The McLaren P1 GTR is the purest essence of a British hybrid trackday wondercar, with nothing you don't need and all of that 986 horsepower and a fat wing you do. Every version we've seen has technically been a "concept," but this gorgeously-liveried spec is the one you can actually plunk down cash for and purchase.
AHEM, did I say you can purchase it? Of course you can, if you've got the £1,980,000 (or $3,053,833.20 at current exchange rates) ticket to ride. And you already own a regular McLaren P1. That's it, what a bargain, wow.
McLaren isn't specifying for the moment what "minor modifications" they undertook from the concept besides the paint, but I'm not sure it really matters. It's almost 1000 British horses of combined fuel and electric fury, thanks in no small part to a 62-horsepower bump to the turbo V8 and a 21 horsepower-bump to the electric motor, and it is track perfection incarnate.
Of course, to make this a trackday special McLaren doesn't just bump up the power dial 83 notches, and then calls it a day. The windows side windows have been replaced by little plastic sliding cat flaps, the glass that covered the roof and engine bay have both been replaced with carbon fiber, and the exhaust system has been re-worked, leaving you with over 110 pounds less car than in the road-going model.
And it's got an extra 10% of downforce, too, thanks to some aerodynamic flaps up front and that enormous table McLaren is calling a wing out back. I could now go on and on and regale you with tales about how the wing can change its pitch from 32 degrees to 0 at the push of a steering wheel button, but who cares about that? What I'm really in love with are those angular, almost angry supports the wing sits on, way out back. The symmetry of those with inconel-and-titanium-alloy exhaust pipes sitting in the middle would make Sol LeWitt weep for joy.
At this point you're probably wondering where you've seen that oddly cohesive yellow-and-green paintwork before, what with its one big fat stripe down the middle and two little pinstripes flanking it. That's because this livery, among the many of which will be available to whoever wants one, is an homage to McLaren F1 GTR #06R, which finished on the podium at Le Mans back in 1995. And sure, you can go ahead and moan about "retro liveries," but this is really a gorgeous one.
Any one of the lucky few who manages to plunk down as-near-as-makes-no-difference to all the cash in the world will be inducted into McLaren's Driver Training Program, which includes a few simulator rides and then your car and a garage at one of six Formula One-approved tracks around the world.
But if you do have the cash, I do have only one question. Why haven't you picked up the phone yet and ordered one?
Because with the McLaren P1 GTR, there are no excuses. Unless, you're Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari FXX K, of course.