McLaren “All About Innovation” With Artura Trophy Evo

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

McLaren Motorsport technical and operations director Malcolm Gerrish said the brand is “all about innovation” with the numerous Evo-spec updates, including a unique push-to-pass system, to its McLaren Artura Trophy Evo, which is set to take to the track for the first time when McLaren Trophy America debuts this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

The car has undergone numerous mechanical upgrades after two seasons of European competition including wider tires, revised bodywork, increased braking and cooling performance, suspension setup options, and a push-to-pass system that’s believed to be a first for use in GT racing.

“We’ve tried to enhance all the elements of the car,” Gerrish told Sportscar365. “We’ve improved the braking feel and performance. We’ve improved the mechanical grip. We’ve improved the aero performance, but also, we needed more power.

“But rather than just increasing the power flat, that would be easy and boring. [Push-to-pass] is just to add that extra strategy element and to innovate. Nobody else is doing this in GTs. McLaren’s all about innovation.

“This is the first time you can actually buy a Trophy car as a turn-key car from McLaren.

“Before, you’d buy a GT4 car, and then you buy a Trophy pack. But now it is a Trophy Evo car.

“At the moment, we expect to build and sell more Trophy Evo cars this year than GT4 cars. Already, the market is strong for it. People love it, so it’s really exciting.”

The push-to-pass system utilizes boost pressure from the car’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine to provide a temporary increase in overall power output under full-throttle application during the pair of 50-minute, single-pitstop races featured each weekend.

“It would have been really easy just to give more power all the time, but the whole point about it is we want to add the strategic element,” said Gerrish.

“There is the option there of, ‘Do you use it for attacking or defending?’ Does the Pro use it? Does the Am use it?’ Because you’ve only got a finite amount of time there. Once the energy’s gone, it’s gone.

“It’s activated by a button on the steering wheel, and that arms the system, and then if you go when you go full throttle, you’ve got the extra power.

“It goes up from 585 to around 620 horsepower and is there as long as your foot’s on the throttle. So as soon as you back off or you brake, then you’re back to the normal 585 horsepower.”

Drivers will have 300 total seconds of push-to-pass available for each race in Sonoma, with the allotment designated by McLaren subject to change from track to track.

Customer Feedback, Factory Driver Help Aided Artura Trophy Evo Development

This weekend’s season-opening McLaren Trophy America rounds will be the first race outing for the Artura Trophy Evo after a significant amount of development work that Gerrish said was helped by feedback from McLaren factory drivers and customer input in Europe, where the car has competed regionally in its first iteration.

“It was, as all development is, continuous listening to our customers,” Gerrish said.

“This weekend we’re here working with our customers, our drivers. Through the first season of Trophy, we were very, very close to all the customers, close to the GT4 customers, and already just taking back the feedback.

“Our primary drivers are our factory drivers. But again, it’s really important to get the actual, real drivers in the series. So we had a few of the Pro drivers and the Am drivers from the Trophy Series into the car, and got their feedback.

“It’s nice to hear good things, but good things don’t really help. We need to hear the, ‘Okay, I’m not so keen on this.’

“So we brought all that in, and I think it’s smashed all the targets. And then you get existing Trophy drivers to drive it, and every single person got out, and they’re like, ‘Wow! That is so much better than the standard Trophy car.’ So it’s been really well received.”

Existing McLaren Trophy Europe drivers, including inaugural champion and McLaren graduate Tommy Pintos, who will make his North American series debut this weekend with Skip Barber Racing, were also a factor in the car’s development.

“Tommy was in the car, Jayden Kelly was in the car as two of our younger guys,” said Gerrish. “Now Tommy has moved on in the McLaren driver scheme as well. Those guys were really, really helpful in it.

“We’re very fortunate. Our factory drivers are very experienced.

“All the way through developing a car, they’re always able to say, ‘Yeah, I really like it like this, but an Am is going to like it like that.’ So they’re good, they’re not selfish.

“But actually having real-world customers and Trophy drivers in it absolutely helps to get the development absolutely on point.”