2017 McLaren 570GT Prototype Spotted at McLaren Track Day, Seems Wild Enough

The 570GT was spotted around the Spa-Francorchamps paddock, where an event called Pure McLaren (the automaker's customer racing program) saw the Belgian track getting flooded by these British beasts. However, as we mentioned above, the appearance comes a little early. As a result, we're dealing with a prototype vehicle, as confirmed by the tag on the door entry sills.

The GT incarnation of the 570 is to McLaren what the Boxster was to Porsche two decades ago. Sure, the British automaker doesn't find itself in financial trouble, like Zuffenhausen did back in the day, but we're dealing with a model that's softer compared to the rest of the lineup.

As a result, the 570GT will probably generate massive sales, in McLaren numbers, of course. The greatest change compared to the 570S comes in the form of a hatch that sits behind the passengers, offering an extra 7.8 cubic feet of space, which means the overall luggage capacity grows to 12.4 cubic feet.

The redesign, as well as the extra goodies of the GT mean this is 80 lbs heavier, but the performance is hardly affected. While the top speed is unchanged (204 mph), the 3.4s sprint to 62 mph only takes 0.2 seconds longer.

The suspension is softer, while the lack of flying buttresses at the rear means less downforce (minus eight percent, to be more precise). The brake rotors are now made of steel instead of carbon, while the custom Pirelli PZeros come with a Polyurethane structure attached to their inner liner, reducing cabin noise by three decibels.

Oh, and let's not forget that many creature comforts that are optional on the 570S come as standard on the 570GT. In the real world, such a feature sometimes tends to weigh more than the slight reduction in performance.