McLaren 675LT Spider revealed

It will be limited to just 500 units worldwide, and its three-piece electronically-operated roof can be folded down and stowed on top of the engine bay at speeds up to 30km/h.

The McLaren 675LT Spider seen in these images is finished in a new hue, Solis green, though the rest of the brand’s colours are available.

McLaren is calling the 675LT Spider the “most focused, fastest and exhilarating open top model to ever wear a McLaren badge“, which is understandable considering how it shares the same key characteristics as the Coupe – light weight, enhanced aerodynamics, high power and track-focused dynamics.

Initially, McLaren said it would offer one new model every year. Performance of the droptop is expected to be quite strong, with McLaren claiming a zero-to-60 time of just 2.9 seconds-0.2 second behind the lighter coupe.

On paper, this is now the fastest accelerating vehicle in its class, beating out the 488 GTB Spider by 0.1 seconds.

It may look very similar to the 650S Spider, however the engineering changes under the skin are significant.

Despite being a convertible, the 675LT has a dry weight of 2,800 lbs, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 4.2 lbs per hp. Of course, the car’s defining characteristic is the retractable folding hardtop which can be opened at speeds up to 30 km/h (19 mph).

Aside from the cosmetic and powertrain tweaks, the 675LT models are built with the most track-focused suspension setup of any Super Series model.

The Spider weighs just 40kg more than the 675LT coupe, with no additional bracing to the carbon fibre monocell required, despite removing the roof. By customer choice, two other wheel options are available – a new 20-spoke design which comes in both liquid metal and diamond cut finishes, as well as the 5-spoke design which we first saw on the Coupe.

Like the coupe, only 500 examples of the 675LT Spider will be produced. Ferrari’s F12tdf trades heavily on the original “Tour de France” endurance racers of the 1950s and “60s; Ford’s Mustang GT350 recalls the timeless ’60s GT350 Mustangs; and McLaren’s 675LT drawn on the “Longtail” name (LT) applied to the epic F1 GTR race cars of the 1990s”.