McLaren Models

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The MSO ‘Albert’ Speedtail

The legendary McLaren F1 test mules from back in 1992 were built at Woking in England, inside premises on Albert Drive, to commemorate that special event, McLaren Beverly Hills commissioned a rather special McLaren Speedtail from MSO, McLaren Special Operations to be inspired by those first F1 testing prototype vehicles … meet the bespoke ‘Albert’ Speedtail.

McLaren Special Operations (MSO) recently unveiled the ‘Albert’ Speedtail, as mentioned above a very special, bespoke commission by McLaren Beverly Hills, the North American McLaren retailer, this car is one of the final vehicles in the 106-car Speedtail production run, and apart from taking inspiration from the 1992 F1 test mules, this specific car is also an homage to the very first Speedtail attribute testing vehicle made back in 2018.

The original McLaren MVY02 Speedtail prototype vehicle was in fact christened ‘Albert’ as a tribute to its three-seat predecessor, the legendary McLaren F1, it is noteworthy that the ‘Albert’ prototype vehicle was the first Speedtail to see actual road use, at that time with front panels from a 720S as a disguise, but already with the three-seat, central driving position fitted so McLaren could test the driver ergonomics, general visibility, and figure out the optimum rear-view camera positions.

This new ‘Albert’ Speedtail homage ordered by McLaren Beverly Hills took inspiration from the camouflage wrap used on the road-going prototype that had a simple two-meter vinyl body wrap with design lines printed to represent the optimized airflow over the car, taking this into real paint by MSO took 12 weeks to complete.

The ‘aero lines’ became one of the most complex paint themes ever completed by MSO, using Magnesium Silver, the exact color used on the F1 road car when she was shown at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix, in a combination with Ueno Grey, taken from the F1 GTR that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995, taking both shades into a design based on the 2018 vinyl ‘cameo’ wrap.

‘”As one of the very last Speedtails to be built at the McLaren Production Centre, it was very important to us at McLaren Beverly Hills that ‘Albert’ honors the brand’s rich heritage, particularly paying tribute to the icon that is the McLaren F1. We worked alongside MSO through every stage, including concept ideation, to produce a truly bespoke and beautifully detailed car that celebrates the innovation and design excellence behind the fastest McLaren road car to date. We are fortunate to have been able to procure ‘Albert’ for one of our top clients and are absolutely thrilled with the finished result.”’ Parris Mullins, McLaren Beverly Hills

The new ‘Albert’ was built in the McLaren Production Centre (MPC) with a 1K gloss visual carbon fiber body. Due to the incredibly complex and detailed nature of the paintwork design, the MSO team completed test panels first to understand process feasibility and worked alongside the visualizer team to refine renders. In total, ‘Albert’ would require a 12-week post-build modification at MSO’s facility to reach completion; this included two week’s masking, six week’s painting, and the remaining time to dry and reassemble the vehicle after spraying.

In the end, they printed their initial renders in full scale before masking it all out on the actual car, after the car was built, including the wheels, this was the only way they could be sure it all aligned well over the entire car, during the two-week masking process the MSO specialist paint technicians used almost two kilometers of fine line-out tape to complete the airflow design layout.

“The name ‘Albert’ has a special resonance with MSO, as we are the custodians of the McLaren F1 and are based at the Albert Drive premises that McLaren Cars occupied in the 1990s. The Speedtail experience has been an exciting journey for our customers, from visualising their imaginations to realising these inspirations and sharing their delight when unveiling the finished product. ‘Albert’ brings this project to a conclusion and we are thrilled to finish on a high note.” Ansar Ali, Managing Director, McLaren Special Operations

The McLaren Speedtail is the fastest road car from Woking to date, it’s the third model in the McLaren Ultimate Series, a three-seat hypercar with 1,070 hp from a hybrid powertrain that’s capable of reaching a 402 km/h (250 mph) top speed, this amazing looking ‘Albert’ Speedtail will be shown at Sunset GT, a luxury cars and coffee event hosted by O’Gara Beverly Hills on Sunday 8^th August 2021 in Sunset Plaza, Los Angeles, USA.

August 5, 2021 / Comments Off

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One-off McLaren 765LT

Buying a McLaren sports car is the dream of many aspiring car enthusiasts, a dream that comes true for some, but there are still clients out there that won’t settle for a factory original car with some standard options, even if you’re talking about a McLaren 765LT, which in itself is already a limited edition model and the final chapter in the ‘Longtail’ story for McLaren, with 755 bhp from the 4.0-Liter twin-turbocharged V8 M840T engine, this is McLaren’s most powerful model to date.

With only 765 units, each with an MSRP of $358,000 before options, the McLaren 765LT is already sold-out when you read this, by the summer of 2021 all of the cars will have been delivered to their lucky, and usually fortunate owners, as McLaren states over 25% of the production for this model was ordered with major personalization from MSO, the McLaren Special Operations department, and rest assured, this will raise the original $358,000 list price considerably, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these high-spec McLaren 765LT would come at a price well over $500,000.

And the one we are presenting here might be among those ‘half a million dollar’ units, this car is a showcase of what MSO can create for the more discerning client, with a color-shifting paint called MSO Cerberus Pearl that shows hues of blue, purple, gold, and orange depending on the angle of view and the light … a truly amazing looking paint for sure that has previously been seen on the McLaren Senna and the McLaren P1.

The McLaren 765LT is about 80 kg lighter than the 720S, and this has been achieved by using a lot of carbon fiber parts, and to emphasize the lightweight design of this LT, the customer of this MSO custom opted to have all the visible carbon fiber on his car finished in high gloss, this includes the front splitter, the rear bumper, the side skirts, as well as the mirror housings and the large air intakes.

This specific McLaren 765LT was also ordered with the extremely expensive, functional roof scoop, naturally also finished in clear carbon fiber, while the car rolls on glossy black, 10-spoke ultra-light wheels covering orange brake calipers that match the interior trim inside this one-off 765LT.

On the inside, the carbon fiber craze continues, but this time with a satin finish to avoid glare when driving in bright sunlight, while the door panels, speaker rings, and seatbelts come in bespoke McLaren Orange as a reminder of McLaren’s racing legacy, the 765LT is part of the Longtail story that started with the McLaren F1 GTR race car in the 1990s, this 765LT also comes with the MSO titanium harness bar behind the seats and track-inspired six-point harness for the driver and passenger.

The future of McLaren and sports and hypercars, in general, is full electrification, Lamborghini has recently released a statement that in a matter of two or three years all their models will be hybrids, and after 2025 we will even see an all-electric Raging Bull, McLaren has already taken that route with their new Artura, the first McLaren to use the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) to spearhead the brand’s electrified future.

June 4, 2021 / Comments Off

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First customer McLaren P1 listed at auction

Let’s go back in time … to 2013 to be exact, the time when McLaren unveiled the long-awaited successor to their legendary F1 road car … the McLaren P1, a car from a new generation of hybrid hypercars like the Ferrari Enzo and the Porsche 918, her main competitors at that time, a limited production run of only 375 McLaren P1 would be built, making her an instant part of British Automotive history, a halo car many dream about, especially as it came with an MSRP of $1,350,000, but adding MSO options could quickly push that amount beyond $1,600,000 … 8 years ago, and those few units that passed the auction block already regularly break the $2,000,000 barrier these days.

But this bright yellow over black McLaren P1, chassis SBM12ABB1EW000023 is a bit special, finished in Volcano Yellow over a black leather interior with an Alcantara dashboard is in fact the very first customer registered P1 in the world, as stated in a personal letter, dated 9th October 2013, from Frank Stephenson, the McLaren P1 designer to the first owner of this specific car, delivered in the UK, this P1 is a Left Hand Drive car, as due to the very limited production numbers, McLaren never even built the P1 in RHD, all of the 375 McLaren P1 are LHD.

In fact, clients could start ordering the McLaren P1 only from October 2013 … by November 2013 all of the 375 units were sold out, making the P1 an instant collector’s item on the automotive scene, powered by a 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 coupled to an electric motor, the total output was 903 bhp (727bhp from the V-8 and 176bhp from the electric engine). with her unique aerodynamics, including adjustable front and rear wings providing as much as 600kg of downforce at 160 mph, performance was incredible: 100 km/h took just 2.8 seconds, 200km/h was reached in 6.8 seconds, while 300km/h came after only 16.5 seconds, the top speed of the McLaren P1 was a mouthwatering 217mph (347kph).

This extremely rare McLaren P1 underwent all her maintenance and care in the hands of official McLaren dealerships in the UK, and while this car now had two owners, both were from the same family, she crossed only 3,666 miles since 2013 but still had her Hybrid battery replaced in 2018, and underwent her most recent service at McLaren Birmingham in 2020, this special McLaren P1 is ready to be driven.

When Jeremy Clarkson, from the famous BBC Top Gear program, was able to test drive a black McLaren P1 on the famous F1 circuit of Spa Francorchamps in Belgium during the second show of the 21st series, he described the P1 as “A game-changer, a genuinely new chapter in the history of motoring”, take a look at a clip from that episode here:

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Silverstone Auctions The May Sale 2021 – Classic Cars and Classic Motorcycles will have this yellow McLaren P1 up for auction on May 22nd, with an estimate between £885,000 and £985,000 (that’s $1,250,000 to $1,400,000) which sounds like a steal considering the MSRP back in 2013, so this might be your chance to get hold of a hypercar at a bargain, relatively speaking.

If you’re looking for more, detailed information about the 2013 McLaren P1 take a look at our ultimate guide to the McLaren P1.

May 11, 2021 / Comments Off

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LM Spec McLaren F1 to be Sold in Monterey by RM Sotheby’s

One of Only Two Cars Like It

The McLaren F1 is a car that’s burned into the brains of many motorsports and car enthusiasts as the ultimate machine. The car is a legendary one. McLaren built 64 production road cars, 28 F1 GTR racers, two long-tail GT cars, and seven prototypes. The company also built five F1 LMs, according to EVO. Two of the production road cars were later converted to LM cars. One of these will go up for auction in Monterey at the RM Sotheby’s sale in August.

The conversion cars received complete makeovers. They also got numerous upgrades, including a full aerodynamics kit, transmission cooler, upgraded radiators, modified exhaust, 18-inch GTR alloy wheels, new air conditioning, different lights, upgraded suspension, and a new steering wheel.

The car that will be on sale in Monterey is said to be in amazing condition. The car’s previous owners cared for it meticulously over the years. All of its history, including maintenance, has been well-documented ensuring the next owner of the car knows everything about it. While it’s unclear what the car will bring at auction, EVO Magazine notes that due to the previous sales of similar cars you can expect this model to fetch over $15 million and maybe even more than $20 million.

July 22, 2019 / Comments Off

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