SPY PICS: More McLaren 720S aero secrets revealed

With only a month to go until the McLaren 720S is revealed in full at the 2017 Geneva motor show in early March, more photos of the new car have been snapped, revealing more of the design and perhaps a few more secrets of this aerodynamic wonder.

The first undisguised photo of the McLaren 720S – known internally by McLaren mechanics as the P14 – was leaked to Instagram and it was interesting to note the lack of air intakes to feed cool fresh oxygen to the mid-mounted engine.

Most commonly mid- and rear-mounted sports cars feature air intakes behind the doors. However, these spy photos show there are intakes, albeit much smaller than usual and located much lower, almost hidden underneath the car's flanks.

Part of this switch may have been due to the introduction of the new gull-wing doors, which hark back to the McLaren F1 road car of the 1990s.

The new vehicle's silhouette is different to the 650S, the car it replaces, and the front-end too has been revised to give the car a more contemporary design.

Swing around the rear of the scorching new McLaren supercar and you'll note high-mounted twin circular exhaust outlets and a surplus of vents, diffusers and aerodynamic trickery which are likely to be just as much about performance as prettiness.

Powered by the same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine as its 650S predecessor, the new 720S will bang out 720hp, or roughly 535kW.

Together with a twin-clutch gearbox and a rear-drive setup (with extra-wide tyres), the car should reliably snap out sub-three-second 0-100km/h sprints.

The 650S with its 478kW output is good for an 8.4 second 0-200km/h sprint, so the new 720S with 535kW and improved aerodynamics could be looking at 0-200km/h sprints of around eight seconds flat.

As well as incorporating active aerodynamics – small flaps and winglets and ducts that can be adjusted based on road speed – the new McLaren is makes use of the company's new-generation Monocage II structure, a carbon-fibre tub that reduces weight while increasing stiffness compared to the 650S.

Another boon of the Monocage II – in combo with the gullwing doors – is that it will improve occupant entry and exit.

With more power, less weight and lots of new technology, the next-generation McLaren super sports car will also introduce a new cockpit layout incorporating "an intuitive control system and adjustable dashboard" according to the European spy photography agency that took these photos, Automedia.

The first of 15 new super sports cars to be launched between now and 2022 under the British Marque's Track22 strategy, there's a lot riding on McLaren's new model, which is tipped to be followed by a Spider version with a folding roof and even an LT or long-tail variant with even more power and aero wizardry.

The current McLaren 650S is priced from $464,000 in Australia. We'll have a better idea of Aussie pricing around its launch in Geneva next month, but don't expect any change from half a million dollars.