Everybody knows what the numbers in every McLaren supercar's name stand for, and none better than us since they make life a lot easier when writing about them: no need to burden our memory with more power figures.
They also help make very quick distinctions between various models. The moment you hear the name of a certain modern-era McLaren, you instantly know what to expect. Right? Oh, my young padawan, if only life were that easy.
Take the 720S, for example. It's probably the most famous member of the British company's lineup, and that's because it offers the best performance-to-cost ratio. Or maybe because it's the most readily available. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: its 4.0-liter V8 engine makes 720 PS (710 horsepower).
Except it doesn't. If it did, the 720S wouldn't be the drag racing weapon it is - or at least to a much lesser degree. In reality, the Macca produces a lot more power it then expertly delivers to its massive rear wheels with frightening efficiency. The question is: how much more?
Until somebody takes out the M840T twin-turbocharged V8, puts it on a stand, and runs some tests to see what it delivers at the crank, we only have the wheel horsepower figures of a classic dyno run to go by. And, at the end of the day, that's probably what matters the most.
The only real downside is that we don't easily have access to similar results for other models, so that means you end up comparing apples to oranges. Well, even so, using the first online calculator Google cared to provide, converting the 710 crank horsepower to wheel horsepower, we get a result of barely over 600 hp (609 hp, to be more precise).
A dyno run of a McLaren 720S, however, reveals that number can be as high as 690 hp, according to Drag Times' Brooks Weisblat. For the purpose of this comparison with the 765LT, though, they settled for a 720S value of 660 wheel horsepower recorded by the very same dyno during a previous run.
Using the same online calculator in reverse, for 660 whp, we get a crank horsepower value of 780. That's a nine percent increase over the official figure, and even though our methodology is far from scientific, McLaren is definitely understating the power output of its cars.
Putting the 765LT on the dyno does very little to change that impression. We all know how quick the LT can be after seeing it run the quarter-mile in 9.4 seconds without any mods. Compare that to the 720S' performance, and you can bet it's not down to just 45 more hp.
Sure, different gearing helps a bunch with acceleration, but there must be some hidden power reserves as well. Care to guess how much? We're torn between revealing the dyno result or leaving you to watch the clip for the full suspense experience.
You might be a busy man, so we'll just go ahead and write it down for you. It's precisely 765 wheel horsepower. At least the first run because the second ups that to 770. Run that through our very unofficial and un-scientific calculator, and we get a crankshaft horsepower value of over 900. Can you say "hypercar"?
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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