We’ve lost count a few years ago of how many cars, bikes, and other fast machines the McLaren 720S managed to beat, but we’re still fascinated by the British blue-blooded model.
After all, what’s not to love about a full-blown exotic with mind-blowing performance that still looks good, unlike the Senna. But that’s a totally different topic, so we’ll leave the design apart, and move on to the performance sheet, which, as impressive as it may portray it, it only scratches the surface.
How is that possible? It’s quite simple, actually, because the 720S is more powerful than advertised, previous dyno tests have revealed. Ask McLaren about it, however, and they will quote the official numbers, which are 710 bhp (720 metric horsepower / 530 kW) at 7,500 rpm and 568 pound-feet (770 Nm) of torque at 5,500 rpm.
With an entire stable of wild ponies bouncing off the walls of the 4.0-liter V8, which features twin-turbocharging, the 720S brags about needing 2.9 seconds to hit the 62 mph (100 kph) mark from a standstill, which used to be previous-gen hypercar territory. Sprinting to 124 mph (200 kph) from naught takes 7.8 seconds, and it can deal with the quarter-mile in 10.3 seconds, the Woking company states. Flat-out, you’re looking at 212 mph (341 kph).
By looking at the specs and factoring in that it is even punchier, it’s easy to see how it gave a black eye to countless ultra-fast vehicles. Now, beating rides on four wheels is one thing, but taking on superbikes is a totally different topic. Not that it hasn’t happened before, because we've covered some of those races, but it did once again, and its ad-hoc rival this time was none other than the Kawasaki Ninja. Normally, the latter would have no problem knocking out most cars down the quarter-mile, but this is the 720S that we’re talking about, so… actually, we’ll wrap it up here and let you watch the clip, which is only 17 seconds long.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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