A Spider That Flies - McLaren 750S Spider Driven

Written by: Tim Pitt | Photography by: Jathu Thillai

I’ve been outnumbered and outgunned. Moments earlier, the McLaren 750S Spider was hoovering up stares, idling impatiently as it nosed through the parting crowd, but an even bigger crowd has gathered nearby, and I’m about to discover why. Beyond the craning necks and clamour of smartphones, our partners at The Intercooler have assembled five ‘Ultimate Series’ McLaren supercars: F1, P1, Senna, Elva and Speedtail. It feels like I’ve arrived at a Michelin-starred restaurant, only to find Kate Moss has hired the nightclub next door.

The Sunday Scramble takes place three times a year at Bicester Heritage, a beautifully preserved WW2 airbase in Oxfordshire, now a hub for the classic car industry. It’s a must-visit event for petrolheads of all persuasions, a gathering where the car park is as endlessly eclectic as the show itself. Among the many supercars, I spot a Ferrari F50, Lamborghini Murcielago, Aston Martin DB12, McLaren 675LT Spider and Manthey-modified Porsche 911 GT3 RS MR.

Of the car manufacturers present, Lotus — literally — shouts the loudest. Its reborn Type 66 Can-Am racer snorts, spits and shrieks up the main avenue to join a radioactive green Evija in the bustling Supercar Paddock. The juxtaposition of past and future, analogue and digital, and Detroit V8 with Williams-developed electric tech is jaw-dropping and show-stopping.

McLaren has an official presence at Bicester, too. Its clinically clean NEOM Electric Racing workshop shows off a Nissan E-Force 04 single-seater that competes in Formula E, plus the Odyssey 21 — a gullwing-doored electric SUV built for blasting across deserts in Extreme E. My defiantly combustion-powered 750S lurks just outside.

The Intercooler’s 4,228hp cadre of Woking class heroes might have stolen its thunder, but the Spider still swivels plenty of heads, particularly in vivid MSO Ludus Blue with colour-coded ‘eye sockets’ and lashings of exterior carbon. Pub experts will tell you all McLarens look the same, but Jack, the 13-year-old poring over every detail of this drop-top supercar, would doubtless disagree. Just as, at his age, I could instantly tell a Ferrari 512 TR from a Testarossa, so he knows the differences between a 750S and the 720S it replaces.

For the record, the visual updates are modest, limited to an extended front splitter, new sill intakes and rear wheel arch vents, an elongated rear spoiler and a P1-style centre-exit exhaust. The McLaren is still no beauty, especially when compared with the rival Ferrari 296 GTB, but it bristles with aero-sculpted aggression. Viewed from behind, its mid-mounted engine is clearly visible through laser-cut mesh, while a potent red LED glow illuminates its aluminium plenum. With the carbon fibre hard-top retracted — a process that takes 11 seconds at speeds up to 31mph — it somehow looks both ruthlessly focused and wildly hedonistic.

Changes beneath the skin are more far-reaching, starting with additional boost pressure, a new exhaust system and forged pistons from the 765LT, liberating an extra 30hp from the 4.0-litre turbocharged V8. Its seven-speed dual-clutch transmission also gains a shorter final drive ratio to improve acceleration and heighten the sense of urgency. The headline numbers are 750hp, 590lb ft, 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and 206mph.

The 750S has also lost 30kg versus its predecessor, thanks to lighter wheels, standard carbon fibre seats, thinner windscreen glass and other detail changes. Factoring in the 49kg contributed by the Spider’s folding roof, this results in a DIN kerb weight — measured with all fluids and the fuel tank 90 per cent full — of just 1,438kg. That’s 122kg lighter than the Artura Spider and approximately 200kg less than a Ferrari 296 GTS.

McLaren hasn’t neglected the chassis setup, either. The front track is 6mm wider, while spring rates are slightly softer at the front and stiffer at the rear. There’s also a quicker ratio for the steering (still hydraulic, of course) and tweaked calibrations for the Comfort, Sport and Track drive modes. A new ‘Speedy Kiwi’ button on the dashboard provides quick access to your favourite settings.

So, how does it drive? My first encounter took place months previously in Portugal, where McLaren had hired the former F1 circuit at Estoril. On track-focused Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres, the 750S felt majestic, monstering the straights and nailing each apex with millimetric accuracy. An optional ‘Senna’ brake booster, combined with carbon-ceramic discs and the pop-up active airbrake, meant it could shed speed with equal enthusiasm, too. Once I’d managed to gather my thoughts and rearrange my internal organs, my overriding impression was of a car closer to the 765LT than the 720S (indeed, McLaren has already ruled out a hardcore ‘Longtail’ version of the 750S).

Today’s drive back from Bicester Heritage won’t be such a strenuous test, but it is memorable for different reasons. Exiting the Scramble, I end up in a colourful convoy of cars heading south on the motorway. A Ferrari Roma is leading the pack, a Shelby Cobra replica is up ahead and a Lamborghini Diablo VT looms large in my mirrors. The sense of occasion and respectful camaraderie between cars feels like being on a Supercar Driver event.

A schlep down the M40 and anticlockwise around the M25 can’t reveal much of the car’s character, but it does afford me time to explore the updated touchscreen — now with Apple CarPlay, albeit no Android Auto — and new driver display, which moves up and down with the steering wheel. Like the Artura, chassis and powertrain settings are within fingertip reach via toggles on either side of the binnacle, meaning the wheel itself remains blissfully free of buttons. The contrast with Ferrari’s infuriating haptic touchpads is a major tick in McLaren’s favour, although Maranello claws back points for perceived quality and interior design.

Refinement with the hard-top in place seems identical to the 750S coupe, although the 305-section rear Pirellis (standard P Zeros this time) emit a steady drone at speed and those shorter ratios make for less relaxed cruising than a 720S. On the plus side, visibility is excellent by supercar standards, the 150-litre ‘frunk’ is relatively practical and the new nose lift system takes just four seconds to activate, rather than the ponderous 11 seconds required before.

So far, so sensible. But the 750S Spider must return to McLaren headquarters in Woking the following day, and I’m not handing it back without driving on some proper roads first. So I set my alarm for 4:30 am and retire to bed early, already buzzing about what Monday morning will bring.

Unlike the new breed of plug-in hybrid supercars, the 750S doesn’t have an electric-only ‘silent getaway’ mode. Its engine wakes with a gruff bark then settles to a pulsating rumble that threatens to shake the dawn songbirds from their branches. The tyre temperature display shows deep blue — rather than warmed-up white — and the air is still cold enough to see my breath, so I leave the Spider’s roof up and retract the vertical rear window to amplify the V8 volume instead.  

The McLaren M840T engine (an evolution of the M838T used in the original MP4-12C) has never howled like a Porsche flat-six or screamed like a Lamborghini V10, but it sounds louder and more stimulating here than ever before. As the revs soar, the whoosh of twin-turbocharged boost is subsumed by a brutal snarl that could only emanate from a flat-plane crank V8. It’s as unabashedly uncouth as a GT3 race car.

The 750S hardly wants for performance, either. With side intakes force-feeding its V8 with cool, oxygen-rich air, it feels utterly explosive: responsive low down, mighty in the mid-range and then breathlessly intense as you near the 8,500rpm redline. Even in a world where electric cars have largely desensitised us to speed, the McLaren is still, well, ludicrous. On track at Estoril, McLaren’s test drivers were pulling nearly 190mph at the end of the main straight. On leafy Surrey lanes, a little more restraint is required…

I rendez vous with photographer Jathu at Box Hill, near Dorking. The steep road that snakes to the summit used to be an unofficial hillclimb, both for car drivers and the motorcyclists who congregate here on Sunday mornings. Sadly, it’s now covered in speed humps and pelotons of cyclists competing to set the best Strava time (the climb also formed part of the cycling road race at the 2012 London Olympics). It makes a photogenic backdrop for a supercar shoot, but is hardly the Col de Turini.

Using Jathu’s local knowledge, we plot a circuitous route back towards Woking, determined to enjoy these last hours with the 750S. On quiet B-roads that potter through villages then rush between rolling fields, the McLaren feels entirely at home. In Comfort mode, its ride has that supple quality I loved in the 720S — even the middling Sport setting is a tad abrupt for British potholes — and its ‘Monocage II’ carbon fibre tub makes the Spider just as rigid as its coupe sibling. Dynamically, this is a no-compromise convertible.

Indeed, like every car from the 12C onwards, the McLaren’s chassis feels like the star of the show, its engine merely a supporting act. The sheer poise and precision of the 750S, the flow of information through its steering and the way it carries speed through corners takes some mental recalibration to truly appreciate. Like watching a film in HD, every detail seems to sharpen into focus. Many supercars feel soft by comparison.

We end up on Chobham Common, close to the old Longcross proving ground — now a Hollywood-rivalling film studio used by Disney and Netflix — where I cut my teeth as a road tester. Back then, Longcross was used by McLaren to shake down new cars and I can still remember the excitement of being overtaken by a factory-fresh P1 on the banked perimeter road. I think I was driving a Honda Jazz at the time…

The 750S can’t match the P1’s 916hp output, but I’d wager it’s no slower around any circuit today. On the road, with the roof down and the powertrain in maximum-attack Track mode, the headlong rush is immersive and intense. Gear changes via the paddles are rabidly quick, while full-bore upshifts result in an air-splitting crack from the two tailpipes. Sandy Holford, chief engineer for the 750S, described it to me as “a purist’s supercar”. You might argue such a machine would require a naturally aspirated engine and a manual transmission, of course, but if Holford’s aim was to position this car further beyond the more affordable, more easygoing Artura, he has succeeded.

Our journey ends at the McLaren Technology Centre, the futuristic factory and home of the F1 team, where Jathu is granted permission to take some final photos. With its glassy structures sunk deep beneath the ground, the place feels like a Bond villain’s secret lair, but the best gadgets can be found inside. On ‘The Boulevard’ that curves around the artificial lake, I spot a new Artura Spider, an M8D Can-Am car and no fewer than three McLaren F1s. There’s the record-breaking XP5 prototype that reached a top speed of 240.1mph in 1998, the F1 LM allegedly promised to Lewis Hamilton by Ron Dennis if he won the 2007 Formula One World Championship, and the ‘Ueno Clinic’ F1 GTR that finished first at Le Mans in 1995. Topping even the Sunday Scramble, it’s a lineup of supercars that only the Secret Meet can surpass.

I hand back the McLaren keys feeling exhilarated and a little exhausted (the 4:30 am start didn’t help), taking one lingering look back as I walk away. If you think this is nothing more than a rebadged 720S, think again. The 750S is a more involving and ultimately more exciting experience. That said, while the new car comes with a three-year warranty, if your budget doesn’t stretch to £267,900 — or you want to avoid the inevitable depreciation hit — used 720S prices now start from just £110,000. Frankly, that’s an incredible amount of supercar for 911 Carrera S money. So what are you waiting for?