GOING FURTHER, FASTER

EITHER McLAREN HAS been thinking outside the box or it hasn’t read the script, because this new McLaren GT veers so far off-piste from a traditional grand tourer’s specification that someone should probably call mountain rescue. Not that the GT’s ingredients are radical, because it follows the same formula as every McLaren produced since 2011’s MP4-12C, and its building blocks trip from the tongues of car literates like a primary schooler might recite the alphabet: carbonfibre tub, mid-mounted twin-turbo V8, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, dihedral doors.

You’ll pay from $400,000, so the GT’s affordable in a McLaren context, and comparable money to the 570S Spider with which it shares so much, though there is differentiation here, and logic to McLaren’s approach. Parts-bin mechanicals are tuned for a more relaxed if still driver-focused character – the 4.0-litre V8 gains new turbos and a flatter torque curve for better driveability; there are quieter, softer Pirellis, and gentler suspension and bushings too. Power stands at 456kW and 630Nm, splitting the 570S and 720S models, if landing significantly closer to the former. It’s a car for the journey, insists McLaren, but one that also upholds the brand’s reputation for exceptional dynamics.

Design that’s a little too seesaw-inspired to these eyes is dictated by the need to provide easier passage over speed bumps as well as extra luggage space – though the impressive-sounding 420 litres of storage under the roof-hinged hatch is presented in an awkward hump perhaps best filled by emptying the contents of your suitcase over it rather than actually taking the case along.

All in all, it’s an intriguing if oddball creation. So to discover if the GT can truly convince as a grand tourer, we’re convoying across England to north Wales with similarly expensive rivals that stress-test the McLaren’s talents at either end of the