00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Hi, I'm Angus McKenzie,
00:05 and I'm here in a giant airship hangar
00:08 somewhere in England, freezing to death.
00:11 But I'm here for a good reason,
00:12 to have a look at the all new McLaren 720S.
00:15 And even better, I'm here with a guy
00:17 who designed it, Rob Melville.
00:18 And Rob is gonna take us around the car
00:21 to show us some of the amazing features
00:22 of this really interesting new McLaren.
00:24 So Rob, no easy task to reinvent a supercar.
00:29 You know, every designer approaches it with some baggage,
00:32 but first look at this car is,
00:34 it's completely different from anything
00:36 we've seen from McLaren.
00:38 - Well, I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
00:39 I think with this project, the whole team knew
00:42 it was the right time to do something brave, bold,
00:44 and really innovative and create a new look
00:46 for all McLarens moving forwards.
00:48 - So the big thing everyone's gonna notice
00:50 is there's no side scoop.
00:52 What's happened?
00:53 - Well, that was one of the key questions to us.
00:55 How do you cool 720PS without any visible intake?
00:59 So we decided to unpeel the car.
01:01 We've created two skins to the door.
01:04 In fact, if we take a closer look.
01:06 So we've created two skins to the door,
01:07 and that allows us to take all the high energy air
01:09 flowing over the front shoulder
01:11 down into the high temperature radiators at the side here.
01:14 And at the same time, that allows us
01:16 to separate the turbulent air coming off the front wheel
01:18 and tuck it into the body side.
01:19 So it's not only very effective and efficient
01:22 in terms of cooling, it's actually very efficient
01:24 in terms of creating low drag design.
01:27 And the best thing, of course,
01:28 we've got this beautiful, very sculptural,
01:31 sophisticated body side.
01:33 - Now, so how much of this car was dictated
01:35 by what aerodynamics needed
01:38 and what you wanted to do from a design point of view?
01:42 - Well, at McLaren, we work with a philosophy
01:44 of total design.
01:45 So that means within design, aerodynamics,
01:49 customer requirements, engineering package requirements,
01:52 cooling, heat soak, visibility.
01:54 We take all those attributes, all those requirements,
01:56 we bring them together.
01:57 So it's not that we compromise
02:00 as such one department to the other,
02:01 we just work together with a single mission
02:03 of creating the best car we can.
02:05 - What's striking about this car
02:07 and particularly when you sit in it
02:08 is how much visibility there is.
02:11 There's this black roof section,
02:13 it almost looks like a fighter plane cockpit.
02:17 Like the pillars are very, very slim
02:19 and that was enabled by the new carbon structure.
02:21 - That's right, so we have monocage too
02:24 and it's fully carbon.
02:26 And that's enabled us to create very, very slim A pillars.
02:29 A C pillar that's made up of two very slim sections
02:32 of carbon and then we've glazed the C pillars.
02:35 Now, when you sit inside, as you said,
02:36 it feels like you're inside a jet fighter or a helicopter
02:40 and you get this incredible 360 degree field of view,
02:43 range of visibility.
02:45 It feels like nothing else ever.
02:47 It's just sensational.
02:49 - Okay, let's go back to the front of the car
02:51 because in terms of the aerodynamics,
02:52 all the action starts up here, doesn't it?
02:54 - That's right, exactly.
02:55 The moment that the air hits the car,
02:56 it's all about how do you steer it around the vehicle
02:58 and for maximum efficiency in terms of cooling
03:01 and downforce.
03:02 So the first key feature here is the eye socket
03:05 and you can see, what we've been able to do here
03:07 is integrate the dynamic LED headlamps into the feature
03:11 and they act as part of the actual aerodynamic system.
03:14 That improves the airflow to the low temperature radiators
03:19 and also you'll notice the upright lens.
03:21 This is a bit of a challenge on a supercar,
03:23 traditionally sloping lenses,
03:25 which really deteriorates the quality of the light
03:28 coming from the lamp units.
03:30 By being upright, the light quality, again,
03:33 is a segment of class leading.
03:35 In fact, leading in terms of all automotive,
03:37 it is incredible.
03:39 - So this is very interesting.
03:40 It looks like a big headlight aperture
03:42 that you would typically see on a car,
03:43 but the air goes in here.
03:45 - That's right, yeah.
03:46 So we take air in here, in here and through here
03:49 and all those three areas feed the low temperature radiators
03:53 at the front behind the lamp.
03:54 - And then you've got this area behind here.
03:56 - Yeah, so this is the outlet.
03:58 So once the air's gone past through the radiator,
04:01 we exit some of the air down here through the side
04:04 and also there's more air that exits
04:06 then from the back of the wheel
04:07 as that pressure builds up.
04:09 And the idea is we have to take that turbulent air
04:12 and tuck it back into the body side.
04:13 And that's why we have this very,
04:15 more clearly Formula One inspired,
04:17 heavily sculpted body side.
04:19 It allows us to minimise the drag
04:22 and separate high energy air from it.
04:24 - Well, that's right.
04:25 So meanwhile, this air here is going in.
04:27 These are the cooling, main cooling radiators back here.
04:29 - Yeah, that's right, yeah.
04:30 - It's almost like you've,
04:33 it's like a Formula One car in the sense
04:35 that you've got this central area here
04:38 and then you've got like the side pods and the barge boards.
04:41 - That's right.
04:42 It is, I mean, every day at work,
04:44 we walk past the Formula One cars on the boulevard
04:47 and there's so many great ideas
04:49 and it all works, it's all there for a reason.
04:51 It's not that it's trendy or that it just looks nice.
04:55 It has to do both jobs.
04:57 It has to function, deliver ultimate efficiency,
05:01 but also obviously it has to look great.
05:03 - Now getting these, I love this door,
05:05 getting this to, as a piece of design
05:10 and a piece of engineering.
05:11 I mean, if you look down there,
05:14 you get the sense of the two different skins to the door.
05:18 And is this the most complex part of the car?
05:22 - I think it is.
05:23 I think the door, the number of elements to it,
05:26 the different jobs and functionality
05:28 we had to deliver through the door,
05:29 like I say, separating the high energy air
05:30 from the turbulent air, door handles,
05:33 the way the door opens up into the roof
05:35 to create this large opening,
05:37 to step in and out of the vehicle,
05:39 designing the doors to be 15 centimetres closer to the body,
05:42 all these different attributes,
05:43 just this one part of the car has to deliver
05:45 and bringing it all together in a really seamless,
05:48 fluid volume, that was probably the most challenging,
05:51 but actually the most rewarding part of the car.
05:53 - And it really defines this new car
05:55 because of the way you don't need that big side scoop now
05:59 to cool the engine.
06:00 - That's right.
06:01 I think, you know, one of the key missions
06:03 when we started designing this car
06:04 was to create sophistication, beautiful technical sculpture.
06:08 And I think you can see when the door's closed,
06:11 how we've created this nice, pure volume,
06:13 almost like a shark's body with sinews and musculature there.
06:18 Everything's shrink wrapped around the engineering package.
06:20 It gives it a real strong, unique look.
06:23 - So where does the car breathe from?
06:25 Where does the engine breathe from?
06:27 - Okay, so once all the air has passed
06:28 through the high temperature radiators,
06:29 you have heat soak through here
06:31 and you can see even these small details,
06:32 these flicks we have, this creates low pressure
06:35 and helps it pull the air
06:36 through the high temperature radiators.
06:39 Heat soak, air box intake for the engine.
06:42 - So this is the engine air intake
06:43 right at the back of the car.
06:45 - Yeah.
06:45 - Unusual.
06:46 - So that feeds the air boxes down there.
06:47 You can see through the mesh.
06:49 Here, more heat soak and you can also see into the engine.
06:52 So here, actually a key bit of the whole package design here
06:56 was we dropped the engine 150 millimeters
06:58 so it sits closer to the ground.
07:00 Better center of gravity, obviously improved dynamics.
07:03 That coupled with the new monocage too,
07:07 we're able to create a parcel shelf
07:09 for a luggage area in the rear here.
07:10 - Yep.
07:11 - 140 liters plus 150 in the front.
07:14 So imagine the cabin is so focused, so teardropped,
07:17 yet you still have 290 liters of luggage.
07:19 So it's usable.
07:20 - It's a usable super package.
07:21 - It's usable as well as being, yeah, incredibly quick.
07:24 - This massive rear wing across the back.
07:26 - Yeah, so full width, fully integrated,
07:28 active rear wing and air brake.
07:30 30% more downforce than a 650.
07:33 It's incredibly efficient, even in air brake mode.
07:37 With the new profiles and sections we've developed,
07:40 we're able to, like I say, 30% more downforce
07:43 without actually, and at the same time, less drag.
07:46 And this is why the car overall
07:48 is two times more efficient aerodynamically.
07:50 - So the wing, the air brake can come up in?
07:54 - Has three stages, so stage one,
07:57 which is what you see it in now,
07:59 stage two and stage three being the air brake.
08:01 - And the high mounted exhaust, the McLaren trademark.
08:04 - Yeah, so we've got the very low trailing edge of bodywork,
08:08 twin centrally mounted exhausts,
08:10 ultra slim LED light blades,
08:13 only four and a half millimeters thick a piece.
08:16 Visible engine bay, which is also illuminated,
08:18 so even at night you can see
08:19 into all that beautiful engineering detail.
08:22 So with all our interiors,
08:23 we always design them around the driver,
08:25 and this is no different.
08:26 It's a perfect driving position,
08:27 perfect driver ergonomics.
08:29 But what we have done is,
08:30 we looked at the 650 and what we'd done well,
08:32 and we've made sure we've repeated all those things.
08:35 And the things where we felt there were areas
08:37 for improvement, we've taken those opportunities.
08:40 The DNR, the control panel, they've all moved higher up.
08:44 We've actually pulled the interior towards the driver,
08:46 so it's much more driver focused
08:48 than our previous Super Series.
08:50 And it really does make for extremely driver focused cabin
08:54 and driving experience.
08:56 In terms of materials,
08:57 all authentic, machined from solid aluminum
09:02 on the dials and switches.
09:04 And then you can go from a tech interior,
09:07 which is black alcantara or black leather,
09:08 you can walk up to performance and luxury,
09:11 which have very high quality leathers,
09:14 semi-aniline in quality, which is, yeah.
09:17 Best you can get.
09:18 - So this is always a tricky one for a designer,
09:20 but do you have a favorite view of this car?
09:23 - I do.
09:24 I think my favorite view of the car would be the side view.
09:26 I think I love the large, clean sweeping surfaces,
09:29 really pure volumes.
09:31 But when you look at the car,
09:32 you can see the way the car's working.
09:34 So it's not so much about specific details.
09:36 It's actually the whole body side is working
09:40 to produce a technical result.
09:44 - So this car is very, what you see is all designed,
09:47 not just for style, but for a purpose.
09:49 - Exactly.
09:50 - For function.
09:51 You combine form and function together.
09:53 - That's exactly.
09:54 We at McLaren, we don't follow trends.
09:56 We make things that are beautiful and functional.
09:59 - Well, Rob, I'm looking forward to driving this.
10:01 - Thank you.
10:02 - Thanks for showing us around.
10:03 - Thank you.
10:04 (dramatic music)
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