The Topless McLaren Elva Delivers the Visceral Thrill of Open-Air Motoring
Just like London buses, you wait ages for a roofless British hypercar and then two come along at the same time. While the Italian Ferrari Monza arguably started the extreme roadster trend in 2019, McLaren now has its Elva while Aston Martin has launched the V12 Speedster.
Both limited-edition models come without a roof or a windscreen, each offering a return to the visceral thrill of completely open-air motoring. Understandably, when seeing a chance to dance with the McLaren Elva, we cut right in.
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Priced at nearly $2 million—almost double that of the Aston Martin V12 Speedster—the madcap McLaren is best explained with a couple of technical stats. The 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8—mated to the marque’s seven-speed seamless-shift gearbox—is from the Senna hypercar and pushes out 804 hp, while the Elva weighs only 2,531 pounds, some 1,322 pounds less than the V12 Speedster.