BEST OF BRITISH: McLaren 570GT design secrets revealed

'Lucky' doesn't even begin to describe Rob Melville.

Not only does Melville design supercars for a living, he designs them for McLaren Automotive — the most exciting car-maker on the planet right now.

It's incredible to think just six years ago McLaren's road car division didn't exist, let alone manufacture world-class supercars.

Perhaps most astonishing is that since their launch in 2010, McLaren's modern road car range has not only been competitive but a true supercar pioneer, even against the established Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Key to the success has been design and Melville, along with his boss Frank Stephenson (who penned the MINI hatch, Fiat 500, Maserati MC12 and Ferrari F430), were there from the beginning.

All were fortunate enough to have been given that rare thing in the design world – carte blanche. Along with the rest of the design team, their results have been central to McLaren's meteoric rise.

Joining McLaren back in 2009, Melville personally worked on the P1, 650S, 675LT and the full Sport Series models, 570GT, 570S, 540C.

As part of the Best of British feature, motoring.com.au caught up with Melville and his latest creation, the genre-busting 570GT that's claimed to blend a supercar with a classic GT of the 1960s.

Melville says you can use a 570GT every day and he means it.

McLaren's chief designer reveals that he and his team radically redesigned the rear bodywork of the 570S coupe and added a 'Touring Deck' in place of its 570S flying buttresses.

The bad news is you lose the view of the McLaren's twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8, but the good news is that in its place you gain space – namely 220 litres of room to store luggage to compliment the small Macca's existing 150 litres front boot.

In total, the 570GT has more boot space than a Ford Focus hatch, claims Melville.

With more space to carry bags for more than a weekend, McLaren hopes the 570GT will be used for longer journeys and with this in mind Melville's design team was tasked with making the 570GT's cabin a more pleasant place to spend long hours behind the wheel.

That's why inside the 570GT there's a lighter and airier cabin, courtesy of a one-piece glass panoramic roof. The seats still clamp your torso in place but offer greater levels of comfort.

Even the drive is different.

Engineers set about dialling back the 570S' hyperactive responses.

The 570GT's steering is slower and less darty while the ride improves significantly thanks to front and rear spring rates that have been wound back by 10-15 per cent.

Contributing to comfort and greater everyday use, the standard exhaust is a noticeable three decibels quieter than the 570S' sports exhaust. Even the GT's tyres play their part in this respect, featuring a sound-deadening internal layer that cuts road noise for quieter cruising.

It would be tempting to think, perhaps, that McLaren had gone soft with the 570GT, but nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to its 419kW/600Nm turbo V8, the most useable of the Sport Series McLaren can still reach 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds.

That means behind the wheel and in the flesh the quieter the more comfortable 570GT remains a supercar in every sense — a car you would have been immensely proud of if you had a hand in creating it, which Melville did. Lucky man.

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BEST OF BRITISH