McLaren Believes It Has the "Only Authentic Sports Car Setup in the Market"

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain
mclaren believes it has the only authentic sports car setup in the market

On the one hand, you have Horacio Pagani, founder of Pagani Automobili, who builds some of the world’s most exotic supercars but says of the Porsche 918, “Porsche is the greatest — beyond a doubt. I own a 918.”

Speaking of his own Ferrari F12 tdf’s arrival, Pagani says, “When I uncovered the car and saw the Ferrari logo, I had the urge to kiss it.”

“I was the first to order it in Europe,” Pagani says of the new Ford GT. “I like the fact AMG is making a car with F1 technology,” Pagani says of the Mercedes-AMG Project One. “I will buy one.”

Pagani’s openness toward competing supercars is refreshing.

On the other hand, McLaren’s chief engineer for the brand’s “entry-level” Sports Series cars, Paul Burnham, tells CarAdvice, “At McLaren, we like to think we’ve got the only authentic sports car setup in the market.”

They wear their Union Jacks with pride in Woking.

McLaren’s case for such an audacious claim rests on four characteristics. First, there’s an all carbon-fiber tub, which knocks just about every historical sports car out of the running for authentic sports car status.

Second, McLaren’s a believer in hydraulic steering. Fair point, but McLaren may end up eating those words if the company ever follows the EPAS route of most automakers.

Third, McLaren credits its cars’ V8 engines. Retroactively and futuristically cross the Lotus Elise off your sports car list. Also remove the new Ford GT that Horacio Pagani paid for with his own money.

Finally, McLaren associates authentic sports cars with midship engine placement, as if the Chevrolet Corvette needed another reason to stand outside McLaren’s sports-car sheepfold.

McLaren’s Burnham made these comments while discussing the separation of Sports (570S and 540C, for example) and Super Series (720S) cars. McLaren has generated such high performance with the Sports Series cars that distinguishing the upper-tier cars is a challenge. “It’s one of the reasons why the 570S gets slimmer tyres than the new 720S Super Series car, otherwise there isn’t a lot that separates these two cars, as far as grip levels go.”

McLaren’s aim, Burnham says, is to have a lower level of car that’s “more exploitable at road speeds,” and a higher level that’s “about pure performance.”

McLaren may feel the company is in a league of its own when it comes to a level of sports car purity that’s clearly unobtainable by the humble Porsche 911 GT3 RSs of the world, but at least the company’s not so presumptuous as to believe its cars are perfect. Asked about decreasing turbo lag, Burnham speaks of improvements but acknowledges, “It’s still a turbo car and there is a limit to how far you can go, but there are things you can do to improve either the reality or the perception of lag.”

Ah yes, McLaren can improve the way you perceive turbo lag. It’d be hard to do any more than that when you’re already the builder of the only authentic sports cars in the world.

[Images: McLaren]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 26 comments
  • Tjh8402 Tjh8402 on Aug 17, 2017

    As much as I applaud McLaren for sticking to their hydraulic steering, they're going to have to find something more interesting sounding ( and preferably normally aspirated) than that turbo V8 and a proper manual transmission rather than flappy paddles if they really want to claim to be an authentic sports car.

  • JimZ JimZ on Aug 18, 2017

    there's no arrogance quite like British arrogance.

    • Von Von on Jan 17, 2018

      Gotta love British arrogance, only they can do it properly (see what I did there?). It is especially audacious because all their major brands failed and had to be sold off and rescued, but no, only WE can make proper sports cars.

  • RICK Once had 78 TOWN COUPE and wish I had never let it go! Ultimate OTT excessive luxury! Have since had RWD FLEETWOODS, RWD Fifth Avenues ,as well as 89 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series and current 2007 TOWN CAR Signature Limited! All great cars, but 77 through 79 was KING 🤴 of the road! So sad to see what is now considered a luxury vehicle 😢. Who wants to drive a glorified truck 🚚?
  • Kwik_Shift There are better cars to drop $80G on.
  • 28-Cars-Later Opulence!
  • Kwik_Shift If there is no 2WD Access Cab with 6 speed manual, then I'm not interested.
  • RedDevil Radio Garden is my go to for long trips.Thousands of radio stations all over the worldfor free as long as you have internet. Sure beats hunting for the one or two decent stations in most areas.
Next