McLaren's 600LT coupe has been lauded as one of the standout sports cars that toes the line between hardcore road machine and ready-to-compete racer.
It's painstakingly lightweight, intensely potent and utterly uncompromising. Simply put, £185,500 could hardly be better spent if you need a car that's equally capable of lapping a track as it is the M25 at rush hour.
But what happens when you do throw a compromise into the mix - and a ruddy great one at that?
This is it; the new McLaren 600LT Spider, which has 100 per cent less roof for nine per cent more cash. Has the Woking supercar-maker just ruined one of its greatest creations?
A top-down triumph or convertible calamity? Rob Hull went to Arizona to drive the new 600LT Spider to find out if McLaren has limited its ability by adding a folding roof or made the winning formula that bit better
What's the problem with going topless?
There's a price to pay when it comes to lopping the roof off any vehicle - and that's weight.
The additional structural requirements to ensure the safety of those getting a wind-in-hair experience at the wheel ultimately means extra bulk.
Not only does this hamper acceleration, braking and top speed, it can also completely obliterate the finely-tuned balance, exacting centre of gravity and calculated road-holding rigidity of a well-honed performance coupe.
With these factors in mind, you quickly understand why sports-car manufacturers sometimes choose to keep their customers' heads concealed with carbon, aluminium or other lightweight composite materials.
However, more brands are being persuaded to trim the tops of their high-powered models - and that's entirely down to demand.
Ferrari, for instance, has the 488 Pista Spider. Lamborghini sells a Spyder version of the Huracan Performante. And most Porsche 911s come with a Cabriolet and Targo-top option.
And that's because buyers want them.
McLaren revealed at the 600LT Spider's launch in Arizona that half of the cars it will produce in 2019 will have fold-down roofs, showing the level of appetite for customers to be seen in their flashy motors.
While this makes sense for less track-focussed cars like the 720S Spider (our review of that model is coming soon), it's an outrageous contradiction for a stripped-out circuit weapon like the 600LT. Or so I assumed...
Demand for convertible performance cars is high. So much so that McLaren says one in two vehicles it builds in 2019 will be drop-tops
McLaren's 600LT coupe has been lauded as one of the standout sports cars to toe the line between hardcore road machine and ready-to-compete racer. So it's not a bad canvas to start from
It's a masterpiece of meticulous weight trimming
In McLaren's defence, this isn't the first time the British brand has successfully cropped one of its hardened sports cars into an equally capable roadster - take the 570S Spider, for example.
The same laborious formula has been followed for the 600LT.
Technicians and designers have been slaving away in the technology centre in Surrey like the Walter Whites of the car world, following precise ingredients and methodology to create the purest of driving drugs.
Kilograms have quite literally been cut from all over the place.
The theatrical top exit exhausts have been made 13kg lighter. The suspension 10kg more featherweight. The four forged wheels trimmed in total by 17kg. The carbon seats - taken from the Senna hypercar - shave another 21kg off the LT's mass.
How has McLaren reduced weight? They've gone to extreme measures, such as removing the carpets and the glovebox to trim every kg possible
The carbon-backed seats are lifted directly from the Senna hypercar and, despite being ultra skinny, offer lots of support
Alcantara material graces the big sections of the material. This is partly because it's lighter than leather. As Tesco says, every little helps
McLaren 600LT Spider specs
On sale: Now
Price: £201,500
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 592bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Drive: Rear-wheel drive
0-62mph: 2.8 seconds
Top speed: 201mph
Fuel economy: 23.2mpg
CO2 emissions: 276g/km
McLaren has even done away with a glovebox and carpets as well as fitting thinner glass to the windscreen to drain the 600LT every pound and ounce like a boxer cutting weight ahead of a bout.
And the combined efforts were worth it. Even with the addition of an electric folding hardtop roof and all the mechanisms required to open and close it in just 15 seconds, the Spider weighs only 48kg more than the coupe.
Much of this is down to the brilliance of the carbon Monocell II tub, which is so stiff that McLaren had to install absolutely zero additonal bracing to ensure it doesn't fold into itself on impact like the flap of a pre-licked envelope.
As a result, the spec sheet almost reads the same as the coupe.
The twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 engine braced behind the seatbacks produces an identical 592bhp of power and 620Nm of torque.
While convertibles of the past would have limped behind their coupe counterparts for performance, the 600LT Spider has a like-for-like 0-to-62mph time of 2.9 seconds and an almost-matching 201mph top speed (with the roof up).
Only the 0-to-124mph time has felt the burden of going roofless, though it's a matter of just a couple of tenths.
That's deserving of a round of applause for the brain-boxes at McLaren HQ, don't you think?
The carbon Monocell II tub is so rigid that McLaren has not had to add any bracing what so every to ensure it is safe. The roof can be retracted in just 15 seconds
The twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 engine produces the same 592bhp of power and 620Nm of torque as the 600LT coupe
Even without a roof, the 600LT Spider has a like-for-like 0-to-62mph time of 2.9 seconds and an almost-matching 201mph top speed (with the roof up). Only the 0-to-124mph time has felt the burden of going roofless, though it's a matter of just a couple of tenths slower than the coupe
Can it replicate the coupe's startling driving characteristics?
On the road - especially the heavily-restricted and policed highways around the Phoenix area - it's hard to judge the 600LT Spider's performance.
Fortunately, an excursion to the little-known Arizona Motorsport Park on the city outskirts provided ample opportunity to put the drop-top McLaren through its paces.
What stands out most after just a few laps is that the Spider retains almost all of the incredible poise and balance that has won the coupe so many plaudits before now.
To say it's relatively easy - by £200,000 sports-car standards - to drive at pace is an understatement, even for a fairly talentless pilot like myself.
It's almost friendly, in a way.
It's not the sort of car that will tear your limbs off for entering a corner with a fraction too much speed. Instead, it forgives your lack of ability and doesn't begrudge you another attempt. More a pat on the back than a whole-hearted shove off a cliff.
To say it's relatively easy - by £200,000 sports-car standards - to drive at pace is an understatement, even for a fairly talentless pilot like This is Money's Rob Hull
There's almost a sensation of the 600LT Spider encouraging you to push harder on track. Oblige, and there's more than enough wriggle room to correct errors
Even with stability control wound down, the chassis is predictably responsive and doesn't punish the clumsiest of drivers.
There's almost a sensation of it encouraging you to push harder on track. Oblige, and there's more than enough wriggle room to adjust steering angle or dab the brakes without unsettling the balance and putting you on a direct collision course with crash barriers.
The front end is wonderfully dialled in to the point that turn-in is divinely rapid, and the steering feeling through the rack - which is thankfully mechanical rather than electronic - dictates any sensation of the tyres losing grip to you palms with incredible promptness.
And I'm still undecided if the potency of how it decelerates into a corner or fires you out of it frazzles my brain most.
I can't think of a car I've ever driven that's made me think quite so much - or be as appreciative - about every minuscule action required to change direction at speed - which is the ultimate praise I can give.
On Arizona's silky highways, it's borderline comfortable. Relocate to the UK's punctured routes and we reckon it could be teeth-clenchingly brutal on your body
It's quite noisy, too. And that's not just the engine. There's tyre roar and wind noise to contend with on the motorway
Cars & Motoring verdict
If you're well-heeled enough to be considering the £201,500 600LT Spider as your next road-only car, I'm not sure its extreme nature really fits the bill.
On Arizona's silky - and almost totally straight - highways, it's borderline comfortable. Relocate to the UK's punctured routes and I reckon it could be teeth-clenchingly brutal on your body.
It's incredibly loud too, thanks mostly to the upward-angled exhaust outlets on the extended rear deck. But there's also quite a lot of tyre roar and wind noise to contend with on the motorway when the roof is in the fixed position.
However, if you're the type of petrolhead who spends plenty of hours on track, there are few cars that master the art of driving to, on, and then back from a circuit better than this - especially on a scorching summer's day when you can roll into the paddock with the roof stowed.
Speed limits mean you would barely scratch the surface of what this car can do when driving on the public roads. It's only at the unadulterated freedom of a motorsport venue that you can fully appreciate the savageness of the V8 engine (bolstered by flames being thrown from the exhaust outlets) and the artistry that makes this latest McLaren Sports Series model so incredibly brilliant to corner.
The only hesitation I'd have is whether the 600LT Spider's achievements might result in something even better in the future.
You have to think that all the weight saving measures - while still retaining creature comforts like sat-nav - could be replicated by McLaren to create an even greater 600LT in the future.
There are few cars that master the art of driving to, on, and back from a circuit better than this - especially on a scorching summer's day when you can roll into the paddock with the roof stowed
Might there be an even better 600LT on the horizon? If not, this could be the ultimate convertible road - and track - car for the most enthusiastic of petrolheads
CARS & MOTORING: ON TEST
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News Photo McLaren 600LT Spider review
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