What's the news?
McLaren's new concept - the 12C Can-Am Edition - is to be revealed at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance next weekend.
Exterior
The bright McLaren Orange exterior is contrasted by satin black detailing on the doors, roof and bumper sections of the car. A substantial body kit has also been added, featuring carbon fibre front and rear splitters, dive planes and a sizeable rear wing. More carbon fibre can be found on the side radiator vanes, wing mirrors, engine cover, and even the McLaren badges. The new lightweight forged alloy wheels are shod in slick Pirelli tyres and have also been painted satin black to match the car's colour scheme. All this weight saving has helped shed the dry weight of the 12C down to just 1,200kg - 100kg lighter than the standard car.
Interior
Despite being a concept, the 12C Can-Am's interior is race ready; two black racing seats are equipped with six-point harnesses installed inside a full racing-spec roll cage. A Formula 1 derived steering wheel from the 12C GT3 has been fitted in front of the carbon fibre dashboard, and the mandatory racing air conditioning system is also present.
Mechanicals
As the 12C Can-Am has been developed to be 'the ultimate track-car' concept, the car is not bound by the same restrictions as racers; despite being based on the 12C GT3. This allowed McLaren GT to retune the car's 3.8-litre V8 engine to develop 630hp - making it the most powerful 12C to date. To stop it, the standard brakes have been replaced by items developed by Akebono. The chassis is taken from the 12C road car, and the aero-kit on the outside gives a 30% increase in downforce over the standard model.
Anything else?
The colour choice for the concept has been chosen to pay tribute to the successful racers from the '60s and '70s driven by Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme. The Can-Am and much more can be seen at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on Sunday 19th August.