Geneva Motor Show 2015:Â British supercar brand McLaren has released images of its 675LT road car that will debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week (+ slideshow).
The two-seat 675LT is designed for public roads, but McLaren says it has a "more aggressive look" than its other road vehicles thanks to the incorporation of design elements from the brand's racing cars.
The main design influence for the 675LT is the 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail – one of the brand's iconic racing cars, which was 100 kilos lighter than previous models and included an unusually long nose and tail among other modifications designed to improve its aerodynamics.
Like the Longtail, the 675LT's appearance was determined significantly by aerodynamics and weight, according to McLaren.
"We wanted to associate the 675LT with the ethos of the 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail racer, which was also designed to be lighter, more powerful and aerodynamically driven," explained McLaren chief designer Robert Melville.
The most visible change from McLaren's previous road-legal supercar is the air brake – the fin at the rear of the car that is more commonly known as the spoiler. This is now 50 per cent larger, making the car look more like a racing vehicle.
"We're not just making the wing bigger because it looks good. It's there for a reason," said Melville. "It's sensor controlled and tuned to deliver downforce."
"If you stamp down hard on the break, it knows to deploy and acts as an air break."
The car's body includes other new elements designed to manage the flow of air around the vehicle and to increase downforce, which is the combination of air and gravity on a moving vehicle that presses it towards the ground to provide stability.
These include a carbon-fibre splitter – an aerodynamic inlet at the front of the car – and specially designed front-wing plates.
"The front carbon-fibre splitter is deep," explained Melville. "By making it deeper, you increase the downforce."
Inside, two lightweight carbon-fibre-shelled bucket seats are upholstered in a composite material called Alcantara, which has a similar appearance to suede. A touchscreen system for in-car entertainment is also built in to the dashboard.
Thanks to the reduced weight of the design, which was partly achieved by modifying existing McLaren components to use lighter materials, the car is capable of going from zero to 100 kilometres per hour (62 miles per hour) in 2.9 seconds. Its top speed is 330 kilometres per hour (205 miles per hour).
"Offered as a coupé only, the 675LT will be the most track-focused, yet road legal, model in the McLaren Super Series, with a power-to-weight ratio that eclipses established rivals," said a statement from McLaren.
The 675LT will be available in five colours: 'silica white', 'delta red', 'napier green', 'chicane grey', and 'McLaren orange'. These are paired with stripped-out interiors and accompanying materials and colours.
It will debut at the 85th Geneva Motor Show next week alongside McLaren's track-dedicated P1 GTR. In a recent interview, Melville told Dezeen that bird wings, artificial hearts and spy planes were among the inspirations for its vehicles.
"Our mission statement is to be the iconic sports-car company," he said. "I see the brand identity as being born on the track. Everything is there for a reason. There's no excess; it's a purist statement."