McLaren GT4 Update Kit in Works for 2019

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography/British GT

An update kit to the McLaren 570S GT4 is in the works for 2019, as part of a newly-formed customer support commitment from McLaren Automotive, according to motorsports director Dan Walmsley.

The British manufacturer, which recently gained rights in a court judgement to provide “aftersales service” to GT4 customers as well as previous GT3-spec models, has confirmed plans to introduce an update package for the car.

With Evo kits prohibited in SRO GT4 regulations, Walmsley explained the changes, which will be offered to customers at “minimal [financial] impact”, are primarily to improve the car’s reliability.

McLaren follows other GT4 manufacturers, including Ford, to have rolled out with mechanical updates to its machinery.

“The car remains in its original homologation form but we are doing a 2019 update to address some issues that have been cited to us by the customers to make the car, in some areas more reliable, in some areas less maintenance-dependent,” Walmsley told Sportscar365.

“We’ll announce the exact technical specification shortly and we’ll be working really closely with all the teams out there to make sure that their 2018 cars will be brought to the latest specifications to give them the best and most enjoyable racing experience with it.”

Having debuted in 2016, the McLaren GT4 was largely built for 60-to-90-minute sprint races prior to the platform’s expansion into endurance racing, which Walmsley said has been central focus point for the updates.

“The key thing in the philosophy of GT4 is that they don’t want it to become an arms race of people firing extensive performance developments at the car,” he said.

“We know the performance of the car is really good and we’re working really closely with the performance management and BoP with SRO and IMSA to make sure that we continue to provide a competitive car for our customers.

“We’re not doing anything to change the performance, it’s about robustness, it’s about simplicity of operation and cost of ownership.

“Those upgrades will hopefully make an impact on our customers’ experience.

“It’s had two fantastic years of racing and can really prove itself to be a fantastic amateur race car.

“The Pros speak very highly of it. We want to give the Ams a platform to continue racing with less headaches, more ease and more success.”

McLaren Automotive Committed to GT4 Customer Support

Walmsley said last week’s UK court judgement that has resulted in CRS GT Ltd. relinquishing all customer servicing rights to McLaren Automotive will lead to increased technical support for the car.

The Andrew Kirkaldy-led CRS organization, which operated under the McLaren GT moniker via a partnership with the British manufacturer, had built and developed the McLaren MP4-12C, 650S GT3 and 570S GT4 models, prior to McLaren’s decision to bring all of its GT racing activities in-house.

“We’re delighted with the judgement,” Walmsley said. “It’s been a very long and lengthy process and a huge frustration for McLaren and all of the guys working within the team here, but more so for some of our customers who we haven’t been able to support as we wanted.

“We’ve just been busy readying ourselves and making sure that when the decision came, that we could try and provide the service that we’ve taken the feedback from them, and how to do so with the appropriate technical support staff and after sales infrastructure to make sure that parts are available.

“We’ve launched the Pure McLaren GT Series, the in-house one-make series. That has been a real proof point for us, looking after 20 customers in one place on one weekend. It’s a really outstanding strategy to support that correctly.

“We’ve been learning in the background and it’s such a relief for all that we’re through it now and we’re very excited to get on and try and deliver what the customers want. We’ll be working very closely with them to deliver that.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John