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McLaren 720S brings 530kW to the supercar battleground

- Ben Barry

A FEW minutes before McLaren’s 650S successor is unveiled, product development boss Mark Vinnels still won’t tell Wheels how much power it’s packing.

The old 3.8-litre V8 has made way for a 4.0-litre with new pistons and crank, new cylinder heads and new turbos with quick-to-spool titanium-aluminide turbines.

But Vinnels won’t let up on the suspense. “How much do you think?” he teases. I guess 500-515kW, a chunk more than the 650S and Ferrari 488 GTB; a small stretch beyond the 675LT.

Then the new Super Series bursts into the hangar we’re freezing in, driven by test driver Chris Goodwin.

You notice that it’s dramatically low-slung, even for a supercar, that someone appears to have forgotten the side intakes, and that the number plate reads 720S.

In McLaren logic, that means this car has 720PS… 530kW!