Open-cockpit cars are a thing of unrivaled beauty, and they’re rare as hen’s teeth in this day and age. The Monza SP1 and Monza SP2 from Ferrari are bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful, and starting from late 2020, McLaren will join the club with the spectacular-looking Elva.
First things first, we must highlight that the limited-run model is based around the same platform utilized by the 720S and Senna. The lack of a windscreen and the 815 PS produced by the twin-turbo V8s are the most obvious differences over the Elva’s siblings, and as you’d expect, carbon fiber is utilized inside and out to keep the weight as low as possible.
McLaren didn’t say how heavy the Elva is, but we’re guessing it’ll be closer to the Senna than the 720S Coupe. Oh, and did we mention this fellow here looks like a million bucks? But as a matter of fact, the Elva looks like 1.4 million pounds sterling according to Top Gear.
The British magazine’s Jack Rix had the opportunity to check out the car inside and out, resulting in eight minutes of footage. This Elva might be just a model of the real deal, but the details are there and there’s no denying that Jack sits extremely close to the ground in his seat.
Speaking of the real deal, getting in and out will be made easier than in other open-cockpit cars thanks to a steering wheel and instrument cluster that move towards the dashboard whenever you open the door. The exterior paintwork carries over to the door cards, dashboard, and center tunnel, and the seats also appear a little different from other McLaren models.
The controls for the traction control, powertrain, and so forth have been relegated to the extremities of the instrument cluster, giving the Elva’s cockpit a driver-focused character. The view outside the Elva, however, beggars belief thanks to the lack of a windshield and no A-pillars.
Named after an expression meaning “she goes” in French, the limited-run McLaren pays tribute to the roofless racing cars that Bruce McLaren designed in the 1960s. Elva is also the name of a British automotive company that helped McLaren back during that era with production.
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. Full profile
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