The McLaren 570S Spider

Issues associated with convertible versions of existing vehicles—and we don’t mean mussed-up hair—are that there tends to be a reduction in structural rigidity (after all, in effect, you’re cutting off the top of a unibody) and there is often an addition of a sizable amount of mass to handle the convertible mechanism.

So know that the McLaren 570S Spider, predicated on the 570S Coupé, has the same structural rigidity as the coupe and, using the same retractable hardtop technology proven in the McLaren 650S and 675LT Spiders, the weight add is just 46 kg compared to the coupe.

A key aspect of the maintenance of the structural rigidity is the carbon fiber MonoCell II chassis that’s used.

One of the features of the top is that it opens or closes in just 15 seconds and operates at speeds up to 25 mph, a speed that is probably not more than glimpsed as the 3.8-litre, twin-turbocharged McLaren V8 engine propels the car from 0 to 62 mph in 2 seconds. While the car can travel at 204 mph with the top up, it goes a mere 196 mph with the top down.

A change to the body of the vehicle is that the rear spoiler is 12 mm taller than the one on the 570S Coupé. That’s because of a difference in the upper body design of the Spider (as in the absence of the roof), so the higher spoiler provides the additional downforce necessary to achieve the same sort of balance achieved by the coupe.