It might look like a perfectly normal McLaren P1 - if you can even call a P1 'normal' - but all is not as it seems with this rare McLaren prototype, which has just appeared on the used car market in the UK.
Technically, the orange hybrid before you should be referred to as XP05 (experimental prototype 5) and its chassis represents the full journey of the P1s early development.
Before McLaren built the 375 road-going P1s for paying customers, the British supercar maker built 14 different prototypes at different stages of the P1's secret development and testing schedule.
Life wasn't easy for P1 prototypes either, they were built for only one purpose - to be pushed to the limit in the world's most extreme conditions. After they had served their purpose for McLaren's designers and engineers, most XP cars were then used for crash testing.
However, XP05 is one of the lucky ones.
XP05's first job was to develop the P1’s gearbox and Bosch fuel injection system. Once its testing duties were finished, XP05 was transformed into the McLaren P1 GTR show car presented at the Geneva and New York motor shows in 2015.
XP05 was then stripped back to its carbon fibre Monocage and rebuilt to the same specification as the 375 final production cars.
According to the seller: 'Every other component, from the body panels to the engine, has been assessed, replaced where necessary, and reassembled to McLaren’s world-class standards.' Since its rebuild the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine has only covered 600 miles (965km).
At the request of XP05's one and only owner, the car was repainted in McLaren Orange and fitted with a range of MSO options.
The history of XP05 was fully documented by McLaren and its owner, all of which will be handed over to the cars buyer. These include all testing notes from its time as a development car, its scale model, original handbooks, documented history file from its factory McLaren rebuild and a spare key.
The asking price for an essentially brand new McLaren P1 that helped develop every P1 ever built? The seller won't say, but if you won big with Lotto this week you can get in touch with the dealership here.
Whatever the asking price may be, it could be worth every penny in in the long run. When it comes time to sell again, no other P1 in the world can tell a story as rich or purposeful as XP05.
