It is as if you are neurologically interconnected to the frame, its sheer speed is embarrassing. In the middle of the torque curve, where the 800 Nm are perfectly grounded at 5,500 rpm, a sort of sensory explosion occurs and finally lets you understand what it means to have 765 horsepower under a car weighing just 1,388 kilos.

Words Alessandro Marrone / Photos Bruno Serra

 

 

 

Speed, or the ratio of the distance traveled by an object to the time required to travel that distance. The 765LT perfectly hits the cold definition declaimed by the dictionary, but if it were enough to stop here it would not be possible to try to explain the deluge of emotions that assail you once you get into the cockpit of the craziest McLaren I’ve ever driven. It was a week in which I initially wondered if the very concept of performance had not reached a point of no return, inexorably crossing the barrier of common sense that makes a supercar enjoyable even on normal roads and maybe even in unskilled hands. It took much less than expected to understand that the 765LT, here in the Spider version, is much more than a supercar dedicated to extreme performance, but in order to really get in tune with its core you have to be ready to put everything into play, every belief, every primal instinct of self-preservation and become an integral part of an object with which you have to come to terms, unless you want to end up getting severely hurt.

 

 

 

Every action has a reaction, you press the throttle and you move forward. You steer the wheel and the car points in the desired direction. Now imagine yourself in the stomach of the Gorges de Daluis, unleashing the surplus of power made available by the lightened and enhanced version of the already overflowing 720S, with your heart beating madly so that it seems to want getting out up your throat. Hands hold the steering until they hurt and the bedlam entering and exiting the tunnels dug into the rock amplifies a sense of absolute isolation from a car world that would like to guide us to electric motors and endless technology. This may be the last bastion of humanity stowed by force under aerodynamic appendages that certainly do not try to hide how much the 765LT is a weapon of destruction capable of disintegrating roads and race tracks, even better than the much more expensive Senna.

We learned to accept the fact that if McLaren had married the concept of “form follow functions” with the soft lines of the MP4-12C, the engineering and performance development experienced in the following years led to the maximum and unconventional evolution of the subsequent variants. LT – Long Tail – which, paying homage to the F1 LT, represents the shapes of three fighter-bombers which, taking advantage of the exciting performances of the starting models, have moved the bar much further, above all due to a structural rigidity that smells of racing. The 675LT was the first one, an authentic myth that made possible to discover that beyond the 620S there was a world that we never thought could exist. It is, as in the case of the following 600LT, a rougher perception of the road, an inner concentration that connects to the chassis, the gearbox, the engine and which enhances not only for improved performance courtesy of an increase in overall power, but for an on road behavior that binds driver and car big time.

 

 

 

The 765LT is the latest evolution, obviously based on the 720S, the perfect supercar ready to devour thousands of kilometers in the shortest possible time. The Spider, produced in only 765 units, also allows you to amplify the experience by opening the roof and offering a Targa-type configuration, which among the advantages allows for practically no weight gain compared to the Coupe version: just 49 kg. It is really difficult to stop looking at it, leaving your pupils amazed at the sight of aerodynamics brought to the extreme with carbon fiber profiles that draw the way to the air flows ready to help pressing the McLaren to the ground in a few moments. The aesthetic purity of the 720S is distorted, possessed by the greediest speed demon, taken to the extreme so much that it may seem vulgar to some, but the basic concept is just that, making a racing car nevertheless able to attack everyday’s roads with the grin you’d have racing the last lap of an epic endurance race.

It’s me and the 765LT Spider. Finally, the Vermillion Red of the body perfectly blends with the rocky walls of the Gorges. The stretch from Nice to Daluis was a small taste of the ballistic skills available. Aerodynamics does not have a purely aesthetic function, but really serves to allow the power at disposal to be grounded in the stretches where the road is wider enough and allows a perfect view. At the same time I begin to take the first measures with my limits, much more evident than those of the car. Despite the almost 20 degrees of a sunny day at the end of March, the car is fitted with winter tires, which although specific and suitable for high-performance sports cars, do not guarantee the same feedback you’d get with summer tires.

 

 

 

The quad exhaust is even more accentuated by a very wide rear and the winged (long) tail can be operated manually, by entering Track mode, or when braking becomes more intense, thus covering the fundamental role of air brake, useful when moving at certain speeds. The seat is close to the ground, there is no filter with the road below and the perfect feel of the steering virtually decreases the generous dimensions of the car, letting me move from one apex to the other in an almost surreal way. One of the aspects that struck me most about the 720S was the ability to increase its grip the same way you increase the speed. With the 765LT the concept is the same, but obviously elevated. The big difference is the nervousness with which the reactions on the pedals are transmitted, a rigid chassis like marble and a deafening concert that echoes in the passenger compartment as if to remind you that the LT does not intend to play.

Accelerating in first gear means leaving a 305 mm signature on the asphalt. In second gear, you always have to be gradual, but you soon discover that even in third gear – at 100 kph – the 765LT hints at a bit of skidding, which once you take the right measures turns into the craziest roller coaster ride you’ve ever been in. Winter tires do a wonderful job no matter what, while the front is like a red-hot scalpel that sinks into butter, making you feel the road surface in all of its roughness. Every little change on the ground is transmitted to your back as if you were neurologically interconnected to the frame, pure speed is embarrassing. In the middle of the torque curve, where the 800 Nm are perfectly grounded around 5,500 rpm, a sort of sensory explosion occurs and finally lets you understand what it means to have 765 hp (+45 compared to the 720S) under a car body of just 1,388 kilos.

 

 

 

The acceleration is brutal and violent, it makes you uncomfortable with no uncertain terms, almost regretful in the split second you are trying to understand if the tires are actually biting the asphalt or if everything is about to end up in the hands of the inexorable laws of physics. While the needle of the digital tachometer rises, ignoring the storm of sensations that invades me in this seemingly uncontrollable moment, I shoot one gear after the other from the paddle shifters, which as per McLaren script allow to be easily reached even when the steering wheel is turned upside down, emphasizing one more time how this is a car built on the basis of a concept that is stretched to the extreme. Speed ​​is indeed something that can be achieved in a number of ways, but the way the 765LT gulps down miles per hour is disarming.

 

 

 

Now entering a tunnel and a second later I’m already out of it, like a noisy fiery bullet that continues its run in a series of curves carved into the side of the rock dangling over the ravine that flows into the Var River. The steering allows you to never take your hands off the 10:10 grip, almost coming to cross in the tightest turns and making sure to make a small correction as soon as the rear widens, warning you with a loud cry that attacks you from behind and settle into darker tones as soon as you resume pushing towards the next turn. There are pops, clangs, you can hear every single stone hitting the underbody and as the heat of the cockpit increases, the smell of rubber suggests it’s time to take a break, letting the mammoth carbon ceramic 390 mm at the front and 380 mm at the rear brake discs cool down.

 

 

 

This is a great time to enjoy one of the craziest cars I’ve ever been lucky enough to drive. Just being close to it, with the doors open upwards and that dark and anorexic cabin ready to welcome you in its rough embrace, makes you feel ecstatic. The ticking of the titanium exhaust breaks the silence of the ultimate battlefield, an evocative place that despite its reserved beauty manages to reward even with a driving involvement impossible to find anywhere else. Powering the 765LT Spider is the 4-liter twin-turbo V8. The extra power that reaches 765-hp is one of the many salient figures that make the Long Tail an unforgettable car, but as mentioned it is not all about brute force, but rather the way in which it is made available to the driver. Taking into account that it is never easy to unload such power and 800 Nm of torque to the ground on the rear axle alone, the road behavior at high speeds seems like having 3 types of driving.

 

 

 

It is indeed possible to move from point A to point B in Normal mode, ironically using the 765LT as the noisier alternative to the bus, but in reality all you expect is to set the knobs according to your needs (and capabilities), increasing the pace thanks to a powertrain always ready to fire. Finally, but in this case you would need a track – and a nice big one – there is that step that takes all the sensations amplified by the LT treatment and makes your heart explode like the first time you found love. It is engaging, rewarding and exciting to say the least, but like all those things so beautiful they don’t seem true, it brings with it the considerable commitment you have to maintain in those moments you sink the throttle with greater vigor. Its rigidity and the lack of filters make it very difficult to tame in tight sections as in situations where the road is not at all perfect. On track and with Trofeo R tires it would be a whole other story, while still taking into account its performance, it just takes 2.8 seconds for the 0-100 kph and boasts a top speed of 330 per hour, so better connect your brain before leaving the garage.

 

 

 

The 765LT Spider thus continues the noble lineage of the Long Tail family, settling alongside the 675LT and 600LT and offering a driving experience that is once again different from the others. The sum of the parts and the fact that it is produced in a limited series justifies a price starting at € 372,500. It also demonstrates how the line between supercars and hypercars is getting thinner, bringing new hope to the world of enthusiasts. In fact, the Long Tail shows that not everything revolves around pure performance, but also focuses on the involvement certain cars can offer, especially during a climb on your favorite mountain road, where lap times give way to that action called driving that gives life to the only reaction we can never do without: feel in love like it was the first time.

 

MCLAREN 765LT SPIDER

Engine V8 cylinder Twin-Turbo, 3.994 cc Power 765 hp @ 7.500 rpm Torque 800 Nm @ 5.500 rpm

Traction Rear-Wheel-Drive Transmission 7-Speed Automatic Gearbox Weight 1.388 kg

0-100 kph 2,8 sec Top Speed 330 kph Price from €372.500