Lanzante 95-59 celebrates McLaren F1 racer

Limited-run Lanzante 95-59 is a three-seater tribute to the McLaren F1’s on-track success in endurance racing.

If you are a fan of McLarens, or simply a millionaire who wants to drive your race car on the road, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of a company called Lanzante. If you haven’t, let me fill you in. Despite the exotic-sounding name, Lanzante is a British company that, in more recent times, has developed a reputation for making track-only supercars into road-legal ones. 

Its repertoire not only includes GTR conversions on McLaren P1s and Sennas as well as the Pagani Zonda R, but also specialist projects such as producing the Porsche 930 TAG Turbo; you know, the one that McLaren used in the 80s to test its Formula 1 engine. 

So how has such a company come about? It started back in the 1970s when a man named Paul Lanzante started restoring and preparing historic cars, among which included a Mini for a man named George Harrison, yes that George Harrison, who became a friend of Lanzante and is the one responsible for the logo, an image of the Hindu god Ganesha. 

As time went on, Paul’s son joined the company, and they expanded into actually racing cars, not just working on them. In 1995, it ran a team in the BPR Global GT Series, which competed in a McLaren F1. 

Later in the year the team ran a different McLaren F1 at Le Mans, chassis no.19, a road car modified to run as a GTR test car, which went not only went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans but also provided McLaren F1 fans for years to come with one of the most recognisable liveries of all the competition GTRs, it is of course the Ueno Clinic black and grey.

So significant was that car’s achievement that McLaren gave the owner a different F1 and still retains the Ueno car to this day. Thirty years later, Lanzante has decided to commemorate this occasion by building its very own supercar.

Called the Lanzante 95-59, the name may seem odd at first, but it breaks down quite simply: 95 denotes the year of the victory and 59 the number the winning car raced under. The car is based on a McLaren 720S, but redesigned by Paul Howse, and now features a fully carbon body wrapped around a three-seat cabin in homage to the original McLaren F1. 

Lanzante has strived not to compromise any aspect of the build. Not only have designers given thought to ample luggage space with the ambition that owners can tour with their cars, they’ve also ensured it has enough power to move any baggage that may be on board. 

The 4-litre twin-turbo V8 produces over 850bhp and 880Nm, but if combined with the optional LM30 package, which saves a further 20kg, the 95-59 weighs in at 1,250kg, meaning it outputs over 700bhp per tonne. The LM30 option copies the original F1 features, including gold-plated heat shielding around its inconel headers and titanium exhaust. 

It also features a map of the Circuit de la Sarthe embossed in the headrests and an individual chassis plaque. Lanzante has let its motorsport background shine with the 95-59, promising ease of maintenance and servicing, meaning you should see very little downtime in between your three-abreast transcontinental blasts.

Limited to just 59 examples, pricing starts at around €1.38 million. As for colours, you can have any you want, as long as it’s Ueno Grey.