Wincy spider
The LT came out over two years ago now and when we first drove it we weren’t entirely convinced by it Sure it was ultra fast and had the wonderful communication skills McLarens have built their reputation on But it was also a little spiky in its manners A bit too hectic And that was in warm summer conditions Now we’ve driven it in winter Surely that’s not going to improve matters?
But somehow it’s different Better different On winter tyres it felt friendlier and less snatchy than it had on Pirelli’s hardcore Trofeo tyres Still had wonderful steering and chassis feel but felt less frenetic So I spoke to McLaren convinced some other changes must have been made maybe to the engine software to reduce the turbos’ sudden impact from our previous experience that seemed to be the biggest underlying issue But no no changes that might account for that
However McLaren did point out that the winter tyres have a wider operating band read sweet spot than the Trofeos Getting heat into the latter even in summer isn’t easy The winters don’t have the same problem Plus in winter you’re naturally more circumspect aware of the compromises you have to make But we’re also used to a certain amount of squidge and vagueness creeping in to softer compound tyres equipped with lots of channels and sipes Not really noticeable here No slop squidge or anything other than enthralling communicative handling
Sure you could only use full throttle at low revs knowing just how hard lb ft hits in a car weighing less than kg Circumspection is required That applies to any modern supercar at any time of year to be honest There’s quite a bit of road noise bouncing around the carbon cockpit and the ride is firm Reminds me what a great all rounder the regular S is But if you’re set on spending large and care more about steering chassis and the sensations of driving rather than the versatility of hybrid consider this instead of a Ferrari GTS