McLaren has quite some heritage with its hybrid hypercar. First, there was the McLaren P1. What a machine it was. Then there was the track-only P1 GTR, which many owners had converted for road use by Lanzante, the British racing team who’d supported McLaren’s legendary Le Mans win in 1994.
Lanzante liked what they saw with the P1 GTR, so they created a run of five P1 LMs, complete with more power, more downforce, and promptly broke the Nürburgring lap record for a road-legal car, with a 6min 43sec lap back in 2017. Then, they drove the car home again.
And now, Lanzante has, for a final flourish, given the world another extreme P1 variant. It’s called the P1 GT, and those initials and that green hue are a tribute to the McLaren F1 GT, of which only three were ever made. It was the road-going homologated version of the F1 ‘longtail’ developed for endurance racing in the mid-1990s. And what we have here is a longer, wingier P1 to pay a very special tribute.
Apparently commissioned by an anonymous (and very wealthy) Middle Eastern collector, Lanzante’s P1 GT looks much like a P1 GTR from the rear wheels forward, albeit with slightly less finicky aero around its chin, and a far more plush interior than we’ve seen in a P1 to date. The leather-trimmed seats and curious U-shaped steering wheel are bespoke to this one-off.
It’s not a ground-up build, rather a conversion of a P1 GTR, with the rear deck dramatically extended, while ditching the P1’s complex hydraulically actuated rear wing has saved weight. Here a monster carbon fixed wing has taken its place, so the GTR’s active aero systems have all changed. All told, only the doors and front bonnet remain in the conversion from a GTR, which has taken around six months. Oh, and it has the same 986bhp powertrain as the GTR, too, but is the first P1 to have four exhaust outlets, poking through a lower aperture that we’re used to.
While this car belongs to an actual customer, Lanzante will make more, and is already fielding interest. Dean Lanzante told Top Gear he won’t allow more than 13 to be built - a deliberate move to make sure it won’t surpass the production of the McLaren F1 GT and GTR - which means potentially quite a few P1 GTRs being converted for use. Is it sacrilege to chop up some GTRs to make this GT? No, says Dean: lots of GTR owners have already stopped using them on circuit and with McLaren’s own Senna GTR due soon, are seeking a new use for their track-only hypercar.
If their P1 GTR has been converted to road use, the GT conversion will cost around £500,000. That rises if their GTR is still track-only and needs to be made road-legal in the process. And if you like the look of it but don’t own a P1 GTR already? Dean says the bill for sourcing then converting the right car will be over £2million.
Worth it for the way it looks?
