McLaren MP4-12C Spider breaks cover

As The Mamas and the Papas so eloquently sang way back in 1965, they would indeed be safe and warm, "if they were in LA". Reason enough then, perhaps, for McLaren Automotive to unveil its second performance car in the ‘Sunshine State': the MP4-12C Spider.

Yep, this be the first public outing for McLaren's newest supercar, and as the cunningly titled name suggests, it is a convertible; a 616bhp convertible that has a folding hard top able to lower and raise while on the move.

And move it most certainly can, as inside the searing ‘volcano yellow' confines of that Monocell sits the new, tweaked version of McLaren's 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 engine, driving the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. That engine hasn't been hidden away underneath the folding hard top foliage mind, it's on clear display through a glass screen behind the tonneau cover.

The performance isn't as far off as you'd think either, considering: 0-62mph is equal to that of the coupe (3.1s) 0-100mph takes 6.1s (6.0s for the coupe), 0-124mph takes 9.0s (vs 8.8s), it'll hit the quarter mile in 10.4s (vs 10.6s), and top speed is just three mph slower than its fixed-head brother at 204mph.

Yours for £195,000. Click on for more pictures from the Gooding & Company Auction preview. Prefer the red one?