The McLaren 620R is revealed as a road-legal 570S GT4 race car
It's the most powerful Sports Series McLaren ever
by Zac Palmer
Perhaps you missed out on the limited-run McLaren Senna race car for the road. Those were all snapped up immediately, so it’s understandable if you did. Don’t fret, though, because McLaren just unveiled another road-legal race car that it plans to sell 350 of. It’s called the McLaren 620R, and it’s even more exclusive than the 500-unit Senna.
The 620R is truly a road-legal 570S GT4 race car at its core. McLaren simply homologated it for road use, and then took advantage of the total lack of racing regulations to make it even quicker than the race version. The end result is rather enticing.
To make it road legal, McLaren attacked a laundry list of items. The massive rear wing gained a brake light. McLaren says that cars will be delivered to customers in the most roadworthy low-downforce setting, but a McLaren retailer is able to adjust it to one of the two other more aggressive settings — in maximum attack, it can contribute 408 pounds of downforce. The front bumper and splitter were redesigned with “more pronounced aero blades” on the splitter. Dive planes were added to help accelerate air flow along the sides of the car and aid brake cooling. Then, the redesigned carbon fiber hood has two nostrils to clean up the air flowing over the top of the car and aid downforce. The full frontal aero package is able to produce up to 143 pounds of downforce.
As expected, it uses an unshackled version of the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 out of the GT4 race car. In this spec, it produces 612 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque. That’s good for a 0-60 mph sprint in 2.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 200 mph.
The dampers are straight off the GT4, too. They’re manually adjustable, and actually contribute to a 13-pound weight savings over the road version of the 570S. Still, these dampers are meant for the track, so expect them to be brutally stiff on our pockmarked roads. Lightweight aluminum wishbones and uprights are used, plus stiffer anti-roll bars as well. Carbon ceramic rotors and forged aluminum calipers are used to stop. McLaren says stopping power is spectacular with the standard Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires, but it’s taken to an entirely new level with the optional full slicks.
Buyers in the U.S. are allowed even more goodies than those elsewhere with this car. You’re able to spec an MSO upgrade package that features a carbon fiber roof and roof scoop for the car’s intake. The McLaren Track Telemetry system comes with this package, allowing you to record your lap times and analyze them later. The starting price is $299,000, and production will begin in January 2020.