The car was built with a very special brief:
‘One of our clients who already owned a McLaren F1, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and now a 12C, wanted a unique car,’ says MSO Programme Director, Paul MacKenzie. ‘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.’
X-1: the creation
The X-1 is the most ambitious example yet of MSO’s expertise. It has a whole new body made of advanced materials. Everything is bespoke, even down to the lights and wheels, necessitating new testing and homologation meaning the car took two and a half years to build, a process that began before the styling was signed off.
The X-1 had its own development programme because crucially, this wasn’t to be a fragile concept car that would never see tarmac. It was to be a usable car, road legal and capable of travelling at supercar speeds. It also had to comfortably seat two adults so although the 12C was already as shrink-wrapped as it could be from a packaging perspective, the ingenious flexibility of the MonoCell allowed the creation of a completely different form while maintaining the engineering purity of a McLaren.
A full CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) aerodynamic testing schedule ensured high-speed stability, and the car also completed approximately 625 miles of testing including two intensive testing stints at the Idiada circuit in Spain with chief McLaren test driver, Chris Goodwin. After testing, the whole car was meticulously rebuilt, by hand to concours standard.
McLaren Special Operations:
The bespoke McLaren Special Operations division was launched at Pebble Beach in August last year. It offers a personalisation service that varies from simple trim changes to a whole new car – as showcased by the X-1. ‘We can realise almost anything,’ says MSO Programme Director Paul Mackenzie. ‘The only limit is the size of the customer’s imagination.’
Changes are typically to colour and trim, although Mackenzie is keen to do more mechanical work too. ‘We are not just about styling,’ he notes.
At the beginning of this year, Mackenzie expected 10 percent of all 12C customers to choose some level of personalisation – over and above that offered from the extensive McLaren option list. In fact, the percentage of customisation is currently 15 percent and rising. MacKenzie expects 20 percent of all 12C customers will ask for some degree of personalisation by the end of the year. ‘There is a major trend to individualise premium cars, and we expect the demand to continue to rise,’ he notes.
MSO grew out of McLaren’s Customer Care programme, which goes back 20 years to the days of the McLaren F1 road car. It looked after servicing and maintaining cherished F1s for owners. It also undertook personalisation when cars changed hands: new owners often wanted to put their own marks on their vehicles. Today, MSO continues to service and look after F1 road cars from around the world. It also travels to destinations around the globe, to service and maintain cars.
During the production period of the Mercedes SLR McLaren, the Customer Care department moved into personalising new cars for owners. ‘On the Stirling Moss limited edition version, about a third of all SLRs had an element of bespoke build,’ says Mackenzie. ‘It varied from more visual carbon fibre, to different colours, to retrimmed interiors, to radios – all above and beyond the normal options list.’
MSO was officially founded in August 2011 and encompasses design, project engineering, technicians and purchasing. It also has technical and design access to other companies within the McLaren Group. MSO is headquartered in a dedicated building close to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK.
Currently the most popular areas for personalisation include external visual carbon fibre body panels, carbon fibre exterior trim, carbon rear wings, vented wheel arches and different wheel finishers. Different graphics are also in demand, while bespoke colour schemes are popular. Interior changes typically include different trim and unique upholstery stitching.
‘But it’s certainly not just colour and trim,’ notes Paul Mackenzie. ‘A number of cars have had different front and rear bumpers, which has increased downforce and boosted performance. These cars had to go through full aerodynamic CFD testing before engineering sign-off.’
Adds Mackenzie: ‘We’re here to help the client personalise the car to their precise taste. They typically come to Woking to see us, or talk to their dealer, or we go to see them. We’ll sit down with them, listen to their requests, then come up with a new colour or mechanical components, or – as with X-1 – a new “tailor made” car. Of course we make recommendations but we’re certainly not here to be style police. Every client is different. Our main job is to listen and then to interpret the owner’s requests into a superb car.’
As Mackenzie concludes: ‘This is the first fully client commissioned MSO car, but it certainly won’t be the last. The carbon fibre MonoCell chassis used in the 12C, is not only stiff and light, it allows for great flexibility in body styling and provides an affordable structure from which MSO can develop unique cars, as is demonstrated with X-1.’
Each to there own but I would much rather have an mp4-12c :) the front angle doesn't look tragic but from any other angle it's odd.
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