While it had plenty of accolades to its name before 1995, it was Lanzante's trip to Le Man that year with the McLaren F1 GTR which rocketed it to global fame. Beating Courage's Porsche-powered C34 prototype to the top spot with a racer based on an iconic road car delivered an indelible image in British motorsport. Understandably then, the firm is keen to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its triumph in high style.
To mark the occasion, Lanzante is taking seven McLarens and rebuilding them in F1 GTR-aping, LM25 spec. The build number is a nod to the seven F1s that took part in the 1995 24-hour race, although unlike the GTRs, each of Lanzante's LM25s will be based on a different model. There'll be coupe and Spider versions of the 600LT and 765LT, a Senna and a Senna GTR. The seventh and final model is yet to be confirmed, but it's safe to assume it'll retain the racey theme. (Guesses welcome below, obviously.)
The conversion work - which costs from £144,000 per car and takes around three months to complete - involves transforming each model to mimic the look of the victorious 59 GTR. It starts, as you'd expect, with a colour change to Ueno Grey, with lighter grey accents on lower sections of each cars and grey tinted carbon fibre. Mimicking the iconic rims of the GTR are five-spoke carbon wheels, also finished in grey with their own bespoke grey tint to the carbon fibre weave.
As well as adding a whole lot of nineties cool to the look, the carbon rims and their titanium bolts also save as much as 7kg from the wheels they replace. And that's compared to components from a manufacturer already pretty obsessed with weight saving. Also matching the GTR are gold calipers, finished with red McLaren lettering like the Brembo brakes that provided stopping power on the JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya driven '95 race winner. Rounding out the look is the 59 livery and the LM 25 logo.
Inside, there are new, ultra-lightweight F1 GTR seats with red and blue harnesses that mimic the Le Mans car. The chairs save 18kg compared with McLaren's items and sport the LM25 logo in the headrest. The steering wheel is also wrapped in black Alcantara with white contrast stitching and is accompanied by new carbon door sills, gold anodised interior switches and pedals, as well as carbon floor mats and a numbered plaque.
The LM25 upgrades don't include engine work to any of the turbocharged V8s, but Lanzante will swap the exhaust heat shields for gold ceramic coated ones, while the exhaust tips are also finished in that same material. We love that. The engine cover bears the LM25 logo, too, but coolest of all is a scrutineering sticker that's on the bulkhead to match the one applied tom the eventual 1995 winner before its historic weekend. The cars are each finished with a key that's painted in matching Ueno Grey with an electroform LM25 logo.
Customers can either bring their existing McLarens for the work or send a newly ordered one straight to Lanzante for an immediate upgrade. Given that the 600LT is now out of production, we assume they'll both be customer-suppled - but there's nothing to stop a 765LT buyer from putting the race team's address down on the delivery form. If anyone is to be trusted to pull apart your brand-new McLaren and apply their own touches, it's Lanzante.
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