This is it: the new McLaren 570S Spider

Do you like the idea of a McLaren 570S but don’t like the idea of being hemmed in by a McLaren 570S’s dastardly fixed roof? Help is at hand, in the shape of this: the £164,750 McLaren 570S Spider.

It becomes the fourth variant of McLaren’s Sport Series range – alongside the 540C, 570S Coupe and 570GT – and, most importantly, will allow you to go 196mph flat out (where applicable) with the roof down. [insert your own toupée gag here]

That roof is a retractable, two-piece hardtop unit, built using lightweight composite panels finessed in the 650S Spider and banzai 675LT Spider models. So it’ll work. Properly.

You simply push a button, and that folding hardtop opens or closes in 15 seconds, at speeds of up to 25mph. Further – and just like you can on an Audi R8 V10 Spyder – there’s a wind deflector that can be raised or lowered with the roof up (and down, obvs). The upshot of this is when the weather is poor but you need noise.

And there will be plenty of noise. The 570S Spider – like all modern convertible supercars – suffers no performance loss, despite the addition of 46kg over the Coupe. So the 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 still pumps out 562bhp and 442lb ft of torque, and matches the Coupe’s 0-62mph time of 3.2secs. The 0-124mph dash takes just 9.6secs, and if you leave the roof up, the top speed rises from 196mph to 204mph. Yep, same as the Coupe. And 1mph more than the R8 Spyder V10 Plus...

Otherwise it’s everything you know about McLaren’s new chassis: there’s the new MonoCell II carbon fibre tub, double wishbone suspension all round, adaptive damping, electro-hydraulic steering, brake steer, and all the interior refinements you’d expect from a 570S.

There is a slight change to the rear however: the Spider’s got a different rear upper body design because of that roof, and therefore gets a rear spoiler that’s 12mm taller than the Coupe’s.

So, yours for £164k. The first 400 Spiders will be ‘launch edition’ models, and it’ll get a world premiere at the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed.