The brilliant people from McLaren Automotive have recently taken the wraps off a new incredible supercar, a limited-run Ultimate Series roadster that’s called Elva and just happens to be McLaren’s first open-cockpit car. Do we have your full and undivided attention now?
The McLaren Elva celebrates the famous M1A racers designed by Bruce McLaren and the McLaren-Elva M1A [Mk I], M1B [Mk II] and M1C [Mk III] that were highly successful in the 1960s. But this new McLaren aims to be the ultimate roadster in our era, a car limited to only 399 models, with pricing for each of these beauties starting from $1.7 million (£1,425,000).
McLaren imagined this mind blowing open-cockpit sports car with no roof, no windscreen and no side windows, in an effort to take high speed thrills to a completely new level. The car boasts a bespoke carbon fibre chassis and body and it’s characterized by a low nose and a pronounced front bumper, with large fenders flowing all the way from the front to the back.
The height of the twin rear buttresses looks minimal thanks a deployable roll over protection system and even though you might think you could only drive this beast with a helmet on, the form of the upper cabin wraps around the driver and the passenger to provide a secure driving environment.
The McLaren Elva is powered by the same engine from the McLaren Senna or the Senna GTR, a massive 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 which delivers 804 HP and 800 Nm of torque. All this power is sent to the car’s rear wheels through a 7-speed seamless-shift gearbox that works together with a launch control function to launch this beast to 100 km/h in less than 3 seconds.
Engineers from McLaren also equipped this supercar with an innovative Active Air Management System (AAMS) that will amplify driving pleasure even more. This special system channels air through the ultra low nose of the Elva to the front clamshell of the car at high velocity before it’s taken up over the cockpit that feels like a ‘bubble’ of calm. When this system is inactive the central duct is sealed and the air flow goes into the low temperature radiators to increase their cooling efficiency.
The McLaren Elva also comes with a full width active rear spoiler that could be adjusted by height or angle to optimize the car’s aero balance. There’s also an interesting rear diffuser that works together with the active rear spoiler and the supercar also features a completely flat underfloor until the rear axle where the diffuser takes over to accelerate air coming from under the vehicle.
Inside the cockpit, there’s carbon fibre and.. even more carbon fibre. The seats boast an ultralight carbon fibre shell with the lower area of each seat being a bit shorter than the conventional McLaren seats. There’s also a spar of carbon fibre that goes down right between the buttresses and between the driver and passenger seats to support a central armrest.
The dashboard also flows seamlessly into the cabin going down and around to meet the car’s swooping doors. The McLaren Elva won’t come with an audio system as standard, but future customers could get one at no extra cost if they so desire. There’s also an intensive collection of bespoke materials that will be available for customizing this spectacular roadster.
The first delivers of the McLaren Elva are expected to begin sometime at the end of 2020.
