After less than three years of ownership, one McLaren 675LT customer wanted their already rare supercar to stand out with more dramatic paintwork. As always, McLaren Special Operations (MSO) did not disappoint.
MSO, McLaren's in-house bespoke department, was challenged by a 675LT owner to produce a road-going homage to the McLaren F1 GTR that competed at Le Mans in 1990s.
The F1 GTR won the 1996 BPR Global Endurance Series and the GT1 Class at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1997. MSO's mission was to create a McLaren 675LT that combined a famous racing livery with additional personalised features.
The project, which was undertaken with agreement from Gulf Oil, took more than 1,000 man hours with the paintwork and airbrushing taking 800 hours. And it was worth the effort.
“Creating a car like this unique McLaren 675LT, crafted to individual customer specification, is exactly the type of demanding commission that MSO Bespoke was formed to embrace,” said MSO Managing Director, Ansar Ali.
“Transforming the existing car from its original single colour paintwork to a tribute to the McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ in Gulf Racing livery was incredibly demanding in its own right, but was only part of the brief; we also replaced numerous standard 675LT components with MSO parts and further personalised the car to clearly identify it with its owner, a service that an increasing number of MSO customers request.”
The light blue, black and red base colours along with trademark orange centre stripe are an unmistakeable recreation of the Gulf Racing colours of the 1997 McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ race car.
The Dayglo Orange 20-spoke wheels are the same colour used for sill badges that bear the customer’s initials. Exterior enhancements also include a louvered front wing, roof scoop upgrade and carbon fibre airbrake.
The interior of the car features MSO Bespoke racing seats finished in Carbon Black Alcantara with orange and blue contrast stitching, with the initials of the owner again featuring, and MSO orange seat belts.
The handling and powertrain bezels on the are finished in Gulf Blue, while the vent bezel surrounds and stop/start button are in Gulf Orange.
Underneath its new paintwork the 675LT is still powered by a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged McLaren V8 engine producing up to 496kW (666bhp) and 700Nm of torque. The 675LT can accelerate to 100km/h from standstill in just 2.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 330km/h to match its Le Mans livery.
This 675LT isnt't the first time MSO has tinkered with the limited run Longtail supercar. Earlier this year MSO revealed a coupe and spider pairing powered by the same engine used by the 675LT.
Last year MSO also payed homage to the first LT racer with a tribute 570GT.
