Photo: McLaren
Leave it to the world of supercars/hypercars to convince us it's normal to take a street car-based racecar and convert it back to road use. We need to look no further than the mental McLaren P1 GTR when seeking an example and we now have the shopping list required to bring one of Woking's customer racecars back to street spec.
The story kicked off in April last year, when British racing specialist Lazante let it slip that it would be bringing P1 GTR to street specification. No, memory isn't cheating you - McLaren is indeed building just 35 examples of the P1 GTR and the track-confined version is only sold to existing P1 customers.
With the British carmaker having built 375 units of its hybrid halo car, the P1 GTR production number above makes perfect sense. And while we can't say the same about a proposal that aims to see the GTR returning to the street, we want to go through the exact changes that happen during the process.
Asked about the requirements of such a conversion last year, Dean Lazante, the team's head honcho, offered a generalized answer, explaining each conversion has to take into account the regulations that apply in the area where a certain customer aims to use his vehicle.
Nevertheless, Dutch car photographer Mats Bulters now claims he got his hands on the to-do list one year ago and has recently published this on his Facebook page.
The list, which, as far as we can tell, appears to be legit, can be found in the gallery below. However, some of its elements seem simpler to cope with than others.
You see, the extra performance delivered by the GTR is not that easy to offer when the machine has to comply with street regulations, simply because most of the advance compared to the standard P1 has been achieved thanks to the liberties of the track specifications. Nevertheless, let's move on to the details.
For instance, it's not difficult to understand why the ECU would go from an open to a closed source in order to protect Mclaren. And measures such as extra heat insulation, a ride height raised to the minimal value allowed by the law or a "normal" fuel filler system fall into the same category.
Nevertheless, there are a few items that come with what appears to be a less-than-orthodox tag (read: "For inspection only. Remove after inspection.")
We're taking about stuff such as the catalytic converter and silencers fitted to the exhaust. Does this mean the plan is to temporarily install these elements and then remove them, so that the street-worthy racecar would be driven without them?
We've reached out to the Hampshire-based motorsport specialist for a few answers.
Should any of you be wondering about the relationship between Lanzante Motorsport and McLaren, we'll remind you that Dean's father, Paul, is the man who miraculously won Le Mans in a Mclaren F1 GTR back in 1995, so the tradition is strong here.
And since an exotic vehicle dealership in Italy listed a street-legal P1 GTR for EUR6.34 million back in October last year ($7.2 million at that time's conversion rates), somebody might be enjoying their Big Mac on the road as you are reading this.
Update: We've spoken to Dean Lanzante, who explained the unusual inspection-related tag mentioned above comes from a conversion list covering the car of a customer who wanted to track his machine after all, which is why certain elements would be removed.
Lanzante's helm man added that the company has delivered two street-legal P1 GTRs so far, with one going to Dubai (where elese?) and one to Japan. Europeans shouldn't fret, as the Old Continent is getting is fair share of Woking beasts - four GTRs have already been brought to road specification and are awaiting inspection.
With the British carmaker having built 375 units of its hybrid halo car, the P1 GTR production number above makes perfect sense. And while we can't say the same about a proposal that aims to see the GTR returning to the street, we want to go through the exact changes that happen during the process.
Asked about the requirements of such a conversion last year, Dean Lazante, the team's head honcho, offered a generalized answer, explaining each conversion has to take into account the regulations that apply in the area where a certain customer aims to use his vehicle.
Nevertheless, Dutch car photographer Mats Bulters now claims he got his hands on the to-do list one year ago and has recently published this on his Facebook page.
The list, which, as far as we can tell, appears to be legit, can be found in the gallery below. However, some of its elements seem simpler to cope with than others.
You see, the extra performance delivered by the GTR is not that easy to offer when the machine has to comply with street regulations, simply because most of the advance compared to the standard P1 has been achieved thanks to the liberties of the track specifications. Nevertheless, let's move on to the details.
For instance, it's not difficult to understand why the ECU would go from an open to a closed source in order to protect Mclaren. And measures such as extra heat insulation, a ride height raised to the minimal value allowed by the law or a "normal" fuel filler system fall into the same category.
Nevertheless, there are a few items that come with what appears to be a less-than-orthodox tag (read: "For inspection only. Remove after inspection.")
We're taking about stuff such as the catalytic converter and silencers fitted to the exhaust. Does this mean the plan is to temporarily install these elements and then remove them, so that the street-worthy racecar would be driven without them?
We've reached out to the Hampshire-based motorsport specialist for a few answers.
Should any of you be wondering about the relationship between Lanzante Motorsport and McLaren, we'll remind you that Dean's father, Paul, is the man who miraculously won Le Mans in a Mclaren F1 GTR back in 1995, so the tradition is strong here.
And since an exotic vehicle dealership in Italy listed a street-legal P1 GTR for EUR6.34 million back in October last year ($7.2 million at that time's conversion rates), somebody might be enjoying their Big Mac on the road as you are reading this.
Update: We've spoken to Dean Lanzante, who explained the unusual inspection-related tag mentioned above comes from a conversion list covering the car of a customer who wanted to track his machine after all, which is why certain elements would be removed.
Lanzante's helm man added that the company has delivered two street-legal P1 GTRs so far, with one going to Dubai (where elese?) and one to Japan. Europeans shouldn't fret, as the Old Continent is getting is fair share of Woking beasts - four GTRs have already been brought to road specification and are awaiting inspection.
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