The McLaren 720S is a beast; there's no denying that. The 710-horsepower replacement of the 650S is known for savagely destroying almost anything on the track, but it's also a force to be reckoned with on the drag strip. Here, this stock, except for the Toyo tires, effortlessly reaches 60 mph in just 2.39 seconds en-route to a blistering quarter-mile time.

Launched in 2017 at the Geneva Auto Show, the 720S is McLaren's mid-range supercar. It features the M840T 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 that's over 40% new in comparison to the 3.8-liter unit of the 650S. The car arrives from the factory in Woking equipped with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa rubber that wraps neatly around the 19-inch and 20-inch rims but isn't ideal for use on the dragstrip. The guys at DragTimes changed the tires and, without other modifications, achieved some ludicrous times.

The McLaren 720S is quicker than a Dodge Challenger Demon with the right rubber

The McLaren 720S is a car engineered from the ground up to go fast, be it through some tricky turns or down a straight line. This time, we're talking about how fast this car can be on a drag strip.

For the record, the 720S comes with a 4.0-liter V-8 that develops 710 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 568 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 rpm. The official numbers for this 2,830-pound supercar make for an impressive reading already: 2.9 seconds from 0 to 62 mp, 7,8 seconds from 0 to 124 mph and a top speed of 212 mph. All that means that a quarter mile time of 10.03 seconds is within reach. However, is that the best it can do?

DragTimes took a bone-stock example out to the strip a number of times with the aim of shaving a few tenths off that time. To go below 10 seconds, a set of Toyo R888R semi-slick tires was fitted in place of the original Pirellis. These tires are noisy and an ill-advised choice if you go out when it's not dry outside. With that being said, they're quite effective on the strip.

With launch control activated and the Toyos in place, the DragTimes McLaren 720S sprinted to an amazing quarter mile time of 9.76 seconds at 144.8 mph according to the track data (the VBOX logger recorded a time of 9.79 seconds at 145 mph). To get there, the 720S first reached 60 mph in 2.9 seconds then 100 mph in 4.9 seconds. From 100 mph it kept accelerating all the way to 150 mph which took an extra 5.45 seconds.

Yes, this is a $285,000 car we're talking about but those times are hard to come by when we're talking showroom stock machinery. With that in mind, it's worth pointing out, as it's said in the video, that it may go even faster with a line lock in place.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 McLaren 720S.

Read our full review on the 2018 McLaren 720S Velocity.

Read our full speculative review on the McLaren 720S Spider.