Following McLaren’s 720S-based celebrations for the 25th anniversary of its first Le Mans win, Lanzante – the British firm that operated the F1 GTR on that famous 1995 weekend – has announced its own tribute with the planned creation of seven ‘LM 25’ cars. Details are scarce at this stage – we’re only given a few words on an Instagram post – but Lanzante has a habit of using McLaren’s most extreme cars for its creations, the last example being the incredible P1 LM launched in 2016.
It was exactly 25 years ago to this day that the Lanzante-run number 59 F1 GTR not only took GT1 class honours but also the overall Le Mans win. Quite the accolade, not least because it meant the Hampshire-based squad – then a veteran of the vintage racing scene – exploded onto the global stage. It’s since turned into a producer of numerous ultra-exotic creations, mostly based on McLaren’s latest supercars. The prototype P1 LM famously set a road car lap record at the Nurburgring of 6 mins 43.2 secs back in 2017 with Kenny Brack driving, beating NIO’s electric EP9 by 2.7 secs.
The most likely contender for the Lanzante treatment this time around is arguably the Senna - a car McLaren itself built to prioritise lap times beyond all other considerations. That makes the prospect of the LM 25 eye-opening: out of the box, the Senna produces 611hp per tonne and generates 800kg of downforce. When you consider that Lanzante’s work has previously meant ramping up virtually all parameters, a higher horsepower, aerodynamically enhanced, even lower mass version is likely to be quite the thing. With a stratospheric price tag to match, no doubt.
Whatever the outcome, consider our interest piqued. The firm has already demonstrated the lengths it is prepared to go to with recent projects – it created the Formula 1 turbo TAG-powered 930 Porsche 911 last year, don’t forget – and with the GTR’s story not just linked to but entirely enabled by Lanzante’s former work, the expectation bar for LM 25 is doubly high. We’re on the case for more info; you’ll be the first to know when we get some.
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