I was very lucky indeed to go to the 720 preview and I can certainly confirm that this car has at least three or four huge changes over previous ones. It is certainly a complete new design. Its a new car.
Forget the 675LT - this will blow it away. It makes it look like a dinosaur and probably will make it look as about as fast as one as well.
I was told by a main dealer that on a track in Italy it (the 720) beat the Porsche 918 lap time by 3 seconds and I have no reason to believe it was not true (on that particular track). Now we must consider its under one third of the price of the Porsche.
If that stat is true then that is utterly mind blowing.
For me its about the clever use of the power and how all of that extra torque cuts in way way down the rev range. Then combine that with the lower weight, huge increase in downforce, and very very clever aerodynamics, and that starts to show why its going to be fast - very very fast. As you guys that race know - its not all about brute bhp - its got a great deal to do with delivery of that and then how much of that you can put down on the track without the car losing its handling and grip.
Its in this area that the 720 probably beats just about any other road car and for me it lived up to its hype.
MCL have been very clever with this design and used the phrase "form following function" several times. The new styling is great - it is more aggressive but its all been driven by a functional need - and not just made to look pretty for the fun of it.
My very best mate, Urs Tschudin (The MCL Mileage man), who was with me for the reveal, has ordered one but will wait beyond the launch cars so he can spec it out himself. I met another Swiss guy who has a P1 and also 2 off 675 LTs and he will be having a 720 now and thinks on the road there will be no difference to speak of between the 720 and his P1.
Ill leave it to others to spoil the launch at Geneva that Ill also be attending and MCL really dont deserve to be let down given their kindness and willingness to preview the car to a select lucky few.
I will tell you though - this is one super cool car (or is it a cool super car??) that will give Hyper cars a run for their money (on the road) at Super Series car prices. Its another big step forward for MCL and the competition will not like what they see at Geneva.
For those that can afford it - get your deposits down now.
I will tell you - the Spider version has not yet been signed off and will be 2 or maybe even 3 years away. When you see the design - you will understand why that is.

TopGear.com had been offered an audience with McLaren boss Ron Dennis, and duly made its way to the stand in time to watch him present his intriguingly styled new car to the media hordes in an occasionally stilted three-way with 2013 McLaren F1 driver Sergio Perez and the BBC's pit-lane lady Lee Mackenzie. There were some useful updates, though. McLaren will be making 375 P1s, at £866,000 a pop, with around 45 destined for the Middle East. Ron was very pointedly talking up the car's investment potential, which explains why there was an F1 LM on the stand (current market value: up to £3m). And he went on to reveal that he himself had beaten the fastest Top Gear power lap (a 1.13.8 by the Pagani Huayra) around Dunsfold in the P1 by a walloping 10 seconds, which surely puts it on a par with the speed of light. Finally, he claimed that nobody else would be able to get near the P1's performance.