[invisiblewave]

Probably a common type of thread, but hopefully someone was in my shoes and can provide an opinion. I've been interested in a 720S for a few years and am learning the differences between each Trim level. I definitely want a highly optioned Performance Trim.
My current situation and mindset is that I currently own a modified 2014 Audi R8 with a Supercharged V10 with a DCT for shifting. I'm probably into the car for about $225k - $250k in total. Very happy with the car and setup, very reliable, performance is awesome. Doesn't change the fact that I also love the look of the 720S.
What I am struggling with is I own the Audi, have it for nearly 8 years now. I'm not going to do anything else to it, I don't drive it a lot, but love to drive on the track. I only go out maybe 3 times per year, but really love it. I have to trade in the Audi if I buy a 720, and I'll go back to having a substantial loan for a few years.
I do not plan on modifying the 720 at all and I assume it would be as good or better than the Audi on the Track in its current form. So, I ask myself, do I want to drive that expensive of a car on the track? My rationalization to myself is, you can never use the car on the street the way it was intended to be driven, so it would be a waste to have it and not track it once in a while. I know not everyone feels this way, but for me, it's a thing.
I also am afraid that I will regret selling the Audi; the car is not without its own minor issues, but reliability and longevity are important to me.
I've had the car awhile, maybe I should move to something else.
Will Mclaren be around in the forseeable future? What happens to the cars, if you need parts and/or service if they disappear? What happens to the value of the cars? No one knows what will happen, but this is what floats around my head.
This seems to be my process when switching from one car to another. I had similar thoguhts when I went from my second Viper to the Audi, and I did not regret it one bit. Any thoughts, opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Also, has anyone worked with McLaren in Greenwich, CT?

I'm currently wrestling with a similar dilemma with regard to taking my car on track. It's expensive to track a McLaren, particularly if you have OE brakes, and even more so if they're CCBs. The OE pads are relatively soft, which protect the extremely expensive rotors, but OE front pads are $1200 and only last a couple of days on track. You can get cheaper pads that last longer, but then you're increasing the wear on the rotors. There are other costs too, insurance since the car is high value, track inspection if you have a warranty on it, and Corsa tyres are only good for a few track days too. It's also somewhat problematic to do 2 or 3 days a year, since most of the clubs are geared towards tracking at least once a month, with the focus on training and improving lap times. I don't give a crap about my lap time, I just want to enjoy going fast in my car and to take it beyond what I can do on the road.

Part availability is already an issue, and parts are also expensive (roughly twice as much in the US as in the UK, and they're not cheap in the UK). Reliability on track is fine, just the usual potential issues with increased heat, consumables, etc.

 

[invisiblewave]

I've eaten up many, many brakes in the R8 until switching to Audi CCBs using Pagid RSC1s. They have been good since then, but was an expensive upgrade. It's definitely the cost of racing, but am more concerned that my car will be laid up for 2-3 months waiting for parts.

Generally, people who track their McLarens a lot go the other way, from CCBs to steel. The CCB rotors perform very well, resisting fade, etc, but if you're on a track with heavy braking zones, you can reach the temperature at which the silicone-carbide surface starts to break down (~800C). A few track days a year on lower-speed tracks may be fine, but running RSC1s with the stock rotors is likely to be a problem. If you don't want steel, there are other CCB rotor options that use long fibres which are more durable and can also be re-surfaced (Racing Brake, Surface Transform), but it's not a cheap switch. On the 720, there is also the potential problem of uneven pad wear, which seems to be related to the caliper mounting, and which can cause excess rotor wear.

There are posts about cars waiting on parts, but how much of that is a McLaren problem and how much is a general supply chain problem that also applies to other manufacturers is unclear. I've had several parts replaced (control arms, rear hatch latch, door struts, oil seal), and haven't had to wait on anything. Tracking is hard on the control arms, btw.....

The 720 also comes with trick suspension, which means extra maintenance for the accumulators which need to be replaced fairly often, especially if you're working the suspension hard. There's an updated part from the 765, but there's a cost to convert, and the accumulators themselves are more expensive.

 

[invisiblewave]

Try all the flavors

Worst....advice.....ever! 😂

 

[invisiblewave]

My taste is somewhat limited, but I look forward to a new flavor now and again.

You won't realize what your taste buds have been missing until you drive a McLaren. The driving experience is totally different and makes you wonder what the fuck all the other manufacturers are playing at.

 

[invisiblewave]

I guess my concern is doing the ext. warranty then having to pay for pre/post track days to not invalidate it, is that a thing? If it's a free service then it's just more of a PITA but still something I would prefer to avoid. Was thinking of going the indy route anyway on a car that would be 3-4 years old but if there is like $10k of stuff to do every year anyway maybe I'll plan to suck it up.

Yeah, it's a pita. If you're going to regularly track the car, you're probably not going to be getting the extended warranty. My dealer charges $800 for the inspections.

 

[invisiblewave]

Thanks for the notes unmac, I was leaning towards the AP setup due to the caliper design (from what I've read so far), will continue to figure that out. The settings in the car at the track are definitely something to learn, coming from Porsches they are way easy, had an RS5 that required multiple menus and buttons to free the thing up (then remembering to turn everything back on for the drive home!).

invisiblewave, this is what I had read elsewhere too, I'm leaning the non coverage direction for these types of reasons, plus not everything is covered, etc, etc. If I was looking at a prime example and just doing street driving I could see it but I'll probably be looking for something in the mid range that will see multiple use cases and don't really want to be beholden to an expensive policy with rules I'll probably end up breaking anyway (or at least getting fed up with). Figuring a good PPI and find a good local shop to work on the car will be the way to go.

Thanks for the inputs

Yeah, my car was CPO when I bought it, and the warranty covered ~$15k in maintenance in the first year. The two big ticket items were a rear main oil seal and the control arms, both of which showed up in the post-track inspection, so there is some value in the inspections over and above a simple track inspection. I'm planning to do 2 or 3 track days this year on smaller tracks which probably won't be quite as hard on brakes and tyres, and if the consumables are manageable, I'll probably forgo the warranty renewal when it expires in March next year. I'm fortunate to have a local option other than the dealer for servicing, so I can save on the annual service as well as the warranty cost. The track inspection requirement is somewhat galling, if you do three track days a year you're adding 50% to the warranty cost, as well as having the inconvenience of having to trek to the dealer for two inspections for every track day. In theory, you might be able to get the inspection done elsewhere, but whoever does it would have to follow the McLaren requirements very precisely, and someone posted that their dealer required the inspection document to be sent to them prior to the track day, all of which is just extra hassle on top of all the other hassles involved in track running.

 

[invisiblewave]

Yes . This is on point . Much more expensive then steel though . The calipers allow the kit to be used among different mclarens . There is a secondary market for re-sale now .

I do have 3 friends who are using the ap kit on mclarens .


However , it wasn’t available when I first started tracking …. The only thing to really think about is that the oem brake cooling ducts would have to be removed (they fit into the oem calipers with a screw and the ap calipers do not have that …. I was very uneasy about doing this and relying on ap vs the oem cooling ducts.

The cooling ducts are one reason I'm looking at a carbon rotor solution rather than changing the calipers too, but afaik the 570 calipers don't suffer from the uneven pad wear you've described on the 720.

 

[invisiblewave]

Good notes, I guess an ideal situation would be a car with some warranty left on it, live with it for 6-9 mos. say and get a few track days under it, see what shows up, then determine if I extend. GTK on the air ducts, Sounds like enough folks have switched to the AP setup that it would work though and maybe there would be a used option when I pull the trigger, even better

AP only gives you the pig-iron rotor option, though, afaik, so you have to live with the extra un-sprung weight and the god-awful brake dust.

 

[invisiblewave]

you will never feel nor see difference in lap time using ap kit schumaker.......

No, but I'll be constantly having to clean the dust off and deal with the extra thud over road imperfections.

 

[invisiblewave]

I tracked my 720S eight times last year. I replaced the brake pads even though they still had 5.5mm pad thickness (9mm new). CCB rotors were checked by my dealer & they had negligible wear. I consider myself a very experienced intermediate track driver so the brakes were used. I also had a little over 6000 miles on the road last year. All McLarens are simply amazing on the track. To me it is unreal that they work so well on the road also. Absolutely the best sports car. The only other car that can do both road & track well is Porsche. But having owned both marques the McLaren is the winner to me!

This is interesting stuff. Are you driving any high speed circuits with heavy braking zones?