THE DRIVE TO DRIVE: McLAREN CUSTOMER RACING

Have you ever dreamt of racing against Lando Norris? Imagined yourself gripping the wheel while adrenaline courses through your veins at over 200 miles per hour? Pictured that checkered flag waving you on for one last lap while hundreds cheer from the stands?

Alas, our team at McLaren can’t get you on the track with Lando – but for the rare few McLaren owners that possess the commitment and skill necessary to tackle the world’s toughest circuits, we can do the next best thing. For McLaren owners with a racing license, the McLaren team has developed a program designed to push their limits. We want these McLaren owners to tackle corners, blaze down straights and see the world blur around them. We want them to understand what 60 years of love and dedication can create. But more than anything, we want their hearts to race with excitement, because every McLaren and McLaren owner has racing built into their DNA. 

But how do these owners get behind the wheel and on to the track? McLaren Motorsport.

HOW CUSTOMERS BECOME COMPETITORS

The McLaren Motorsport Program began with a simple goal: free our customers from the restrictions imposed by regular streets and roadways, to permit them to experience the physical limits of what is possible in a McLaren. We put every racer in a specially engineered GT variation of an existing road car and push them to the brink on some of the world’s premier circuits.

And these events are not just enhanced test drives. McLaren Motorsport partners with established GT racing brands to ensure our racers are performing before packed grandstands and in an electric atmosphere. For every customer racing series, the turns are just as tight, the audience is just as loud and the engineering is just as advanced. The only difference is who’s behind the wheel.

And speaking of competitive series, The McLaren Trophy, Europe, is McLaren’s brand new competitive series debuting this year. As a fan of McLaren, you have probably wondered at some point, “Is it the car or the driver that makes a difference?” Well we did too. McLaren Trophy was designed to finally put that very question to rest.

In this specialized one-make championship that runs alongside the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS, customers will face off in 10 races across five circuits, using the exact same McLaren model. The two models designed for The McLaren Trophy, the Artura Trophy and 570S Trophy, have been built off some of our most successful GT racing model designs and are now unshackled from previous regulations in order to fully take advantage of McLaren technology. No more questions about superior engines or better designs. Just one supercar racing around the track and one team standing atop the podium.

But that begs the question, what models would our customers be driving in one of our races?

THE MODELS OF PERFECTION 

Just as a chef is nothing without their kitchen, a racer is nothing without their car. To ensure our customers get the complete McLaren Motorsport experience, we’ve engineered and iterated upon three models for the single purpose that has driven every McLaren driver since Bruce entered his first race at age 14 – the experience and thrill that comes from racing. 

The 570S GT4 is what happens when racing DNA and natural road talent meet. This supercar houses a twin turbocharged McLaren V8 engine that packs in enough power to have taken the top spot in over 200 races and 25 championships. Meanwhile, the immensely strong, feather-light carbon fiber chassis – the MonoCell II – provides a nearly impossible weight-to-power ratio while simultaneously delivering the ultimate levels of safety. And though the 570S GT4 is no longer in production, its legacy lives on today in the 570S Trophy, which adds an additional 110 horsepower and endurance brakes to ensure you go faster for longer.

The 720S GT3 is our first GT racing model designed and built completely in-house by McLaren Motorsport. For this latest evolution of the 720S, we pushed our engineers to improve upon an already established winner – and trust us, they did. With improved aerodynamic efficiency, improved stability and improved suspension, the 720S GT3 builds upon its predecessors, and forges ahead into the pole position of the GT3 international field.

The Artura GT4 – the newest addition to the McLaren Racing roster – takes the revolutionary new McLaren Artura road car and supercharges its performance. A lighter chassis, more user-friendly handling, greater durability and the addition of a twin-turbo v6 engine all add together to create an Artura that demands to be raced. The new high performance V6 powertrain alone provides more fuel efficiency and improved throttle response while cutting weight, so whereas the original Artura promises the pinnacle of hybrid supercars, the Artura GT4 promises the pinnacle of GT4 racing. The only thing missing: a McLaren driver to push it past the finish line. 

So are you ready to experience McLaren Motorsport firsthand? For additional information, please email the McLaren Motorsport directly [insert email]. You can also follow the McLaren Motorsport teams on Instagram [insert IG handle] to get updates on races, models and drivers. And be sure to stay tuned for additional updates on the McLaren Motorsport team’s 2023 season in future editions of the Kiwi Quarterly newsletter.