The 765LT Spider is the ultimate McLaren drop‑top

Reinforcing the LT ethos of limited availability, Woking says it will make 765 765LT Spiders, the same as number as 765LT coupes, all of which are now sold. The new Spiders are not all sold, least not from 2022 on. All you need to bag one is £310, 500, plus your options.

What do you get? Basically, a 765LT – one of the most acclaimed models that Woking has made. The coupe-to-spider transformation exactly follows the route taken by other McLaren models. That’s made possible because the carbon-fibre MonoCage II tub at the centre of things is just as amenable – and as stiff – in either coupe or convertible form.

The Spider’s silhouette, aero and powertrain are all as the coupe, as is the cabin apart from a couple of extra buttons: one to retract the single-piece carbon roof panel (in 11 seconds), and one to retract the rear window. You don’t have to retract the rear glass but since out back there’s a new quad pipe, all titanium, top-exit exhaust system it would surely be a shame not to. If this car looks good, as it does, it should sound even better.

With the roof section closed you are enclosed in what McLaren says is a full carbon-fibre shell the structural integrity of which does not rely on any further bracing (though there are carbon supports bonded into the chassis for rollover protection). Doing it this way keeps McLaren’s kilogram police happy, as does that titanium exhaust plus thinner glass.

But, inevitably, the Spider still weighs more than the coupe, chiefly thanks to the hard top and its electric mechanism. At a best of 1,388kg it is 49kg heavier than 765LT coupe, though it is worth remembering that this is still 80kg lighter than the 720S Spider, itself no heavyweight. McLaren says the Spider leads the class for power-to-weight with a ratio of 598PS-per-tonne ­– but you can probably forget that if you decide you can’t live without the no-cost-extra air-con and audio systems.

The powertrain is the familiar 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 which like the erstwhile coupe develops 800Nm (592lb ft) of torque with headline power of 765PS (572kW), or 45PS (33kW) up on its closest rival, the Ferrari F8 Spider we recently reviewed. There are some tiny differences between the acceleration times of the coupe and the Spider but mentioning them would be splitting hairs: the new Spider is just as searingly fast.

The figures then: 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds, 0-124mph in 7.2 seconds, the quarter mile in 10.0 seconds and a top speed of 205mph. As with the LT coupe, optimised gearing perks up in-gear acceleration – by as much as 15 per cent over the 720S, says McLaren.

Underneath, the fastest McLaren convertible carries on where the LT coupe left off, with the same bespoke springs and dampers, increased front track, lower front ride height and special software for the Proactive Chassis Control II suspension. One unique change for the Spider is an active rear wing that has been calibrated for roof open/roof closed positions.

The cabin follows LT form with its carbon racing seats, centre tunnel, exposed carbon floor and lightweight Alcantara throughout.

A nice place to be then, whether the sun is out or not. The mid-engined V8 genre was not born to be roofless but for decades in Italy, and now the UK, the Spider variant is just too important to ignore – owners like to be seen driving their supercars too much. The way McLaren tells it, driver engagement, dynamic ability and a little bit of pose value don’t have to be mutually exclusive.