McLaren goes OTT with show special

Published Aug 11, 2015

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By Dave Abrahams

Woking, Surrey - McLaren Special Operations exists to give expression to the customers' wildest fantasies.

Once in a while, however, the bespoke craftsmen and women at MSO get the chance to do one their way, just to show what is possible with special paint and trim.

And these are the cars they'll be taking to the manicured lawns of California's famous Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance later this month.

The first is a 570S Coupé 'by MSO' with a very special flip-flop paint called Mauvine Blue that changes from purple to mauve to blue, depending on the lighting, and custom interior finished in black leather with trim elements carried through from the exterior colour.

Then there's a 'catalogue special' 570S, finished in metallic orange, with a selection of styling details from the MSO Defined range of options.

THE GO TO MATCH THE SHOW

The two Super Series cars are all about go, rather than show. The 675LT is the lightest, most performance orientated, street-legal model in the series. It'll hit 100km/h from a standstill in less than three seconds, 200 in 7.9 and tops out at 330km/h. The show car is finished in Sarthe Grey, which is actually a very understated pale blue.

The second Super Series is one of just 50 650S Le Mans specials created to commemorate the 20th anniversary of McLaren's victory at the Le Mans endurance classic - all of which are already sold.

It features styling cues taken from the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR chassis #01R, such as a roof-mounted snorkel air intake (which works, by the way) front wing louvres and special endurance racing-styled alloy rims.

The standard colour for the 650S Le Mans specials is Sarthe Grey - inspired by the livery of the 1995 race-winning car - but this one has been finished in McLaren orange, in the exact shade used by Bruce McLaren on his 1960s racing cars.

And finally, on an historical note, on loan from BMW North America (which sponsored it during its debut racing season) will be a 1996 F1 GTR, chassis #17R, which was raced by that year's World Endurance Championship by Team Bigazzi, including finishing eighth at Le Mans.

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