Rare McLaren P1 Spyder by Lanzante to Appear at Goodwood Festival of Speed
McLaren has never built a roofless P1, but several, five in total, exist, one of which made an appearance last week in England at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The five roofless P1 hypercars, known as the P1 Spyder, were built by the British company that has a McLaren F1 GTR, the overall winner of the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in recent years has offered road car conversions of circuit cars, including McLaren's P1 GTR It is the work of Lansante, a motorsports engineering firm.
Lasante's P1 Spyder made its official debut at last year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, and at this year's event it was shown racing up the famous hill climb.
Called the Monocage, the P1's carbon fiber center tub is not designed for roofless use, unlike the monocell design used on McLaren's other supercars. The monocage not only improves rigidity, but also directs air to the engine through the integrated roof snorkel and intake ducts, further reducing weight. In short, making the P1 a roofless car was a real challenge.
To ensure that the car's performance would not be compromised by removing the roof, Lasante brought in Paul Howes, who worked on the P1, to oversee the P1 Spyder project. The new buttresses have air intakes to feed air to the turbochargers; the P1 Spyder also has modified front fenders, doors, and engine covers, and a redesigned lower chassis to maintain structural rigidity without the roof.
The P1 Spyder has a manually removable roof panel instead of a retractable roof. To protect the interior, Lasante reupholstered everything in UV-cut leather and super fabric, with satin carbon fiber trim and gloss black switchgear.
The powertrain remains unchanged from the stock P1. A twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V-8 engine and electric motor produce a combined 903 hp. Lanzante has not released performance figures for the Spyder, but McLaren has announced a 0-62 mph time of 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph for the coupe when new.
The P1 Spider is the latest in Lanzante's P1 derivatives. Prior to this, Lansante presented the P1 LM, P1 GT Longtail, and P1 GTR-18, all based on the P1 GTR.
