The new McLaren 765LT has landed in Malaysia, making its local debut today at the McLaren Kuala Lumpur showroom in Glenmarie.
It is undoubtedly a very special car because for a car enthusiast, it represents everything a hypercar should be – dramatic, powerful and very clever.
Lets get one thing out of the way first before going further – the LT in its name stands for Longtail. McLaren has a long history of creating Longtails that goes back all the way to 1995 when the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail was introduced to race in the FIA GT Championship.
Over the next decade, the F1 GTR Longtail competed in about 120 races and won 38 of those races. Race fans will also know that the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail also competed in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.
But here’s the curve ball – McLaren now says that the LT now means a step up in performance and does not simply mean that it has a longer tail. It is the same as Ferrari introducing a Speciale or Lamborghini introducing a Performante. It is basically the more hardcore version of the car it is based on.
Talking about cars to be based on – the new 765LT is based on the 720S.
It is both longer and lighter than the base car, and it also uses advanced electronics to create 25% more downforce than the 720S. And as the name suggests, it puts out a staggering 765 horsepower.
The 765LT weighs 80kg’s less than the 720S, and if you want ultimate performance, you can tell McLaren to throw out the air-conditioning, rip out the carpet, and ditch the audio system. In completely dry form the LT weighs just 1229kg.
At the heart of it all is a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine that is paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox that catapults the car to 100km/h in just 2.7 seconds. 200km/h takes just 7.2 seconds.
With great acceleration comes great stopping power, and so the 765LT borrows its braking power from the other incredible car it created not too long ago – the McLaren Senna. The brakes from the Senna feature Formula-One style cooling ducts to keep the roots from overheating, and so you can rest assured that the brakes will never fail on you after a heavy track day.
Mclaren is a bespoke hypercar manufacturer, and with that comes a level of customisation not seen in other supercars. So you can basically have your Mclaren any way you want it, the only limitation being the depths of your pocket.
Only 765 units of the 765LT will be built and 10 have been made it to Malaysia – and all have already been sold. Price is at RM1,488,000 before taxes and options. We estimate price with taxes and options to be at over RM3,000,000.
