Of late, bespoke commission vehicles have become increasingly popular and when a new one emerges, it’s definitely worth paying.
McLaren’s specialist by the name of Lanzante has taken advantage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed to showcase its bespoke creation, the open-top P1 Spider. If the Lanzante name doesn’t ring a bell, well, this is the same wizzards that transformed the track-only P1 GTR into a road-legal P1 GTR LM.
Rewinding to about 10 years ago, when the P1 joined the hypercar foray, it did so only as a hybrid coupe and while that may have left those who enjoy open-top driving kind of disappointed, Lanzante has your back and we’re pleased to introduce the P1 Spider variant.
P1 know-how
To ensure that the conversion of the coupe to convertible takes place without drama, and to ensure that the design of the new commission is kept as close to the original car as possible, Lanzante worked closely with Paul Howse who designed the coupe.
According to Lanzante, the deletion of the roof section with the central ‘snorkel’ air intake and glass roof panels was an engineering nightmare. However, there are minor tweaks to the front wings, doors and rear engine cover. For enhanced aerodynamics, the Lanzante P1, boasts newly positioned air intakes while the lower section of the chassis has been to the surgeon’s room to add additional rigidity.
A quick look inside tells us the interior of the P1 Spider has been updated thanks to newly upholstered seats wrapped in leather and durable SuperFabric. The interior is further kitted with satin carbon fibre plus gloss black switchgear.
Customer demand
The whole P1 Spider began after Lanzante was approached by a P1 owner at the beginning of the year who was looking at the ideas of how to make his car even more engaging, and he was keen to explore the option of a Spider variant, according to Dean Lanzante.
“We had looked at the idea before, but the basic architecture of the chassis with the integrated roof structure made it seem like it was not possible. After close discussions with our engineers, we felt we had some possible ways to make it work, but it needed to be designed in a way that it wouldn’t lose anything when compared to the coupe”, he explains.
The powertrain of the P1 coupe is carried over as a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 hybrid that develops 673 kW of power and a stupendous 900 Nm of torque. The P1 Spider retains the RaceActive Chassis Control that offers dynamic handling and transmission modes and the all-out track-focused ‘Race’ mode.
If you’d like one after reading this, get those cheque books ready because Lanzante is only building five examples and the first customer deliveries will start before the end of the year. Each of the bespoke commissions will be built from a suitable donor car.
Pictures: Instagram, @lazantelimited
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