Simply Abu Dhabi XXXV

2 5 0 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I Like the Coupe, production is limited on the Spider and while McLaren hasn’t given an exact number, you can guarantee it will be less than a thousand units globally. With summer in full swing during our test, the heat from both the sun and the 600LT’s pair of top-exiting exhaust stacks behind my head wasn’t going to stop me from getting re-acquainted with a marque that’s been quiet in this region for a number of years. The Spider is 48kg heavier than the Coupe but also 50kg lighter than the 570S Coupe and 100kg under the 570 Spider it’s based on, so the engineers have worked miracles to shave fractions of a kilo on many areas to bring the curb mass down. The top exit exhausts not only look and sound fantastic, they are 12.6kg lighter and a metre shorter while lightweight suspension components save 10.2kg and new forged wheels cut a further 17kg.One-piece carbon seats eliminate 21kg and if you are madly serious, you can also delete the sound system to save 3.3kg and even the a/c for another 12.6kg saving. For the weight obsessed, a thinner windscreen saves 3.5kg, a new wiring harness shaves 4kg and even deleting the glovebox cuts another kilogramwhile the 150-litre front luggage compartment uses thinner carpet to shave a few more precious kilos. All this brings its curb weight down to a miniscule 1297kg which is at least 80kg lighter than its nearest competitor, effectively offering a car that weighs the same as a VWGolf but with six times the power.