Yes, you can have a McLaren Elva with a windscreen

Clever as McLaren’s “Active Air Management System” (AAMS) is, the hugely fast Elva is still perfectly capable of totally ruining your face.

To keep that from happening you could simply leave your Elva tucked away in your garage alongside all the other incredible cars you never, ever drive. You could wear a full-face crash helmet. Or maybe you could ask McLaren to do you one with a windscreen. Novel idea, we know.

Yup – McLaren will happily build you an Elva with a windscreen, washer jets, sun visors and wipers instead of its impressive, but not infallible, Active Air Management System (AAMS). The windscreen-equipped Elva still does without a roof or side windows, mind, and there is a slight weight penalty. Though the windscreen car does without all the AAMS gubbins, McLaren expects the glass, wipers and carbon surround to add around 20kg.

Built not just for owners who’d rather have a physical windscreen, but also to actually make the Elva road-legal in certain US states, we’re promised its “dynamic performance and stiffness remain unchanged from the screenless car”. Tech specs haven’t been finalised, but we’d be surprised it if was any slower. That means 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and 0-124mph in 6.8 seconds, en route to a 203mph top speed.

149 Elvas will be built, each costing £1.425million before options. Customers who’ve chosen to have a windscreen will get their cars towards the end of this year. How would you take yours?