Yahoo Autos The 2024 McLaren 750S Is the Lightest, Most Powerful Production McLaren Ever
The McLaren 720S is a benchmark supercar, mixing jaw-dropping track capability with a suspension setup that’s compliant and comfy even on awful, potholed pavement. It’s also slightly long in the tooth: McLaren introduced the 720S in 2017 as a replacement for the 650S. Now, the number rises again. Meet the McLaren 750S, with more power, lighter weight, and a totally revamped interior.
First, the power: McLaren’s familiar 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 has been squeezed and prodded to crank out 740 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, up from 710 and 568, respectively. That power goes strictly to the rear wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox reworked for quicker acceleration in the lower gears. It seems to have paid off — McLaren says the 750S will sprint from zero to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds and reach 124 mph in 7.2 (or 7.3 if you go for the 750S Spider with its power-retractable hardtop). Your ears will be entertained, too, thanks to a reworked center-exit exhaust system that McLaren says was inspired by the P1.
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In the ride-and-handling department, the 750S gets an all-new version of McLaren’s hydraulic adaptive suspension. Creatively, it’s called PCC III, for the third-generation version of Proactive Chassis Control. As with all PCC-equipped McLarens, the 750S manages body roll by cross-linking the dampers at each axle — when the outside wheels load up as you turn into a corner, the pressure accumulating in the outside dampers is transferred into upward pressure on the inside wheels, keeping the body flat and maximizing traction through a curve. Compared to the 720S, the new 750S has softer springs up front and stiffer springs at the rear, and the front track has been widened by 6 mm (roughly 1/4 inch) for improved grip. The electro-hydraulic steering sports a quicker ratio and a redesigned pump.
It’s clear that the 750S is a reworking of the 720S, but the changes are more than skin-deep. McLaren says that 30 percent of the components in the 720S were fully updated or changed, and you see this most clearly in the weight figures: McLaren says the new 2024 model is 66 pounds lighter than the outgoing 720S, with the new model coming in at 2,815 pounds dry. Add all the necessary fluids and a 90-percent-full fuel tank, and you’ve got a mid-engine supercar that tips the scales at 3,062 pounds. (And kudos to McLaren for quoting both a dry weight and a full-fluids DIN curb weight in its press release.) You’ll need to option up your 720S coupe to achieve that lowest possible weight, including stuff like carbon-fiber-shell racing seats (38.6 pounds lighter than the standard seats) and 10-spoke ultra-light forged wheels (30.4 pounds lighter than the base-model wheels). Optional carbon-ceramic brakes come straight from the McLaren Senna, and the active rear wing has been raised and lengthened.
