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The Story Behind McLaren's Limited Edition High-Performance Carbon Car

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This article is more than 7 years old.

A car sits silently before me, wrapped in carbon fiber. The lightweight, tough material is woven into an intricate pattern and fitted perfectly to hug its toned muscular body. The weave is flawless - the pattern mirroring at every seam - much like a tailored Savile Row suite.

Only 25 of this McLaren MSO Carbon Series LT vehicle have been created by the marque’s bespoke arm, McLaren Special Operations. The last car has already been sold to an anonymous buyer at an undisclosed price and will soon leave these UK headquarters for some far away destination. The technician starts the engine and in an instance the Carbon Series LT pulsates with life. It is a pretty dramatic sight.

Inspired by the carbon P1 shown at the Geneva Motor Show last year, this car boasts some 40% more carbon fiber than the 675LT Spider it is based on. “If this car was painted in, say, orange,” says James Banks motioning to the Carbon Series LT, “it wouldn’t have the same impact. The carbon fiber on the body and chassis expresses what the vehicle is about,” offers the head of bespoke at MSO. In other words, the visual carbon articulates the car’s nimble weight and high performance - values that go to the heart of the McLaren Automotive brand.

This kind of intricate carbon tailoring requires a very specific set of skills and demands many man hours, which is why the visual carbon cars are made in small batches and sold at high prices. “This is all made by hand,” continues Banks. “A technician would use his skills to chase the carbon into the mold, then align the pattern. It is an intricate and skilled job and the process is very, very slow.”

He tells me there are several hundred hours of manual labor invested in this one car’s carbon fiber wrap alone. Customers are always invited to come and see the production process here. Few do, it seems, which is a bit of pity given that the process makes up much of the narrative. It is exciting to see such a technical material treated in such a delicate way.

For McLaren form follows function in its most sincere sense and function for the marque is to be light in weight and offer the highest performance. Design here is therefore very much about visually expressing this, explains Jo Lewis, senior color and materials designer. “All materials have to justify their place in our products. It is about design truth - the look and feel must match the purpose,” she says, stressing, “it has to be authentic.”

Carbon has many benefits for automotive applications. It is an incredibly thin, uniquely engineered material and the strength to weight ratio is extremely high. With some of the more intricate twill weaves - that create a surface of diagonal parallel ridges - you can lose a little on performance, but they are meant to be more of an aesthetic design. “Every time a fiber goes under you are losing some of the strength,” explains Banks, a qualified composite engineer. For interior applications, you have more flexibility with the weave, whereas with areas where performance is key, the exterior and chassis for instance, the carbon weave needs to be stronger.

Lewis guides me through the process whereby the raw carbon textile is molded with resin to create rigid structures for automotive application. The resin is added at an optimum amount to make it both as strong and lightweight as possible. Then once impregnated it can be finished in a full gloss, satin or matte clear-coat lacquer along with color tinted clear coats. Additional fibers can also be interwoven into the carbon structure – anything from gold to platinum, titanium and other precious metals to create a unique aesthetic.

In terms of design, Lewis is fascinated by the technicality of the material, especially when she can be set free to be experimental. She says she became interested in complex materials and excited by process whilst studying textile design at college, then briefly working in the fashion industry.

“Carbon is a functional art,” she beams. “It can be aggressive, performance-focused, purposeful, convey a quality perception and honesty. It is an extremely permissive material and it enables design freedom by allowing the processing of more complex and curved shapes.” She notes that the more layers of the material will make for stiffer carbon, whereas thinner layers allow more plasticity so in combination they can optimize areas of function where required.

Here carbon is woven using a large, production-size loom. The most common and optimum is the two-by-two twill weave that results in a herringbone structure. In terms of functionality, Lewis says, it can help to provide “symmetry to an exterior form when the diagonal weave is cut and re-joined down the center of the car-line in the herringbone formation”. We are therefore more likely to see this weave on exterior body panels.

She explains: “You can change the construction of the twill - the bigger the twill means it’s less flexible - depending on what component you’re wrapping in carbon. You would typically specify the twill accordingly and you can even put the function in the right areas,” she says, “and because it is a woven textile, you can weave it in whatever form you like.”

Lewis pulls out an exquisite woven carbon fiber sample from her portfolio, noting that it is "top-secret" as I promptly put my camera away. It is for the interior of the much-anticipated Ultimate hyper-GT, the high-powered, hybrid three-seater inspired by the original McLaren F1 and offered in limited numbers in 2019.

“This is the epitome of carbon,” Lewis says visibly delighted at the prospect of working with it. “I suppose it is more like a design aesthetic,” she admits, since the carbon design isn’t adding to the car’s function. On reflection, she adds, “it is an aggressive, purposeful looking material that will add to that higher perception.”

These are highly bespoke cars and only 106 units are being created by MSO. The weave can be specified to match the customer’s favorite tailored suits and McLaren can make cases and car luggage to fit the weave. “This kind of ultimate carbon works well with our very bespoke cars.”

But is the demand for visual carbon growing, I ask? Banks is confident that when the hyper-GT hits the market his MSO division will see an increase for customers wanting to bespoke and tailor the weave of their exposed carbon.

“A few years ago we did a completely unique bespoke car called X1. The gentleman had asked us to develop a new carbon for the interior with a titanium metal. You can do pretty much anything as long as it is made of a yarn, thread, fiber. It may add weight, but at the end of the day it is about the aesthetics.”

He draws parallels with intricate tailoring. “Ultimately carbon fiber is all about warp and weft. Like any fine material today it is about how it is woven, so you can end up with these beautiful twills. I always thought it is a material that is about to go out of fashion," he smile, "but people love it for its technical capability and simple beauty.”

As the story of luxury evolves to mean so much more than the price of an object, as it increasingly has become more about originality, rarity, skills, craft and crucially storytelling, the narrative of the car takes center stage. McLaren and carbon fiber share an intimate story, the material, offers Lewis, is thus “integral to our DNA”.

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