Car India – May 2019

combination of outlandish performance with absolutely no slack,
doubt or confusion to dull your speed that re-writes the rules of
the game in your favour. In the McLaren, fast is not something
you persuade or cajole the car to do. Fast is what it exists to do.
And so that lead vanishes to nothing and still I’ve so much in
reserve I doubt my resting heat rate has lifted much above its
slovenly office-worker norm. When, bowed but content, he
flashes his hazards in salute and I turn off, I haven’t the heart to
admit we weren’t really trying.
And in this, more exalted company? The principle still holds.
You sit low, really low, in the 911, but swapping from the
McLaren back into the Porsche still feels like getting into a
normal car. The Porsche’s steering, while nicely meaty, accurate,
and blessed with no little feedback, can’t live with the McLaren’s
standout connection between brain and bitumen. In the dry, it’s a
sensory delight. In the wet (or on a dry circuit, where you can
really commit), studiously edging up to the front tyres’ limits, you
sometimes check the apparent madness of your actions, only to
realize that so clearly is the McLaren communicating what its
front axle can and cannot do in that precise moment that there’s
nothing remotely foolhardy about your actions.
But the first autumn leaves of age are creeping in the 570S’s
very special foliage. Much has been written of the 3.8-litre V8’s
dearth of charisma, not to mention its lagginess, but the truth is
that it has a character all its own, a machine-like relentlessness
and pulse-pausing top-end rush. It won’t charm your ears or your
happy gland like the Audi’s V10, but it is punishingly fast. No, it’s
the transmission’s lack of immediacy and silk next to the 911’s
eight-speed PDK that really stand out. Then there’s the interior,
which is either a stark place of work with slightly dated screen
graphics — the truth, probably — or a casualty of the strides the
911’s cockpit has made with this new 992-generation car.
And the R8? With its intoxicating engine, the Audi lands a
ferociousblowontheonlyrealchinkinthe570’sotherwisenear-
invinciblearmour.Ordinaryfolk,eitherfromthepavementorthe
passengerseat,willvoteAudionthestrengthofits5.2-litreV10
alone.Buttheywon’tknowthetruth:thatoutwhereit matters,the
morenimble,tactile,andagileMcLarenalwayscomesoutontop.

PRE-FLIGHTBRIEFING:McLAREN570S

Whyisithere?

The 911 mighthave

rearseats,butit’sa

sportscaraboveall

else—andMcLaren’s

establisheditselfasa

makerofoutstanding

sportscars.It’s

£149k,thatis,Rs1.34

crore,(before

options)tothe

Porsche’s£93k(Rs

83.7lakh)but

McLarendoesn’tsell

boatloadsofSUVsto

paythebills...

Anycleverstuff?

Refreshingly,no.No

lane-keepassist,no

blind-spotmonitoring,

noHUD,noadaptive

cruise.Insteadyouget

a compositechassisso

rigidyou’llpassout

longbeforeyougetit

toflex.Suspension

(doublewishbone

frontandrear—

proper)ispretty

conventional bar the

adaptivedampers.

Whichversion is this?

McLarenmake a

coupleofSports

Series,ofwhich this

(track-ready 600LT

apart)ismost serious.

The(soon

discontinued) 570GT is

morecosseting, the

Spider’sa spider and

the540Cless fast but

a useful£14k (Rs 12.6

lakh)cheaper. All

optionson our test car

arecosmetic. (Or

aural:£4,750, that is,

Rs4.28lakh, sports

exhaust.)

FAST IS NOT SOMETHING YOU

PERSUADE THE MCLAREN TO DO. FAST

IS WHAT IT EXISTS TO DO

p p ) p y

Diffuser like a meat

tenderiser? That’ll

be the McLaren

http://www.carindia.in May 2019 CAR INDIA 81