Announced a few months back, the new Ultimate Series McLaren hypercar will appear as the most extreme McLaren in the lineup. Lighter than the P1, and possibly more potent than the Senna, the new hypercar will come without the roof but with a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, and ultimate abilities in terms of driving dynamics.

“We’re developing the next chapter in our Ultimate Series story, and we want to produce a car that’s focused on the thrills of driving and with that an open experience. That’s important,” McLaren’s global marketing director Jamie Corstorphine said during the presentation of the latest McLaren GT in Australia.

At less than 2,827 pounds, the New McLaren Open-Top hypercar Will Be The Lightest Roadgoing New-age McLaren Yet

Limited to 399 units, and already dubbed as the lightest McLaren ever, the new open-top hypercar will tip the scales at under 3,030 pounds. That is the weight of the road-legal Senna. However, the lightest McLaren you can spec is the McLaren 720S which can be as light as 2,827 pounds. Youtuber Mr JWW managed to spec it out in such a way that it tips the scales at 2,827 pounds. The new McLaren open-top hypercar likely cuts just under the weight of the lightest 720S. It will not, however, be as light as the track-only Senna GTR that tips the scales at 2,619 pounds.

McLaren intends to use a well-known carbon-fiber monocoque construction for this open-top hypercar. If everything goes according to plan, it should be the lightest and the stiffest monocoque ever integrated into a McLaren. Curiously, even the McLaren P1's chassis is so rigid that Mclaren did not have to install roll cage in its racing cars thanks to its incredible strength.

The new open-top hypercar, however, will not have a roof. It will, instead, have a slippery body unobstructed by a windshield, massive spoilers, or any protrusions that would destroy its elegant body lines. That is what I can make of the rendering McLaren published after the closed debut of the car at Pebble Beach earlier in August.

The New Open-Top Roadster Somehow Carries The Aura of the Stunning McLaren SLR Stirling Moss from 2009

The first car that comes to my mind after seeing this rendering is the McLaren SLR Stirling Moss introduced in 2009. It was a final evolution of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, but it did have some of the design solutions we can expect on the new McLaren open-top car. Remember, however, that we are talking here about a car from an entirely different McLaren era. The new one will be a mid-engine car with a 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8. It is pretty much the same engine as in the McLaren Senna. There, it develops 789 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. I would not be surprised if McLaren massages it a bit more. Even if it remains at the same levels of what it offers in the Senna, the lightweight body of the open-top P1 successor should make the most of it.

McLaren Senna specifications

Power

789 HP

Torque

590 LB-FT

Top speed

335 km/h, 208 mph

0-100 km/h

2.8 s

Engine

M840TR

Engine capacity

3,994 cc

Type

90-degree V-8

Turbo tech

twin scroll, electrically-actuated turbochargers

Max RPM

8,500 rpm

Valvetrain

32 valve, DOHC, VVT


Will the New McLaren open-top Hypercar be lighter than the legendary McLaren F1?

Apart from the stunning BMW-sourced V-12, McLaren F1 from the nineties was a masterpiece of engineering with a claimed weight of 2,509 pounds. It packs less weight even compared to the Senna GTR. Now, McLaren did report that its new open-top hypercar will be the lightest yet, but I am not exactly sure the company meant to undercut the weight of the F1. This will, likely, be the lightest new-age McLaren.

And yes, you can bet it will be expensive. With a limited production run of only 399 units, the hyper roadster's price will grow above the levels of the Senna, which starts at $959,000.

Conclusion

With the new hyper-roadster, McLaren looks to diversify its Ultimate Series lineup and finally offer a successor to the P1. The new car will use some Speedtail and Senna design cues, but all of them should equal to a beautiful body that will launch McLaren into a whole new plane of existence. As you probably see, McLaren is not exactly renowned for beautiful cars, but with the GT, and this new roadster, that might change. And it will be seriously fast. I believe it should reach 60 mph in over 2 seconds and manage a top speed of well over 220 mph.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2019 McLaren Senna.

Read our full review on the 2018 McLaren 720S.

Read our full review on the 1995 McLaren F1 LM