Painting a McLaren

The new McLaren 720S Spider by MSO: No, we’re not going to talk about the performance of the car that’s powered by a 710-hp, 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8.

Rather, we’re going to talk about the paint.

The vehicle has a tri-tone paint finish that is called “Coriolis,” which is an orchestrated blend of Cerulean Blue, Burton Blue and Abyss Black metallic paints.

It takes over 260 hours for McLaren MSO “specialist craftspeople” to complete the tri-tone painting of the vehicle. There are specific areas that get the tri-tone coating: the front splitter, hood air intakes, front air intakes and side panels, lower door and lower side air intake panels, door mirrors, rear bumper and the underside of the active rear spoiler.

The point is to accentuate the elements that contribute to the overall aero of the car.

Said Darryl Scriven, MSO Chief Designer, McLaren Automotive, “Aerodynamic innovation is such an integral part of the 720S Spider that using this new paint design to highlight areas that work hard to manage how air flows over the car – literally how the car ‘breathes’ – was the natural approach to take. This is a car that truly merges artistry with the science of aerodynamics.”

(OK. If you’re really wondering, the 0 to 60 mph time of the car is 2.8 seconds and it has a top speed of 212 mph.)