McLaren has historically been a dark horse of the automotive industry. With cars like the newly launched 720S Spider and recently revealed Speedtail, they have now become an icon that redefines the term ‘supercar’. Few know that this pedigree brand had very humble beginnings:

It all started when Bruce McLaren, an expert racer and engineer modified his father’s Austin Ulster to develop his very own Formula 1 car in 1966, finishing in 10th place in his debut race. Only two months later, McLaren Racing earned their first point in the British Grand Prix when Bruce finished sixth. He later became the youngest World Champion when he was just twenty-two! Bruce McLaren was at the top of his career when he was tragically killed testing the McLaren M8D at Goodwood in 1970. But his legacy lived on.

In remembrance of Bruce McLaren and his vision, Ron Dennis and Gordon Murray began working on a racecar for the roads - the mighty McLaren F1. With a gold-laced engine bay and carbon fibre construction, this example of fine engineering set the path for all future McLaren road cars. It was a car that had many, many world’s firsts.

Save for a handful of special editions here and there, McLaren lay under-the-radar for eighteen long years before launching their second homegrown road car - the MP4-12C. The supercar environment had changed quite a lot since the F1 and with modern-day legends like the Ferrari 458, the McLaren had big boots to fill. And boy did they fill those boots!

They haven’t stopped since. Cars like the 720S redefined modern-day performance standards and ate supercars (and hypercars) more than thrice its price for breakfast. And now there’s a new one. The 720S Spider.

It has the same DNA as the 720S, but only now, McLaren has chopped its roof off. And that has helped. A lot. The 720S features Monocage II-S, a tweaked version of the coupe’s Monocage II, meaning the car is just as stiff as it’s coupe counterpart without gaining much weight. With the roof down, the driver will be able to hear the 4.0L twin-turbo V8 even louder, which should make for a scintillating experience. And when you want a quiet ride, the 720S Spider has a glass hard top which can go from transparent to tinted at the touch of a button. It can be lowered or raised in 11 seconds at speeds of up to 50km/h, a huge improvement over the outgoing 650S Spider which took 17 seconds at speeds up to 30km/h.

While it has gained 49kg over the coupe, performance figures have remained largely the same with a 0-100km/h  time of 2.9 seconds (claimed). With the roof on, it will go on to do 341km/h (212mph). Folding the roof does limit its top speed slightly to 325km/h (202mph), at par with the Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spider and very close to the Ferrari 488 Spider.

Performance figures aside, McLaren claims a 12% increase in visibility over the 650S Spider thanks to the car’s unique flying buttresses. Luggage space has improved, too, with this new Super Series Spider having a space of 58 litres.

With McLaren’s India plans still bleak, it is doubtful if we will ever see one on the showroom floor, but given that our country has no dearth of enthusiasts, we cannot rule out the possibility of someone importing one here.