Designing Mclaren 620R Canards For The 570S & 600LT

Now Available To Purchase: Non Carbon Option Available HERE   Carbon Fibre Option Available HERE

I've always liked the front canards on the 620R they seem to add a nice little visual touch of track aggression and so I looked to source a pair for my 600LT. As to be expected the price from Mclaren was astronomical at around £3K+ so on to a new journey of finding an alternative.

Im not going to go into the aero dynamics of this item, I think such things are irrelevant without data but given there used on both the 620R and 570S GT4 there must be something vs nothing. However for me the intent was more visual vs expecting any major downforce improvement. Knowing the GT4 items where often the most popular route folks would go for the part I ordered some but was quite disappointed.

The item was simply a piece of bent carbon fibre sheet, with poor fitment, and too angular for an OEM+ look, for a GT4 it makes sense but wasn't suitable for what I wanted for my 600LT. I was not going to pay the £3K+ Mclaren wanted and so I worked with a friend to start 3D scanning the car to find a solution.

3D scanning the car allows us to get a perfect fitment with the contour of the car. Using the GT4 canard to get a feel for the curvature of the actual canard we could then start the re-design. The first design received some improvements, specifically more bevel on the outer edge to be more OEM+ and also indentation of the fixing points to make them less visual which you can see in the side by side picture above.

The final design had a thickness and bevel which for me meet the design needs of being as close to OEM+ and style of the 620R possible. For prototyping 3D printing was used with a higher grade material than usual to create an item that could be tested but also a non carbon option for production.

Fitment was great thanks to the 3D scanning. Installation simply requiring three riv nuts per side which is more a case of getting over the fear of drilling into bodywork vs actually being a complex installation process.

Testing was also very successful with a super secure fit even down high speed runs down Hanger Straight at Silverstone GP :)

Now onto creating a carbon fibre option which truly replicates the original design brief of getting close to the 620R quality and aesthetics. Instead of creating a new mould, which is high cost, carbon layering over the part was the preferred option as this keeps costs down and ensures the aesthetic needs are still met.

Here's a nice comparison of the carbon vs non carbon option which will be made into production and available on the Alias23.com website.

Note the weave direction, to retain the design ethics of the 620R canards and the direction of OEM carbon packs (front splitter), each canard was layered with the correct weave direction per side to match to OEM. Super stoked with the result!

With testing now complete and the original design brief met production is now the next step!

Non Carbon Option Available HERE   Carbon Fibre Option Available HERE