Somewhere in Woking there’s a dream
factory for McLaren owners; a place where your wildest upgrade fantasies come
true. Join us inside…
A rebuild, RE-TRIM AND
service for your recently acquired 386kph F1 supercar? Or new comfort orientated
suspension and a lightweight exhaust for the Mercedes SLR that’s also in the
garage? How about a run of five bespoke high performance 12Cs for you and four
friends? Maybe a multi-million pound one off inspired by Audrey Hepburn and aubergines?
Perhaps it’s just some contrasting interior stitching when the computer says
‘No’ on McLaren’s car configurator? Whatever it is literally, whatever – you
need McLaren Special Operations, a tiny team dedicated to creating specially
tailored MP4-12Cs, and maintaining, updating and personalizing the SLR and
iconic F1. Join us for a sneaky tour…
Inside
McLaren’s secret skunk works
We try not to say no,’ explains McLaren
Special Operations boss Paul Mackenzie as we look down on a pristine workshop
packed with 12Cs, F1s and SLRs. ‘One of the things we talked about right up
front is that we can’t be the style police. We realize every region is
different, every culture is different in its tastes, and every customer is
different. Is there a limit? We haven’t reached that limit.’
Don’t agree? Doesn’t matter. MSO’s most
famous creation is the X-1, a unique 12C-based supercar-cum- sculpture unveiled
earlier this year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance, and built at great
expense – we hear upwards of R30m for a McLaren customer with a 12C, F1 and SLR
already in his ample collection. Public approval hasn’t exactly been universal,
but whether you, I or the world like it is beside the point. The X-1 was born
from a private conversation with McLaren chairman Ron Dennis. The anonymous
owner personally briefed design director Frank Stephenson. His preferred
designer, McLaren and an external design house all submitted competing
proposals; 30% and full size scale models were built before the project was
signed off; and throughout he was kept up to date with live styling reviews via
the 101-inch plasma screen in his office. Short of starting your own car
company, it’s MCLAREN F1 ‘It’s the most customized F1 in the modern day,’ says
sales boss Marcus Korbach as immersed as you can get.
Some
F1 parts are becoming increasingly rare: the magnesium wheels are on long lead
times, Michelin has to build special batches of tires, and sourcing the unique
windscreen (it uses the same demisting tech as '90s fighter jets) is MSO's
latest headache. Original FIA-spec "bag" tank can't handle the
ethanol in modern fuel, so a new one has been developed. "It's a very
important part of our heritage and we're committed to keeping the car on the
road," says Mackenzie
Another customer – together with four
friends commissioned MSO to build five MP4-12C HS models with revised,
higher-down force bodywork (a circa 40% increase) and was intimately involved
with the dynamic set-up. ‘If the project is big enough, and it certainly was
with HS (and X-1), we allow the customer to really come and be part of the
team,’ says Mackenzie. ‘With the HS we invited the client over to
Bruntingthorpe [McLaren’s test track] and together with our chief test driver
Chris Goodwin, he was part of the final sign-off process.’
Only two exist. Not everyone is quite so
lavish, but they’re not paying a pittance to tailor their cars either. ‘The
average is around £6000 (approx. R84k),’ reveals McLaren’s head of sales Marcus
Korbach. ‘But that’s constantly growing as our options grow.’ At the start of
2012 MSO set an internal target to ‘touch’ 10% of all 12Cs produced; it’s
already at 25%, and seeing more and more cars with a spend of 75$k (R700k) or
more.
MCLAREN
12C Singapore Edition, unveiled at the 2012 GP
But if 12C customers want customization,
the F1 clientele want originality. MSO evolved from McLaren’s Customer Care
team, a department set up in the late ’90s to look after F1 road cars as
production came to an end. ‘Because communication about MSO has grown, we’re
now starting to see F1s that have been lost for a long time,’ explains Korbach.
‘We now know where all 64 are, we have direct contact with 61, and we look
after around 50 of them through MSO and our global service centers [there’s one
in Germany, one in Japan, and two in the USA]. And when an F1 changes hands, it
tends to come back to us, almost like the customer goes through the ordering
process again. He specs his F1, and we hand over his brand new car.’
On one hand the F1 is a relatively simple car
to work on, the lack of airbags meaning re-trims and rebuilds aren’t a colossal
headache. But modern computers won’t communicate with the F1’s two-decade-old
electronic system, so senior technician Pani Tsouris digs out one of MSO’s
three prized antique laptops. I’m half expecting him to wheel over a whole
cupboard full of early Amstrad, but it’s actually no bigger than my MacBook.
They picked it up on eBay for $6K (R56k).
Inside
McLaren’s secret skunkworks
And because MSO’s 34-strong team isn’t busy
enough, it also works on the SLR that McLaren built and co- developed with
Mercedes. ‘Throughout production of the SLR we realized there were a few areas
we could optimize,’ says Korbach. ‘We felt we could make the SLR more
comfortable but not lose any performance so we developed the suspension and
handling. And we carried on developing everything else…’
It’s quite a remit and not one that takes
place behind the ultra-modern glass walls of the McLaren Technology Centre, but
rather behind the bland brick walls of an industrial estate on the other side
of Woking. Heavily modified retro VWs and American muscle cars fill the car
park, the GT racing department has just moved in next door, and Mackenzie is
also in charge of the new F1-succeeding P1 supercar program. The dream factory
is open.
Maddest McLaren ever
If there is a limit, surely this is it?
This is the x-1, McLaren Special
Operations’ showcase, a three-year project started by an F1 owner and Ron
Dennis before the 12C was even on sale. The carbon fiber MonoCell tub is
pinched from the 12C but means every panel can be unique, the rear wheels are
enclosed, MSO engineered a staggeringly costly set of headlamps and taillights
for it, and it’s got full Euro type approval.
McLaren
X-1: street legal in Europe
‘We took the car to Spain and did
durability testing, rough-roads trials, heat and aerodynamics work, just to
make sure it ticked all the boxes,’ says Mackenzie. ‘Then we came back,
stripped it down, made sure everything was perfect, and built it back up. We
were very conscious we were delivering a McLaren, so it has to deliver on the
McLaren brand. We don’t cut corners.’
Can MSO’s cars get any more extreme? ‘You
can decide if you want your car to be road legal,’ says Korbach. ‘But if you
don’t need road homologation, that opens another whole door of possibilities…’
