The Goodwood Festival of Speed is just around the corner, which means plenty of big car debuts to look forward to. One of the big ones is set to be a new three-seater hypercar from McLaren specialist Lanzante, the first car to wear the company’s badges as a standalone manufacturer.
Ahead of that debut, Lanzante’s given us a glimpse at the back end of the car, following on from the design sketch it released earlier this year. We still don’t have a whole lot to go on, but we can see a big lozenge-shaped single exhaust, a reasonably subtle rear spoiler that looks like it could be active, a C-shaped tail light and a sizeable diffuser.
Lanzante 95-59 teaser
We also know the car’s name. After it was announced under the working title ‘Project 95-59’, Lanzante has confirmed it’ll be called… the 95-59. That’s a reference to the Lanzante-run McLaren F1 GTR that beat the odds to take an outright win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 30 years ago this year – it won in the year 1995, and wore race number 59. Geddit? This reveal comes just a few days after McLaren itself unveiled its contender for a top-flight return to Le Mans in 2027.
Lanzante plans to build just 59 cars (it was going to be that or 95, right?). Much like the F1 – and indeed the GMA T.50, F1 designer Gordon Murray’s modern reinterpretation of it – the 95-59 will have a three-seater layout, with the driver quite literally front and centre.
1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 - front
It’ll be based on unspecified McLaren underpinnings, so while we don’t know for sure, there’s a good chance it’ll use a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Lanzante is targeting a 700bhp per tonne power-to-weight ratio, which sounds lively. Then again, Macca’s own new hypercar, the W1, manages 899bhp per tonne. Like the roadgoing F1, long-distance credentials have been considered, with ‘luggage space’ touted as one of 95-59’s features.
It’s been styled by car designer Paul Howse, who’s worked on McLarens including the P1, 750S and Artura, and while we don’t have any idea what it’ll look like beyond the sketch you see above, it’s apparently already been shown to some prospective VIP customers.
1995 Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 - side
NVIPs (not very important people) like us, meanwhile, will see Project 95-59 in full at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 10 July. Fingers crossed that it features prominent sponsorship from a Tokyo-based clinic that specialises in, erm… bodily enhancements.
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