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McLaren Celebrates 50 Years in Formula 1 With Bespoke 570S Coupe

When you think about the McLaren Formula 1 team, most gearheads think about three color schemes: white & red (Marlboro years), silver and black (West years) or black & red (2015 to present). However, the first-ever car raced by McLaren in Formula 1 prides itself on an alluring white & green paint combo.
2016 McLaren 570S and 1966 McLaren M2B 6 photos
Photo: McLaren
2016 McLaren 570S M2B and 1966 McLaren M2B2016 McLaren 570S M2B and 1966 McLaren M2B2016 McLaren 570S M2B and 1966 McLaren M2B2016 McLaren 570S M2B and 1966 McLaren M2B2016 McLaren 570S M2B and 1966 McLaren M2B
The culprit is the McLaren M2B, which made its debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. That’s half a decade ago, enough reason for the British racing team to celebrate the seminal moment with a modern-day take on the M2B. Introducing the McLaren 570S M2B.

And yes, these cars are similar only in name and in livery. Everything else is different as different can get, including the fact that the M2B was designed to race in the king motorsport and the 570S Coupe was designed to wear license plates, seat two in comfort, and carve corners on a twisty road.

Then again, I’ve never seen a McLaren 570S as pretty and evocative as this M2B-inspired one-off. The central green stripe with silver edging over the pure white paintwork and the carbon fiber floating tendons on the doors make up for a bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful feast for the eyes.

Like the standard 570S, this fellow here boasts 434 PS per tonne, a feat made possible by the carbon fiber MonoCell II chassis and the 570 PS (562 HP) produced by a twin-turbo V8. Although the 570S is a member of the Sports Series, the lowest tier of the road-going McLaren models, this thing is able to hit 62 mph (328 km/h) in just 3.2 seconds and keeps on accelerating until the speedometer indicates 204 mph (328 km/h).

In racing, just like in the automotive industry, one cannot grow without tasting the bitterness of trial and error. The M2B may not be the most reliable or the most competitive single seater of the British company, but then again, it kickstarted the legend of McLaren, the second oldest active Formula 1 team after Ferrari.

And if it weren’t for relentless racing efforts, we wouldn’t have had amazing road cars such as this 570S.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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