130 | theceomagazine.comWhen a company that builds Formula 1® cars also builds road cars,
you know that speed is a given. But how does McLaren’s most
popular car compare in today’s supercar-rich marketplace?
WORDS • KARL PESKETThe ‘Greatest Show On Earth’ has drawn its
curtains for the final time. After 146 years,
US-based Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus ceased selling tickets in May, ending
the era where mostly four-legged creatures took centre stage.
Now it’s up to us as bipeds to surprise and delight, thanks to
expectations that have heightened over the years.
Crowds in the early days were far easier to entertain. The
1875 records of the Oregon Pioneer Association recall the
simplicity of “the first one-tent, one-clown, one-trick pony,
pioneer Oregon circus.” While it shows how society has
progressed in the ensuing decades, that written record
(which you can see online in its original form) also gave us
the term ‘one-trick pony’, and we’ve used it ever since.
How fair is it to label a supercar a one-trick pony? Well,
considering this is a road car built by an F1 team, its focus is
to be ridiculously fast. So, not too far off the mark, then.
McLaren is the brand in question and its heritage
comprises half a century of competing in both Can-Am andF1 while creating road cars. This rather conspicuous beast,
the McLaren 570S, is the middle rung in the company’s
sports series, and builds on a tried-and-tested formula
introduced with the seminal MP4-12C.
The 570S’s layout is classic supercar: mid-mounted
V8, sports suspension, two seats and rear-wheel drive. The
F1 influence, though, is evident from the moment you press
the start button. There’s a whirr in the background and then
a huge ‘whap!’ from the engine as it flares and settles down
into a deep growl, sounding like a cornered feral cat.
Despite its V8 layout, the flat-plane crank eschews an
expected syncopated beat, creating trumpeting blare more
akin to F1 engines of years past. The 3.8-litre displacement
belies the motor’s considerable output, with the two
turbochargers force-feeding fuel and air to create 562bhp
and 600Nm.
The result is as you’d expect: zero to 100km/h in just 3.2
seconds and 200km/h in 9.5 seconds, only one hundredth
of a second behind the McLaren F1’s benchmark time.T