If you like the idea of buying a supercar to show everyone on your local high street how successful you are, then you definitely won’t want to buy a McLaren 12C GT Sprint Edition. This specially-made track weapon is based on the readily available road car, but features a host of performance tweaks that make it illegal to drive the thing on the road.
Don’t mistake it for the race-ready McLaren 12C GT3 or 12C Can-Am Editions, though. Whereas those bad boys are designed specifically to compete, the 12C GT Sprint Edition is aimed at enthusiasts who fancy regular blasts around a circuit in a non-professional setting.
The GT Sprint Edition has much in common with the standard 12C, but it does pack a number of improvements. Its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine puts out the same 625PS, so straight line performance is unchanged, and it uses the same seven speed twin-clutch gearbox, but it does pack a number of improvements over the road car.
The GT Sprint Edition uses the same front radiator as the 12C GT3, so it should keep its cool longer when being thrashed around a circuit. It has been lowered by a pretty significant 40mm, features a ‘track-focussed’ carbon ceramic braking system (we’re guessing with better cooling than before) and centre-locking, 19-inch OZ wheels shod in Pirelli slick tyres.
The 12C GT Sprint Edition also benefits from a fettled ProActive Chassis Control suspension system, plus better Brake Steer and McLaren Airbrake systems. Coolest of all, perhaps, is the nifty on-board air-jacking system, which lets you raise the car for easy maintenance when it’s sat in the pits.
The 12C GT Sprint Edition package is rounded off with a roll cage, a carbon fibre rear wing and front splitter and a lightweight polycarbonate windscreen.
Want one? An initial batch of 20 cars will be delivered in 2013, available from McLaren retailers at a price point somewhere below £200,000 excluding VAT.
McLaren 12C GT Sprint Edition Pictures
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