Automotive

McLaren 600LT launches with deadly cool exhaust gimmick

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The track-focussed 600LT has top-mounted exhausts that fire flames up into the air
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McLaren 600LT: headlights
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McLaren 600LT: giant brake calipers speak to serious performance
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McLaren 600LT: exhaust pipes exit straight onto the rear wing in an unusual arrangement
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McLaren 600LT: yeah, they shoot flames into the air on overrun, too. Badass.
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McLaren 600LT: body shape will be familiar to anyone who's spent time looking at the Sport series cars
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McLaren 600LT: two-tone interior is a tough place to shave weight, given that it was pretty focused to start with
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McLaren 600LT: the chief visual separator is the oversized aerodynamics at the front and rear
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Where are the exhausts? In there behind the rear wing. The 600LT has top-mounted exhausts that fire flames up into the air
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McLaren 600LT: carbon diffusers and tastefully small rear wing
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McLaren 600LT: this would actually be a very ordinary paint job if it wasn't for the colored lighting
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McLaren 600LT: the one with the pipes on top
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McLaren 600LT: track focused new beast becomes the new Sport series flagship
McLaren
The track-focussed 600LT has top-mounted exhausts that fire flames up into the air
McLaren
View gallery - 13 images

Downforce is the name of the game these days in supercar circles, particularly if it can be achieved without a giant rear wing. So here's a new one: the McLaren 600LT's twin exhausts fire out upward behind the engine bay to save weight, blow on the spoiler a bit … and look deadly cool.

The new 600LT more or less replaces the 675LT in McLaren's lineup as the top dog in its Sport class, Sport being the lowest its classes go. The Super class now features a lone 720S, and the Ultimate series only has the Senna and the P1 in it, so the Sport class is where all the action's at right now.

Compared to the 570S, which we found immensely enjoyable, the 600LT is 96 kg (212 lbs) lighter at 1,247kg (2,749 lbs) – provided you tick every lightweighting option in the options list. It makes about 30 more horsepower at 591 ponies, or if you like you can go with metric horsepower (pfederstarke), in which case it nails 600 on the nose to make the name quite convenient.

McLaren 600LT: track focused new beast becomes the new Sport series flagship
McLaren

It shares its monocoque carbon fiber chassis and basic platform with the 570S, with a quarter of the parts changed. Much of the change comes in the underhanging aeros, with its huge splitter and diffusers dominating the undersides of the car and extending its overall length by a couple of inches.

The motor is still that hard-charging, mid-mounted 3.8-liter twin turbo, but part of the weight saving is achieved by ditching the twin rear exhausts. In their place is a novel arrangement where the pipes exit right behind the engine bay, pointed more or less right at the rear wing.

I'm not here to tell anyone how to live their life, but it strikes me that supercars are really all about presence, pulling power and wow factor, with actual performance a distant second. And if that's the case, there are few things cooler than a car with doors that open upward and exhausts that fire little flames up into the air. It's one badass gimmick, even if the wing needs to be heat-coated in the middle to stop it melting. I can see videos of rich kids on YouTube already, screaming at their beleaguered dads for getting them the wrong McLaren without the pipes on the top.

McLaren 600LT: the one with the pipes on top
McLaren

Beyond that, handling is focused more on track than road driving. Where the 540 and 570 cars made some pretense toward everyday drivability, the 600LT is a touch more extreme, with all its inputs sharpened. Indeed, while LT stands for Long Tail, the tail on this thing really isn't much longer at all. Instead, it's McLaren code for track focus. We hope it's still as friendly to drive.

Priced at UK£185,500 (~US$243,000), the 600LT will be built in limited numbers, with production beginning this October. Do yourself a favor and check out the video below, even if it's just to see those funky exhaust-flame fox-tails shooting out the top of the car.

Source: McLaren

View gallery - 13 images
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5 comments
Techtwit
Seems like a good idea to fire out the noxious exhaust gasses at near face level for pedestrians and cyclists of all types. Reminds me of the "Easy Rider" style Hi-Fi custom bike exhausts, which were very quickly banned in the UK.
rantng
@Techtwit “oh, didn’t think of that.”
McLaren should leave the gimmicks and wow factor to Lamborghini and go back to data driven design.
ColinPearson
Techwit, it's not dissimilar height to exhausts on trucks or large SUV
ljaques
Oh, the humanity. DRIFTING a McLaren? Heathens.
Cody Blank
I'm sorry you said gimmick?
You mean the gimmick that works so well they do it in F1? It's worked well enough for the FIA to regulate it and teams to continue to try to bend those rules. You mean that "gimmick"? When will they also stop with those gimmicky turbos as well...