Newly uncovered patent applications seem to strongly hint that McLaren is gearing up to make a convertible 720S.

We love the 720S. There’s no denying that McLaren has made perhaps one of the best supercars of all time thanks to decades of engineering prowess and cutting-edge technology.

A carbon fiber monocoque chassis provides a strong yet lightweight frame for a 4.0-L twin-turbo V8 to sit in the middle, just behind the driver’s seat, and power the rear wheels. With 710 hp and 568 lb-ft at its disposal, McLaren advertises a top speed of 212 mph and a zero to sixty time of just 2.9 seconds.

However, we’ve seen videos of the 720S achieving even faster times.

McLaren also advertises a quarter-mile drag time of just 10.3 seconds. Again, we’ve seen people drive a 720S even faster than that.

But how do you improve upon perfection? Well, obviously you cut the roof off so the driver can experience 212 mph first hand. Which is exactly what McLaren plans to do.

At the end of September, we learned the McLaren was planning on making a convertible 600LT. Now, recently uncovered documents from the European Patent Office reveal that the British supercarmaker plans for a Spider version of the 720S too.

RELATED: MCLAREN'S 600LT SPIDER WILL ARRIVE IN 2019

We have Autoblog to thank for these pictures that seem to show a 720S without a roof. In fact, there’s not even anything shown that replaces the roof--there’s no soft top or bulging behind the seats that might be hiding a foldable hardtop. Autoblog assumes (and we do too) that McLaren isn’t just going to leave the 720S roofless and will make some sort of foldable metal roof as seen on the convertible 570S.

In keeping with McLaren’s uncompromising attitude when it comes to convertibles, we expect the 720S Spider to have a few more pounds than its predecessor but sacrifice nothing in terms of performance. At most we’ll lose a mile or two from the 720S’s top speed, and maybe a tenth of a second on its quarter-mile, but McLaren will never make a car that’s strictly worse than something they’ve already made before.

It’ll also probably cost more. We’ll have to wait for McLaren to make an official announcement to see just by how much.

NEXT: WATCH A MCLAREN 720S CLOBBER A 2018 FORD GT IN 1/4 MILE ROLL RACE