Description
The McLaren 650S is a British sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It was announced in February 2014 as a new model, but based on the existing MP4-12C with 25% new parts, and was formally unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.
The 650S shares the MP4-12C’s carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer chassis, and is powered by the same 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged McLaren M838T V8 engine, but is now rated at 650 PS (478 kW; 641 hp) and 500 lb?ft (678 N?m) of torque. Power is transmitted to the wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch Seamless-Shift gearbox (SSG) provided by Graziano Trasmissioni.
The 650S is an evolution of the preceding 12C and uses the findings gained from the P1 in order to make the car more responsive and focused. It was initially designed to be offered alongside the 12C but the declining sales of the 12C prompted McLaren to market the 650S as its replacement. The 650 in the car’s name refers to the engine’s power output in Pferdest?rke, the European standard for horsepower while the S stands for Sport. Most of the components are carried over from the 12C which includes the carbon-fibre monocoque chassis which has aluminium subframes front and aft. The monocoque weighs 75 kg (165 lb) and is manufactured by Carbo Tech, an aerospace contractor based in Austria. With an aim of building 4,000 cars per year, McLaren deemed the traditional pre-impregnation method used to mould parts too labour-intensive and instead used an alternative method which involves a resin transfer moulding process.
The process involves a mould whose tooling involves internal, removable mandrels for the hollow sections which allows the tub to be built in one piece. The pre-cut sheets of carbon fibre are placed in the tooling of the mould and aluminium components are also positioned to be bolted onto the monocoque later. To avoid the galvanic corrosion between aluminium and carbon, the aluminium components of the chassis are primed before assembly. The wide and deep hollow box sections on each side of the carbon fibre tub are designed for easy entry and exit from the car.
