McLaren P1 GTR with special livery to commemorate 40 years since James Hunt’s F1 driver’s championship

The Goodwood Festival of Speed has always had a strong homegrown showing. This year, Woking-based supercar maker McLaren is set to showcase a couple of P1 GTRs. One of them will be decked out in a set of colours inspired by British racing driver James Hunt’s helmet livery; a black base colour with red, yellow and blue stripes from his Wellington College colours.

The special livery is to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Hunt’s F1 title win in 1976, a season fiercely contested with arch rival Niki Lauda; this was a season of epic battles which came to a head when Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring round, at a time when the premier open-wheeler formula was still held at the larger, 22.835 km Norschleife circuit. The location of the incident has since been named the Lauda Kink, where the Austrian racer’s Ferrari came to a fiery end.

Just like other P1 GTRs, the James Hunt-liveried car is based upon the road-going P1, and this particular unit will be driven by the official McLaren P1 GTR Driver Program Mentor, Bruno Senna. Meanwhile, another P1 GTR will be present at this year’s Festival, albeit one given the road-legal preparation by Lanzante. The road-legal unit will be driven by McLaren test driver and 1999 Indy 500 winner Kenny Bräck, who will be aiming to set the quickest time for a road car on the hillclimb route.

The current record was set by Jann Mardenborough in a Nismo GT-R, with a time of 49.27 seconds in 2014. In addition to the headlining track-focused variants of the P1, McLaren will complement the duo with a host of other McLarens, ranging from the company’s historic racers to its most recent road cars, such as the touring-focused 570GT.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will take place this year from June 23-26.

GALLERY: McLaren P1 GTR

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.