McLaren 650S 'Le Mans' edition launched, features F1-style snorkel
50 examples of ultra-rare car to go on sale
McLaren will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its tenacious win at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans with a bespoke version of the 650S.
Just 50 examples of the 650S ‘Le Mans’ will be built by McLaren Special Operations, each one wearing a price tag of £244,500 – some £50,000 more than the standard car.
The car has been designed in collaboration with the man who styled the F1, Peter Stevens, and pays tribute to the homologated machines that finished first, third, fourth, fifth and thirteen in the race. Those five cars originally inspired the same number of F1 LM road cars that were lower, stiffer (with aluminium bushings, no less) than the standard F1 and featured an interior more closely resembling the cockpit of a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird than a typical supercar.
>Read: McLaren 650S review
This new 650S is neither quite so extreme nor as valuable. The most noticeable alteration to the 650S’s curvaceous bodywork is the addition of a roof snorkel, which mimics the race car’s broad piece. It feeds cool air into a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 that, unmodified from standard, develops 641bhp at 7500rpm and helps propel the car to 100mph in 5.7sec. Top speed is also unchanged at 207mph.
Louvered front wings reduce pressure over the wheels, increasing downforce, and the classic-style lightweight wheels themselves are also new. At 19in at the front and 20in at the rear, they too are inspired by the F1 GTR, while Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres and carbon ceramic brakes are standard.
Less obviously, the carbonfibre air intake blades that help the engine breathe have been extended and they complement a new, MSO-spec rear diffuser. Subtle McLaren orange insignia also adorn the exterior and Alcantara-clad exterior, and all examples will be finished in Sarthe Grey metallic paint.
McLaren’s in-house Special Operations division personalises one in five cars built at Woking. The team has recently had its hands full satisfying the demands of P1 owners, but has previously turned its hand to the 12C and 650S Spider.
First deliveries of the McLaren 650S Le Mans, which Stevens has described as a ‘fantastic homage’ to the F1 GTR’s design, are scheduled for summer.
