McLaren X-1 one-off supercar

McLaren has unveiled the X-1 supercar built for an anonymous client who already owns a trio of the brand’s finest efforts, but hankered after something unique.

Presented at The Quail -- an exclusive highlight of this weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, US – the X-1 is the work of McLaren Special Operations, the bespoke division of McLaren Automotive.

“One of our clients who already owned a McLaren F1, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and now a 12C, wanted a unique car,” MSO program director, Paul MacKenzie said in a statement.

“The conversation began with our executive chairman Ron Dennis almost three years ago − before the 12C was even launched. The client wanted a machine that had all the capability of the 12C but wrapped in a unique body that reflected his needs and personality.”

A three-hour initial meeting with the client led to the assembling of hundreds of images from which he would choose inspirations for the spirit of the design.Inspirational cars included a 1961 Facel Vega, a 1953 Chrysler D’Elegance Ghia, a 1959 Buick Electra, a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K and a 1971 Citroën SM, McLaren says.

But they also looked outside the automotive world to architecture and objects: Guggenheim musuems, an art deco clock, an Airstream trailer, a Montblanc pen, a grand piano, a photo of Audrey Hepburn – and an eggplant.

“The client liked the shiny texture of the finish,” design director Frank Stephenson said of the vegetable. He said the client was looking for “timeless and classical elegance” and also wanted a competition between McLaren’s designers and external ones, even looking outside the car world.

McLaren’s Korean-born RCA graduate Hong Yeo’s design was eventually the one chosen and developed under Stephenson’s eye with months of sketching and modelling to instil the ‘timeless and classic elegance’ generally associated with front-engined cars into mid-engined one.

The design took 18 months to sign off, and there was no resorting to the shortcuts of digital modelling. “The client insisted on seeing ‘real’ models,” Stephenson said. ‘The client was very clear in his own mind what he wanted. But the only styling feature prescribed were metal brightwork rails running from the nose, over the shoulderline and hips, to the rear of the greenhouse.’

In the words of Hong Yeo: ‘X-1 embodies the McLaren value that every part has to have a purpose.  No details are simply visual cues, every one has a purpose.  Although I like to think the wide body combined with pontoon style rear fenders will ensure the car glides when it’s moving just like a superhero’s cape...’

It took two and a half years to build the road-legal McLaren X-1, which uses the company’s carbon MonoCell and the glasshouse from the 12C, but with everything else bespoke-built – from the unique body to the lights and wheels, meaning a lot of new testing and homologation.

The carbon-fibre body panels are lacquered in piano black, while brightwork – including the McLaren logo, over-the-shoulder rails, ‘eyebrows’ over the headlights, and the rear wing – is tooled from solid aluminium and finished in nickel.

Diamond-turned wheels have been given a tinted lacquer to complement the brightwork, with the rear ones enclosed and accessed by carbon panels using what Stephenson described as “the most gorgeous hinges you’ve ever seen”.

The X-1 is longer and wider than a 12C, but maintains the low height and the extensive use of carbon fibre means it is also similar weight at about 1400kg. While the X-1’s doors are bespoke, they follow the 12C’s twin-hinged dihedral action. The interior is kitted out in Harissa Red McLaren Nappa leather and carbon with a titanium weave.

The one-off supercar shares the same mechanics as the 12C, including the 460kW/601Nm 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox called the ‘seamless shift’, which includes a pre-cog system that allows the driver to preselect the next gear with a light tap of the F1-style paddleshifters.

McLaren hasn’t released any details on the X-1’s performance, but with the client already having a 12C in his garage, you can speculate he wouldn’t want to sacrifice much on its 0-100km/h time of 3.1 seconds or top speed of 330km/h.