It is McLaren’s take on the wild speedster that is currently swirling around Planet Car.
To keep up with the windshieldless Joneses like the Lamborghini SC20, Ferrari Monza and Aston Martin Speedster (but after the quirky Aventador J, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss from a decade ago), this is what happens when McLaren cuts off the wings of a Senna and Aircraft crashes, the roof scalped, the windshield ripped out, and then some crazy air management and tech used to try to get all that visual hypocrisy and performance working.
It’s called Elva (a reference to the French ‘Elle Va’, which means ‘she goes’) and to put it bluntly, they are absolute blasts.
Officially, it is the fifth car in McLaren’s Ultimate Series, after the OG F1 from 1994 and has the demonic P1, the physics-disrupting Senna and the stretched Speedtail as ancestors. With 804 hp, it is the most powerful non-hybrid McLaren of all time.
But it’s also the lightest since the McLaren F1, which sits on the scales at 1269 kg. Expensive too, costing £ 1,425,000. Elvas are also rare. And – strangely enough – they are becoming increasingly rare. And that’s before people even had a chance to crash them.
McLaren originally wanted to build 399. Then it was announced that there would actually be only 249 pieces. But that has since been reduced by another 100 to just 149 units. And they are still not all recorded. Given that there’s a lot of money spilling around the world right now, what is it?
Probably the fact that it doesn’t have a windshield: a daunting (and seemingly pointless) prospect for some. But apart from the lack of glass in front of the face and some tin above the head, there is nothing too unknown to the McLaren forge. But that too could be another reason why they are not all sold.
The engine is the same hairy 804bhp twin-turbo V8 as the Senna mated to the same seven-speed gearbox, while the brakes are the same sintered Senna carbon stoppers, only with lighter titanium caliper pistons – that saves 1kg per curve. The suspension, which is screwed to the Senna carbon tub, is a newly tuned version of the sensitive and very clever electrohydraulic multimode system.
There are some new things, however, especially a unique way to manipulate the air so you don’t get skeletonized while shopping. Known as the McLaren Active Air Management System (AAMS), when activated (there’s a button on the knee to toggle it on and off), it lifts an improper windbrake on the front of the car about six inches in the air to stop the explosion to be reduced to the driver and front passenger.
Well, that’s what it looks like. It’s actually a bit more of a trick. The system lowers a massive, actuated flap that diverts the airflow that is drawn in forward, rotates it 130 degrees as it travels through the hood, and then spits it out over the top and around an adjustable binnacle.
It’s a clever solution, but the most cumbersome element of the car. All these bonnet louvers, flags and the inappropriate pop-up wind wall contradict the wonderfully simple and elegant body and the well-proportioned design. The sleek carbon fiber body is made up of just three main panels to save weight. It’s simple, powerful and muscular – like a well-trained calf. It’s softer on the eye than its downforce obsessed sister Senna.
With a rounded surface, pointed nose, large front wheel arches, arched coves and huge cooling grids on the side and rear, it is accessible and appealing. Especially since it has an acceptable ride height and contact area. Plus, he’s a lot less picky than his Aston Martin and Ferrari rivals. The Elva carries its technique and speed with confidence.
And believe us, there’s a hell of a lot of power to uncork.
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