Two years ago, McLaren Automotive permitted owners to sharpen the 570S coupe with a new Track Pack, which brought the added benefit of lopping 55 pounds off the already svelte two-door. The carmaker says 10 percent of buyers choose it. Earlier this year, the Track Pack migrated to the droptop 570S, eliminating 73 pounds of performance-blunting mass. With the 720S GT3 customer race car testing throughout Europe as you read this, McLaren has announced a Track Pack Specification for the 720S road car.
McLaren made the announcement in the UK, but the circuit bundle is certain to make its way here, following the previous two. When it does, you can also expect it to cost roughly the same as a decently powered track car. That’s because to get to the Track Pack, you first need to option the Performance Pack, which appends hood and rear fender intakes, carbon fiber exterior mirror caps, and ambient lighting in the engine bay.
Outside, the Track Pack combines the so-called “MSO Defined Gloss Finish Visual Carbon Fiber Active Rear Spoiler” with a sports exhaust and “super-lightweight” forged 10-spoke wheels. Inside, a pretzeled titanium bar spanning the cabin secures six-point harnesses for the driver and passenger lightweight carbon fiber racing seats. The driver grips an Alcantara-rimmed steering wheel, and the bespoke division puts its 18th-century-novel naming scheme to work again with the “MSO Defined Satin Visual Carbon Fiber Extended Gearshift Paddles.”
No changes are made to the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. Nevertheless, when it’s time to win the track-day trophy, the properly equipped 720S driver can make best use of that engine with the McLaren Track Telemetry (MTT) system, which marries data-logging software to three video cameras around the car.
When it’s all assembled, adding equals subtracting: the £28,360 price (about $37,000) is less than the price of optioning Track Pack components individually, and returns a 47-kilo (53-pound) drop in curb weight. (And pushes total cost to about $293,000.) For our purposes, the 570S Track Pack added $20,615 in cost in 2016. Escalate that with a respectable premium for the march of time and the fact of the superior 720S. Or rather, have your private banker do the escalations, eh?
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