Ron Dennis is dead serious about everything he does. This is what has made McLaren a front-runner in Formula 1, filling its cabinets with countless trophies, and this is what has made him build a new car company from scratch.
If you already own a McLaren F1, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and a McLaren MP4-12C, that’s practically all the production cars the Woking-based company has built so far, chances are that, apart from being very rich, you are a very good and respected client.
So, when you ask for a bespoke, money-no-object version of the MP4-12C, McLaren’s Special Operations will happily oblige. This is what the MSO division was created for, after all.
Its Program Director, Paul Mackenzie, says that MSO can build anything: “The only limit is the size of the customer’s imagination.”
The result of MSO’s first creation is the one-off X-1, which was officially unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this past weekend. The bespoke supercar’s carbon bodywork bears no resemblance whatsoever to the donor car – which apparently is exactly what the unnamed client wanted.
Despite the X-1 retaining the basic architecture of the MP4-12C, and of course its 616HP (625PS) 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8, the different dimensions and all-new body required special homologation for road use.
McLaren head of design Frank Stephenson says: “The X-1 epitomizes how we can not only create a truly unique product tailored to the client, but also enable the client to become a key member of the design team throughout the process. It has been a truly rewarding and unforgettable experience.”
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