Great Britain, great cars. The UK motor industry is respected the world over, and though many of the vehicles are actually owned by foreign manufacturers, there can be no doubting of the fantastic heritage of the British motor.
To celebrate Britain’s famous history CarSupermarket.com is launching a series looking back on some of the most famous vehicles the UK has ever seen.
McLaren 570S
Think fast British road cars and you possibly conjure up images of a Jaguar or an Aston Martin, but the truly fast British cars could be found on the race track, where motorsport heavyweights such as Frank Williams and Ron Dennis clashed with the teams Ferrari and Honda.
Ron Dennis’ McLaren did the unthinkable in 1992 when in collaboration with Gordon Murray they launched the legendary McLaren F1 supercar, on a limited run of just 106 units. McLaren’s brief but glorious stint in the world of production cars came and went as fast as the car itself, leaving a famous legacy, which was only picked up in 2010 when McLaren Automotive was formed to pick up the baton.
With the aim of building a range of roadworthy sports cars, the standalone manufacturer produced a range of uninspiring supercars from 2011, including the 12C, the Spider and in 2013 the limited-run P1.
It wasn’t until McLaren came up with the Sports Series range, and in particular the McLaren 570S, that sports supercar fan really sat up and took notice. Unveiled at the New York International Auto Show in 2015, the 570S comes at the affordable end of the supercar market and comes with a 3.8 litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, travelling from 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds, and reaching a top speed of 204mph.
The focus for the 570S was day-to-day usability and driveability and with sales of the most accessible McLaren continuing to be strong, the company has predicted that the model will be the stalwart of its range assisting in tripling the company’s sales volume by 2020.
Years of manufacture: 2011-present
Price when new: £143,250
Price now: £143,250
Engine: 3,799cc 8cyl petrol, 563bhp
Top speed: 204mph