McLaren upgrades - whats the chances ?

[TISPKJ]

Heres one for a bit of debate, whats the chances of McLaren offering a Super series upgrade programme ?

Was looking the other day and in theory nothing to stop a 12c turning into a 650 or even 675, (not sure about P1)

kind of like Pagani did / do on the Zonda albeit the price of those makes the upgrade more viable.

Drive in in a 12c, write out a cheque for x, change a few outer panels, wheels, and maybe an exhaust for the 675 and bobs your uncle

[isaldiri]

If you throw enough money at it, yes you could likely get MSO to turn the 12c into a 650 or a 675 lite. However the price at which they would charge you likely would simply make you buy a 650/675 instead....

[TISPKJ]

Yes I must admit some of there prices are a bit OTT
I asked about the MSO carbon front bumper / air inlet ...... £20k anyone !
How about the carbon roof vent from the 650 Le Mans ....... Circa £50k (needs a complete new roof apparently)

[mikey k]

I suspect some of the pricing is designed to put people off and ensure clear differentiation between models?

[TISPKJ]

Not to have you trousers down when you crash it then ?

[flemke]

12C and 650S have different wiring looms and different cooling requirements. A number of customers have requested having a 650S that from the outside looked like a 12C, and were told that it was not possible (in the conventional sense of the term). One suspects that doing the reverse would be similarly infeasible.

[Hollowpockets]

As they say at MSO anything is possible, but there are so many differences between the 650 and 675 it would be cheaper to buy a real one, if you could get one.

I enquired about having a front only lift kit to save weight, the cost to reprogram the software and plumb it for front only, was prohibitive. It's really not so simple to change a few panels and an exhaust.

[TISPKJ]

flemke said:

12C and 650S have different wiring looms and different cooling requirements. A number of customers have requested having a 650S that from the outside looked like a 12C, and were told that it was not possible (in the conventional sense of the term). One suspects that doing the reverse would be similarly infeasible.

Really ? Fair enough but I really can't think why ...
I was thinking front wings and nose cone, and set of lights and you have a 650 ..... Obviously a lot more complex with 675.

[SELON]

Surely it's only the attempt to keep the models separate that they make the pricing prohibitive. Software changes being too costly re the lift and removing equipment???? Hmmmm that's a difference between "cost" and "price"

As others have said elsewhere, when indies establish themselves there will be plenty of body kits and conversions available. However that's a fair time away...

[flemke]

TISPKJ said:

flemke said:

12C and 650S have different wiring looms and different cooling requirements. A number of customers have requested having a 650S that from the outside looked like a 12C, and were told that it was not possible (in the conventional sense of the term). One suspects that doing the reverse would be similarly infeasible.

Really ? Fair enough but I really can't think why ...
I was thinking front wings and nose cone, and set of lights and you have a 650 ..... Obviously a lot more complex with 675.

I was told that the headlight system (maybe LED or something) on the 650S is different from that on the 12C, and that required a different wiring loom. Therefore to take a 650S and put a 12C front end on it would require extracting the 650S's loom and replacing it with the 12C's, which I presume would entail numerous other adaptations of the electrical system.
Similarly, I was told that between the two cars the cooling/plumbing architecture was different. That also would have to be redone in order to have a 12C body on a 650S chassis.

I did not ask for further details. McLaren Special Operations have done for their clients loads of bespoke jobs, some of them very complex and expensive. They do not normally turn down requests without a solid reason for doing so, nor do they BS long-standing clients. They did not say that it was physically impossible to do a 650S->12C makeover, but rather that they knew without precisely costing it that it would cost a lot more to do than what they would expect a client to pay. Thus "It can't be done (within the bounds of financial sanity)".

[andrew]

aftermarket fibreglass nose, half a dozen crimped connectors, eat your heart out mso