The McLaren P1 LM Is The GTR's Even More Unhinged Road Car Cousin

What you’re looking at here is the quickest, scariest and most extreme McLaren money can buy. And yes, it’s even more extreme than the P1 GTR upon which it’s based, something we’ll get back to shortly. But first, a history lesson.

Back in 1995, Lanzante Motorsport managed to beat all the fancy prototypes and score a stunning outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a McLaren F1 GTR. To celebrate, the McLaren F1 LM was launched. Just five were made, and were about as close to that oft-used ‘race car for the road’ claim as any other road-legal motor has ever come. 21 years on, history is (sort of) repeating itself with Lanzante being given McLaren Special Operations’ blessing to build the car you see here: the P1 LM.

Again just five will be made, and in another nod to the F1 LM, four will be finished in orange and one will be grey. Worried about it being watered down for the road? Put those fears to one side - it’s just as powerful with 986bhp put to the rear wheels from the same 3.8-litre V8 and electric motor combo, something Lanzante has achieved by upping the boost pressure, as it’ll be running on 99 Octane fuel rather than race-spec juice. Oh, and it’s actually lighter than the GTR. The onboard air jack is gone, the seats are F1 GTR items, and the windows are now polycarbonate. All this saves 60kg.

On the aero front, Lanzante has added a larger front splitter, meatier canards, and a modified rear wing, all of which works together to give a 40 per cent increase in downforce. Like I said, most extreme McLaren money can buy.

Other benefits for well-heeled P1 LM owners include a 1:8 replica model, a tool kit, and a final setup at the Nurburgring undertaken by former racing driver Kenny Bräck.

There’s no word on price yet, but it’ll be one of those cases of if you have to ask. Our guess? Well in excess of £2 million. Since we don’t have that kind of cash, we’ll settle for watching the XP1 LM prototype (yep, that’s another cheeky F1 reference) belting up Goodwood hill at this weekend’s Festival of Speed with Bräck at the wheel.