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The McLaren 650S recently took the best performance car title at our car of the year awards. And
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now it's time to let you enjoy a full track test of this mighty McLaren. The McLaren 650S
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Spider costs just shy of £200,000, but it's 3.8 litre twin-turbocharged V8 generates an
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amazing 641bhp and it will 62mph in just three seconds before going on to a top speed of
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over 200mph. With its P1-inspired exterior styling, carbonfibre chassis and high-tech
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aerodynamics, can the 650S Spider deliver around out test track? The current lap record
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is held by the sensational Porsche 911 GT3 which set a lap time of one minute, zero-six
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point six seconds. We've got the Corsa tyre, the more extreme of the two tyres you can
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choose from and I've got all of the settings down here in their raciest setting and the
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stability control fully turned off. So, we've done quite a few practice laps, I'm just going
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to do one more practice lap to get some heat into the tyres and it does take a while just
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to readjust just to how shocking the performance is in this car. So, in second gear there,
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acceleration is absolutely astonishing. Plenty of noise from the engine, a little bit reminiscent
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of the P1, nearly 130mph as we get on the brakes for this chicane, even on this warming
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up lap. Obviously standard setup ceramic brakes in this car so the braking performance is
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really really good. And to extract a lap time you really have to maximise and really attack
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into the braking zone and make use of that. And once you get into the corner you get the
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weight on the nose, get it turned in and you feel the car hopping and skipping as it goes
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through the corner and over the bumps. There's a lot of grip in this car and you really have
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to drive it pretty much like a racing car with aero grip - really commit to the corners,
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carry speed. there's lots of feel through the steering, lovely steering - very positive
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turn in. The lap disappears very quickly. We've got some heat in the tyres now, going
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to come round and see what sort of lap time this car can do around our test track. Find
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out whether it can beat the fastest car we've ever tested. So, out of the last corner, get
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a nice clean exit, 650bhp under your right foot, hard across the start/finish line, hard
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on the brakes. Stay in third gear, here. The change of direction through here is astonishing,
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really good front end, back to the left, loads of grip, little bit of understeer on the exit,
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but really hard, hard on the power. Up to fourth gear, dual clutch gearbox, lovely lovely
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gearshift, touching 130mph. Really standing on the brakes, down through the gears, into
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second into the chicane. Again, traction remarkably good given how much power this car's got - amazing
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traction. Fourth gear, hard on the brakes. Now these high speed corners, you've got to
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get the car into the corner, nose in, hard on the power, a tiny bit of understeer, into
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bunga bunga, this corner is really interesting. First apex let the car run out wide, constantly
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loading it up, loading it up, amazing body control. Fourth gear on the exit, through
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this high speed change of direction. This is where it feels really good through there.
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A little bit of understeer on the exit. Hard on the brakes - air brake coming into play
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as well. Last couple of corners, the laps disappear so quick in this car. Up to the
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last corner. Trying to get the power down - really good traction in this gear, third
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gear and across the line. So, the McLaren 650S is the fastest car to ever lap our test
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track. Its race car levels of braking, grip and acceleration are really sensational and
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are even more impressive when you consider how easy this car is to drive on the road.
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This really is a mighty McLaren. If you want to watch some of the other fastest cars around
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our test track, click on the video windows to watch the Porsche GT3 take on the Aston
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Martin V12 Vantage, and the Porsche 911 Turbo S take on the Nissan GT-R. Click on the play
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icon to watch our latest video or click on the Auto Express logo to subscribe to our
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channel.