The McLaren 620R is the new king of the Sports Series lineup

Remember when the track-focused-yet-road-legal, limited edition McLaren 600LT and its 592-horsepower V-8 were the talk of the town? Well, those cars are long sold out, and since McLaren’s entry-level Sports Series is here to stay, Woking came up with another small batch of specials we can lust after. Meet the 600R, a 611-horsepower road-legal version of their 570S GT4 race cars, of which only 350 will be made.

If Porsche can have a successful GT4 road car, so can McLaren, right? And since the FIA’s GT4 class is the closest to the standard road cars, nothing is easier than leaving on the big rear wing, and figuring out answers the questions of emission, noise levels, and an acceptable interior. The result is a Sports Series McLaren with a 0-62mph time of 2.9 seconds, a 0-124mph rush in 8.1 seconds, and a top speed of 200mph, as long as you angle that rear wing correctly. Unsurprisingly, that makes the 600R just a touch quicker to 124 mph than a 600LT Coupé, yet with a lower top speed due to the extra downforce.

McLaren is targeting a lightest-possible dry weight of 2826 pounds with the 600R. That’s a hair over the 600LT Coupé’s lightest dry weight of 2749 pounds, but you get extra bits in exchange. On top of the V-8 pushing out 611 horsepower and 457 lb-ft, the 600R comes with a lowered suspension featuring manually-adjustable GT4 dampers with 32 clicks, as well as a wider track, and an aero package with the standard GT4 rear wing raised 12.5 inches into the cleaner airflow for a total of 407 pounds of downforce at 155 mph. Also standard are the carbon ceramic (390mm front, 380mm rear) brakes with forged alloy calipers, the central locking wheels measuring 19 inches at the front and 20 inches at the rear, and the low-exit variant of McLaren’s stainless steel sports exhaust. Pirelli’s Trofeo R tires remain optional. Hop inside, and it’s the full carbon fiber experience with composite racing buckets, yet normal road seat belts along the six-point harnesses, presumably in the name of weekdays.

Your 600R color choices include Woking’s racing shades of McLaren Orange, Silica White and Onyx Black, which all come with a GT4-style race livery at no charge. In case that’s not your cup of tea, McLaren says a Senna GTR-inspired livery is also available, along with literally anything you could think of at McLaren Special Operation prices.

Priced at $299,000 with a bonus Pure McLaren Track Day thrown in for good measure, the North American model also comes with an optional MSO upgrade package at no cost, featuring a gloss finish Visual Carbon Fibre roof with a roof scoop, MSO Defined gloss finish carbon fibre roof cantrails and the McLaren Track Telemetry system with lap time function and 3 cameras. Production starts in January, which is good timing, since the 600R would be too large to put under the tree anyway.