Lanzante Project 95-59 three-seater could be a modern-day McLaren F1

Lanzante brought home the win at Le Mans 24 Hours in 1995 with the glorious McLaren F1 GTR and now the Petersfield-based company is making its own hypercar called the Project 95-59. 

That name refers to Lanzante’s Le Mans-winning racer: specifically the race number 59 it bore, plus the year in which Lanzante won the famous event. Lanzante, whose base is home to one of McLaren’s road car dealers, says it will honour its Le Mans legacy with its “most ambitious project to date”. That should be some going, especially when you consider Lanzante’s F1-powered Porsche 911 TAG Turbo of 2024. 

Details on Lanzante’s project are slim, though the Hampshire firm says it’ll be a “limited-run, bespoke-engineered model based on a McLaren platform”. Which platform exactly has yet to be revealed though we know it’ll be a three-seat layout with the driver at the “centre of the action” according to Lanzante. With this in mind, the Project 95-59 could potentially utilise a similar carbon tub chassis as the three-seat McLaren Speedtail. 

Whatever the platform, the Project 95-59 will be quick. Lanzante is targeting 700bhp per tonne - which is almost a match for the Speedtail itself. McLaren’s twin-turbocharged V8 engine seems the most likely candidate to power the Project 95-59, potentially with some fettling from Cosworth, given that the legendary engine builder and Lanzante have collaborated previously. 

A teaser sketch has been revealed alongside the Project 95-59’s announcement with Paul Howse named as the designer. Howse has the likes of the McLaren P1 in his back catalogue, along with involvements in the 720S and Artura. For Lanzante, Howse even chopped the roof off the P1 to create the Lanzante P1 Spider. 

The Project 95-59 will utilise a huge canopy-style glass-house with a simple front-end design and clear segmented panelling - all quite familiar to fans of the P1’s shape. We’ll get a better look at Lanzante’s new hypercar when it’s unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer. 

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