Designed for the track; Developed for the road

Acknowledged to pioneer race driven technology, McLaren built a sports car to be driven every single day of the week. Enter the 570S or what some might call, the Baby McLaren, the company’s first attempt at a 340km/hour sports car. With a whopping twin turbo V8 engine delivering 562 bhp, this Sport Series “newcomer” is ready to take on the big boys. With the 570S, negligible degrees separate “sports” from “Super”.  Exhilarating power output and superb handling give you a lot more than its price tag.

Elevated engineering is what gives McLaren its competitive edge. These guys know what they’re building when it comes to super reliable fast cars. After all, what was once designed for the track has been developed for the road. The 570S shows an evolution in the design direction for McLaren, with hints of the mighty P1, curvier than the 650S and slick light detailing; it is much more than a baby brother with huge shoes to fill. In fact, the 570S is a bit longer and wider than the 650S for the sole reason of making it more usable every day. More in-cabin storage, a glove box and a bigger boot are now in store.

The unique carbon fibre MonoCell II chassis was designed with more of a focus on day-to-day usability, offering improved ingress and egress from the cabin. It is incredibly strong and stiff yet weighs less than 80kg, offering optimum levels of protection. This lightweight structure is almost 150kg lighter than its closest competitor. The Sports Series has its own newly-developed suspension system ensuring enhanced levels of driver engagement and refinement on both road and track. Instead of the clever linked hydraulic suspension system, the 570S gets regular anti-roll bars, and no active aerodynamics, making it the most usable McLaren to date.

The cabin of the 570S has been designed around the driver, with a clear focus on engagement, visibility, functionality and more than any McLaren before it, day-to-day usability and space. The dashboard and steering wheel are also all leather trimmed, can be ordered in Alcantara as well. Intelligent and ergonomic design within the cabin provides extended stowage space, with the most usable space of any McLaren model to date with random storage areas that are fun to discover.

The 570S is comprehensively equipped with a full infotainment system including an all new TFT digital instrument cluster that changes configuration according to driving mode, a seven-inch IRIS touch screen,  with integrated climate control functionality, Bluetooth connectivity and mounted on a ‘floating’ centre console. The menu knob is kinda cool, kinda complicated but very high tech. The coolest gizmo this car offers is that it tells you how long you can park the car before the battery turns flat. This shows that McLaren really understand their customers, if only they can sync it to our personal calendar and remind you by phone, but I’m sure this will come in later

This is the car that truly matters to McLaren. With its twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and no LSD, the 570S is dominating the scene. The dual-clutch gearbox works brilliantly whichever mode you’ve got it in.  The throttle response is great above 4000 rpm.  And the Active Dynamics Panel allows you to switch between different drive modes that give the adaptive dampers firmer settings. Even in normal mode, the drive is still rough-ish, the car is always on. The handling is precise and poised. Everything you would expect from a power packed racing engineering firm like McLaren.

There’s a reason the press gives it plenty of praise; the McLaren way has always been known to offer high tech engineering at its peak. McLaren have raised the bar with their entry level “Sports” model with outstanding performance. “Sports” is an understatement with the 570S.  A fun balanced car to drive in traffic and on track without losing neither comfort nor traction.  The 570S is unmistakably one of the best daily drives this English engineering firm has offered us so far.  McLaren have clearly made their bones in the past few years with its latest models; will they be blunt enough to wander in Hybrid mode? Only time will tell.

Special thanks to McLaren Beirut, Biser3a.com,  Carl Hokayem & Steven Char