McLaren 600LT Spider Segestria Borealis was inspired by a real-life venomous spider
This so-called "Spider Spider" special edition has stunning paint and green stripes influenced by the arachnid Segestria florentina.
Lots of car designers draw inspiration from the animal kingdom, with creatures like sharks, big cats and falcons being commonly referenced when a new car gets revealed. McLaren's latest 600LT special edition has been directly inspired by a species that's a little creepier, though: the venomous Segestria florentina spider.
Found throughout Europe and sometimes called the tube web spider, Segestria florentina is distinguished by its iridescent black body and bright-green fangs that cause a nasty bite. I'm far from the world's biggest arachnid fan, so I'm gonna leave it up to you to Google it for yourself, but as far as spiders go it's actually a pretty one. Let's talk about the car, though. It's called the 600LT Spider Segestria Borealis -- or, as McLaren has nicknamed it, the Spider Spider -- and it has received a number of custom touches from McLaren's Special Operations division.
The Borealis Black paint is one of the most stunning colors we've seen from McLaren.
This 600LT has been painted in Borealis Black, a deeply gorgeous color that reveals flakes of blue, green and purple when under light, similar to the body of its namesake creepy crawly. Thin Napier Green stripes run down the length of the body, mimicking the spider's fangs, and the front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser get Napier Green pinstriping. The brake calipers are also Napier Green, and the side-view mirrors and underside of the rear wing have a cool spiderweb-like pattern in the same color.
The black Alcantara-covered interior gets green stitching and accents on pieces like the steering wheel and floor mats. The seats are the ultra lightweight carbon-fiber buckets lifted from the Senna, and the body of the seat gets the same spiderweb striping as the mirrors and rear wing, while the headrests have an embroidered spiderweb logo. It's like if Tony Stark gave Peter Parker a really nice graduation present.
The interior is a little more subdued than the outside.
These 600LTs are fitted with the MSO Clubsport package, which adds extra carbon-fiber interior trim, titanium wheel bolts, front-fender louvers and those fancy seats. They also get a front-end lifter, a 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, McLaren's track telemetry camera system, and an upgraded alarm. Performance is unchanged, so you still get a 592-horsepower twin-turbo V8 that rockets the Spider to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds.
Only 12 examples have been produced, representing the last 600LTs that will reach the US. McLaren says that all of these special Spiders have already been ordered, but some are still available at dealerships. The Spider Spider costs $275,500, just $19,000 more than a "standard" 600LT, which honestly doesn't seem that bad given the feature content and special design.
