Four Longtails, One Heads to Monterey as a Pristine 2014 McLaren P1 GT Lanzante

Photo credit: Robin Adams / RM Sotheby’s
Monterey Car Week has a way of drawing out machines most people will never see in person. Next month one of the rarest modern McLarens will roll into RM Sotheby’s auction, and collectors already know the numbers. Lanzante built just four of these. This is the third. British specialist Lanzante took a track-only P1 GTR and turned it into something that can drive on public roads while looking like a 1997 F1 GT Longtail.

The initial longtail was created only to provide the normal race car a roadworthy spin for GT1 competition, with McLaren eventually producing three roadable versions. The impressive of them finished second overall in the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans. Lanzante’s modern rendition follows the same strategy: take the wildest model in the family, add some comfort and legality, and you’ve got a car you can actually drive on the road.

Chassis SBM12ABA7EW000079 began as a P1 GTR, and Lanzante went to work by stretching the rear bodywork into that distinctive longtail shape, bolting on a larger front splitter, slapping a fixed rear wing onto some tweaked pylons, fitting a roof scoop, cutting some louvers into the front fenders, and deepening the underbody diffuser. The result is a radical-looking automobile that sits lower and meaner than a conventional P1 while being road legal. There is no significant difference in terms of wheels, as they are the same center-locking five-spoke design as the original F1 GT road cars, but in silver this time. The rest of the car is black, with exposed carbon revealing the structure beneath.

The GTR’s powertrain remains unchanged: a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 paired with a 131kW electric motor. They deliver a mind-blowing 986 horsepower to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Suspension is based on the P1 LM’s design, but strengthened and tuned to withstand the increased downforce from the revised bodywork. On the wide road, the car still seems like a purpose-built racecar.

Meanwhile, Lanzante has made some measured changes without losing sight of the overall race strategy. You’re still sitting in a proper racing bucket seat with multi-point harnesses and an F1 GT logo on the headrests, and the three-spoke yoke in front of the driver is identical to that of a pure racing car, but, and this is a big but, you now have climate control, power windows, carpeting, and a half-decent infotainment system to go with it. Red microsuede accents break up the otherwise black leather interior. It’s an odd balance, but the end result is a car that’s more usable than a pure GTR while retaining the character that made the original car so unique.

This car has only 5,484 miles on it, a clean U.S. title, and comes from The Driver’s Philosophy Collection, RM. Sotheby’s predicts it will get between $3 million and $3.5 million when it is auctioned off next month. That’s not surprising given that only four of these cars exist, and Lanzante has been building extreme McLarens for decades, dating back to the 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR. This P1 GT is only the latest installment in their continuous collaboration with the most extreme McLarens.
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