McLaren Artura Spider launches as 690bhp hybrid drop-top

McLaren product director Jamie Corstorphine told Autocar: “This gives a really marked crescendo as the power is building. We’ve really ramped it up from the mid-point, which makes the car even more exciting and engaging to drive, because it’s not just about the total figure: it’s about how the power is delivered.

“You get more of a feel from the engine revs increasing and decaying transmitted into the structure of the car, through the seats and to your body, and it gives you more of an emotional cue.”

Corstorphine added that better feel and driver enjoyment can be appreciated not only on track but also in everyday situations such as on a roundabout or slip road.

“We want to make cars that our customers go to pick from their garage most often because they fit into their lives, they’re fun to drive, but they’re no-compromise,” he said.

The Artura’s ‘emotional’ credentials are enhanced here by the addition of an electrically folding hard-top – framed in carbonfibre or with an electrochromic glass panel.

The roof can be operated at vehicle speeds of up to 31mph and deploys in as little as 11 seconds, making it one of the fastest-folding of any convertible on sale. Because the roof mechanism sits where the engine cooling vent is on the coupé, air is extracted via new ducts.

Particular attention has been paid to aerodynamics, with an 8mm foil on the windscreen smoothing airflow over the cabin. This has been tuned to be effective from 30mph to 90mph “because that range is where you would want to be cruising around with the roof down”, said Beale.

Also new for the convertible is a symposer to emphasise the exhaust note, which “is tuned not to give its own sound but to try and give the most authentic sound”, according to Beale. It is intended to make the car more refined when cruising and more vocal when pushing on.

Deliveries of the Artura Spider and updated coupé will begin in the middle of this year, hot on the heels of the lightly refreshed GT and new 750S, which replaces the 720S.

Q&A with Andy Beale, chief engineer McLaren Automotive

Did you have a weight limit in mind for the Spider?

“We have internal targets for what we want the weight to be – they’re always set very aggressively – and then we spend plenty of time trying to work out where we shave a few grams off of here or there, to make it just the 62kg heavier.”