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Road-legal McLaren P1 GTR in the works

When the McLaren F1 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its first try, it was the car run by Lanzante Motorsport that took the victory. The English firm has maintained a two-decade relationship with McLaren, often through work on the F1, and it will now turn its attention to the P1 GTR by making the 986-horsepower track-only supercar road-legal for certain customers. What needs to be done for the conversion, how long it takes, and the specs of the finished product will be determined by where in the world the owner plans to use the car, so Lanzante is taking each order "on a case-by-case basis." But the company has said that the finished product will always maintain its positioning compared to the currently road-legal P1, by being more powerful, faster, and having more aggressive aerodynamics. The first donor car should hit the operating lift later this year. McLaren isn't officially involved in the project, but speculation is that the Woking carmaker and its MSO division will be there to assist in order to make sure all goes well.

A lighter, faster long-tail version of the McLaren 720S is on the way

The latest and greatest from Woking has barely broken cover, but McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt has confirmed to Car and Driver that there will be an even faster LT version sometime in the future. Flewitt said that the 675LT, a variant of the 650S, was so successful that it makes perfect sense to create a follow up. This will be great news for those McLaren enthusiasts that may be tempted to jump ship for the obscenely fast Lamborghini Huracan Performante that debuted in Geneva alongside the 720S. Flewitt said there was a great deal of both internal and external enthusiasm surrounding the 675LT. Expect the new version to be a lot like the 675LT: lighter, sharper, and more powerful, with some mild styling changes but not a completely overhauled design. The twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter in the McLaren already makes 710 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque. Remember, that's just the baseline. A mild bump in output is assured. No word on when the car may debut, but don't look for it anytime soon. McLaren most likely wants to give the 720S a bit of breathing room before it introduces a new model. Flewitt also suggested that an LT version of the 570S isn't off the table. As long as it's lighter, faster, and more powerful, we won't complain. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Car and Driver McLaren Lightweight Vehicles Performance Supercars mclaren 720s mclaren 675lt

McLaren's F1 team will 3D print parts trackside

When McLaren Racing heads to the Bahrain Grand Prix next week, the constructor will take with it something the motorsport has not yet seen trackside: a 3D printer. The Formula One team has confirmed that as an expansion of its partnership with 3D printing specialist Stratasys, it will print "race-ready" parts for the new McLaren MCL32 car in order to quickly integrate design modifications and reduce its weight. The parts include carbon-fiber reinforced nylon material hydraulic line brackets, rubber-like flexible radio cables, brake cooling ducts and rear wing flaps, which help increase the rear downforce on the car during high speeds. In most cases, 3D printing has reduced manufacturing time from weeks to days or even hours, which helps the team during testing and when readying its cars for race days. "We are consistently modifying and improving our Formula 1 car designs, so the ability to test new designs quickly is critical to making the car lighter and more importantly increasing the number of tangible iterations in improved car performance," said Neil Oatley, McLaren Racing's Design and Development Director. "If we can bring new developments to the car one race earlier - going from new idea to new part in only a few days – this will be a key factor in making the McLaren MCL32 more competitive." While the Stratasys uPrint SE Plus will perform important duties on the road, McLaren Racing employs more complex machinery at the McLaren Applied Technologies headquarters in Woking, England. Both fused deposition modelling (FDM) and PolyJet printing technologies are being used for prototyping new car models, production tooling and development of custom parts, which McLaren hopes will translate to faster race times on the track.Matt Brian wrote this article for Engadget.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: EngadgetImage Credit: Mark Thompson / Getty Images Motorsports McLaren Technology Emerging Technologies Racing Vehicles F1