McLaren GT We visit the ultimate car configurator

McLAREN GT

We find out where customers go to make their McLaren even more exclusive

MILEAGE 3008

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a mid-engined supercar really can work as a commuting grand tourer

f you’ve been following

Ithe McLaren GT reports on these pages, you will probably have noticed the paintwork. It’s from McLaren’s Elite paint range, specifically the Belize Blue colour. And at £4000, it certainly ain’t cheap.

Although, as an aside, if you were to compare the percentage of its cost against the value of the car (2.45% in the GT) versus Oryx White mother of pearl paint on the Volkswagen Golf (4.52%), it’s actually not bad value.

The quality of it is a thing of beauty. TVRs were famed for having the most incredible paint quality (it was probably their most reliable feature), and with modern spray-booth techniques, a lot of manufacturers are now turning out equally impressive finishes. LOVE IT

FULLY LITERATE… The sat-nav displays the wording on motorway road signs with surprising accuracy. LOATHE IT

…BUT DIM-WITTED Sometimes the memory seat’s reset function fails to kick in when you shut the door. You can have a car painted any colour at MSO – black included

Precision painting technology promises even more.

But there are still artisans out there, and that’s where McLaren Special Operations (MSO) comes in. You will have seen their work before, on some of the more outlandish special editions that have emerged from Woking (the 720S Spider at the 2019 Geneva motor show springs to mind), but they’re also the people who customers go to when they want something bespoke on their supercar.

These things stem all the way from the 15 unique examples of the US-only Sabre (based on the Senna but heavily reworked) right down to if you want your key painted to match the colour of your favourite cat. If you so desire, you can even spend nearly £50,000 on a TPT gold badge for your car.

Some of the detail paintwork, applied entirely by hand, is simply breathtaking – and more impressive than most other modern art.

Wandering round the MSO workshop, housed in a nondescript industrial estate in Woking, is like living all your supercar dreams at once. The day we went in, there was a McLaren F1 GT road car parked up behind another F1 with, cool of cools, flat white paint. Elvas and Sennas were dotted around like Ford Fiestas.

Our GT isn’t on that level. But you can still get MSO treatment on the model, even though it is McLaren’s entry-level offering.

Neil Underwood, MSO’s global bespoke commissions manager, and Graham Chambers, its business relationship manager, are our guides, walking us through the process of speccing our car. There’s a wall of paint samples with every conceivable shade, but customers can choose completely bespoke finishes as well. Leather is equally customisable.

The really clever bit is the computer software that MSO runs, computer software that MSO runs, allowing the team to spec the car in allowing the team to spec the car in real time and to the level of detail real time and to the level of detail that far exceeds run-of-the-mill car that far exceeds run-of-the-mill car configurators. You can even zoom configurators. You can even zoom in to see the ‘fleck’ in the paint. in to see the ‘fleck’ in the paint.

Apparently, a lot of customers ask “who else has done this in ask “who else has done this in my country?”, showing how my country?”, showing how important customisation important customisation is at this level of wealth. is at this level of wealth.

For ‘my’ GT, I’m happy to stick with what I would like, so we end with what I would like, so we end up going with Chicane Effect paint up going with Chicane Effect paint with Papaya Spark accents, the with Papaya Spark accents, the Black Pack, orange brake calipers Black Pack, orange brake calipers with black text and diamond-cut with black text and diamond-cut 10-spoke alloy wheels. Inside, there’s more hints of orange with the Vision Orange piping on the seats.

At a punchy £9960, it’s an MSO bespoke paint, but if the client goes for an even more way-out colour, they will be sent a sample, just to make sure they’re happy.

And the best bit about all this? With additional MSO kit on your McLaren, it will depreciate less. I told you the paint was good value. PIERS WARD

TEST DATA

M cLAREN GT Price £163,000 Price as tested £172,170 Faults None Expenses Winter tyres £2556 Economy 22.3mpg Last seen 23.3.22