This is the McLaren P1 LM, successor to the most coveted of all McLaren F1’s: the F1 LM, and also the fastest, most extreme and most exclusive version of the McLaren P1 hybrid hypercar. It very recently made its public debut at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed where it will participate in the event’s hillclimb.
Only five production P1 LMs will ever be made, which will also mark the final run of McLaren P1s ever. Customers, those lucky magnificent ballers, will be receiving their cars in early 2017.
The car itself is basically a road-going version of the track-only P1 GTR and co-developed with long-time collaborator Lanzante – LM stands for Lanzante Motorsport – who were also responsible for the F1 LM and F1 GTR which, under the Lanzante Motorsport team, won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans for McLaren.
According to Lanzante, they have kept a lot of what the P1 GTR for this LM, but have taken the opportunity to tweak its unique powertrain to now produce more turbocharger boost (via more efficient charge coolers) and calibrated the electrical system (motor and battery) to call up more torque at a given throttle input. The result is the same maximum 1000PS (735kW) headline figure as the P1 GTR.
In the tradition of the McLaren F1, the P1 LM’s engine bay is line with gold-plated heat shields and thanks to numerous weight saving materials (such as Inconel), integrations, and omissions, the car is 60kg lighter than the already featherweight P1 GTR.
Lanzante has also left parts of the car unpainted such as the roof and pretty much everything in the cabin, exposing the carbon fibre weave, but have also improved aerodynamics via a new rear wing, front splitter and dive planes that lead to an overall 40% increase in downforce over the P1 GTR. With all this weight saving, apparently enough had been done to allow for the fitment of the air conditioning – this is a road car, after all.
Currently, the sole grey experimental model you see here is the only P1 LM in existence, and will remain with McLaren. The subsequent five production models will all be coloured orange, but before those cars are given the green light, Lanzante will be thrashing the single LM around the Nurburgring to further iron out any teething issues with the car as well as tune its final suspension set up.
We don’t know how much the P1 LM will be sold for, but seeing as how it is even rarer than the P1 GTR (of which over 40 have been sold) that was only limited to existing P1 customers, we expect it will exceed the £1.98 million ($3.83 million AUD) of the GTR. Especially given its extreme rarity, its status as a road car, and the fact that it is just as powerful as the track car but somehow also lighter.
For more on McLaren vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
