod to the longtail Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 fleet of 1995) is to the 650S what the Speciale genre is to Ferrari’s 458 – very soon to be joined by the F12 Speciale at £600k plus a pop (gulp).
That said, the limited-edition, souped-up, road-legal track versions of its latest and greatest hits always sell out as soon as they are announced.
But now, the reason I am minded to draw a weight-reduction comparison with my own pre-marathon self is because the most significant difference between the LT and its more sober elder sibling, the 650S, also happens to be the culling of a similar percentage of excess fat – resulting in a similar, and hugely disproportionate, enhancement of performance.
This latest evolution has been trimmed down to 1,280kg from the 650S’s portlier 1,380kg.
A svelte improvement factor of some 7.5 per cent (coincidence!) but one that has resulted in a world of difference.
0-60mph arrives in less than three seconds and the steering is so precise and perfectly balanced it makes you want to get up in the middle of the night to go foraging for yet more corners to devour
You may remember the 650S waltzed off these columns with five stars billowing out of its glowing-purple-hot titanium nostrils. Well I’m elated to announce the 675LT is about to do the same.
Not only is this car significantly lighter but a lot of what goes on underneath the bonnet and driver has been ratcheted up a notch.
For example: what are defined as Sport (S) settings on the 650S’s Active settings systems for both handling and power, are ranked as Normal (N) on the LT.
Even though the 675’s engine only sees a relatively minor increase of 25bhp over the 650, 40 per cent of all the parts within are brand new and more efficient.
Plus, heaps more carbon fibre means more power to weight and more whoop whoop into the bargain. But that’s all in the offing.
None of this would matter if it didn’t all come together in the driving experience. Which it so does. What actually happens when you drive this car is almost incomprehensible.
The rapid-fire gear changes occur so quickly it’s like the transmission is already waiting somewhere in the future for us all to catch up and skip the light fandango.
The exhaust note is so much more authentic compared to every other modern-day supercar out there. Visceral without being lairy. More honest than Xbox
0-60mph arrives in less than three seconds and the steering is so precise and perfectly balanced it makes you want to get up in the middle of the night to go foraging for yet more corners to devour.
As for the sound of McLaren’s new symphony, it’s simply the most exhilarating and honest engine note I’ve heard this side of the Sixties and Maranello’s glorious 12-cylinder golden age.
Whatever it is that McLaren has done to tune up the LT’s pipes and however they’ve done it, I simply could not get enough. The exhaust note is so much more authentic compared to every other modern-day supercar out there. Visceral without being lairy. More honest than Xbox.
My only regret is that for the three days this heavenly body was entrusted to me I didn’t get to launch her on a track. After all that is what she’s ultimately all about.
The self-same reason her limited run of 500 sold out the moment the rumour of her existence was whispered about.
By all accounts, those who have had the rare pleasure of doing exactly that haven’t been able to sleep since.
‘As good as a production car can possibly be,’ is the general consensus.
‘A mini P1,’ is another mantra being chanted by those lucky spuds of the LT track club.
The most exciting stat I can give you is that she does at least 82 mph in second and the mere thought of her will make me smile for the rest of my days
The same bunch who have thus far been able to make the most of her Formula 1-style, lap-time, onboard computer.
A digital visual representation of the circuit in question underneath you, in which each subsequent lap is recorded, broken down and highlighted in purple whenever a new personal-best fastest sector is achieved. Nonsense but brilliant nonsense nevertheless.
The most exciting stat I can give you is that she does at least 82 mph in second and the mere thought of her will make me smile for the rest of my days.
We have to thank McLaren on behalf of the British automotive industry for taking the supercar fight to Italy in such an audacious fashion, with such sincere gusto, unblinking commitment and relentless passion.
It’s nothing short of incredible how far the warriors at Woking have come in such a short time.
They have now officially established themselves as serious players (and a welcome global alternative) in a market which for decades has been dominated by the tricolour of Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini.
Those signori have enjoyed 50 years’ head start on McLaren yet Ron and his gang are now breathing down their necks and about to overtake them.
How is that even possible?
Rule Britannia. Rock on, Ron. Knighthoods R Us. If he doesn’t get one soon I’ll eat my hat, cat, rat and cricket bat.
Seriously good work.
