Did McLaren’s Former Design Boss Just Make The P1 Better Or Worse?

Frank Stephenson headed the team who created the P1 over a decade ago and revisits it for a one-off project with YouTuber Tavarish

                                        https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                    

When you start modifying supercar royalty like the McLaren P1, there’s always a risk that no matter how much faster you’ve make it, you might also lose some of the authenticity and credibility that made the OEM machine so great. But one neat and every exclusive workaround is to get the man who created the car in first place to dream up the build.

Frank Stephenson was McLaren’s design boss in the early 2010s when the P1 (actually designed by someone else on his team) made its debut, and this year he returns to one of his most famous creations through a collaboration with YouTuber Freddy ‘Tavarish’ Hernandez.

Also: McLaren’s New Hypercar Comes With A Pit Crew And A Passport

Florida-based Tavarish’s P1 build seems to have been going on forever – his pal, fellow YouTuber Mat Armstrong must have rebuilt over a dozen crashed supercars in the two-plus years he’s had it. But in case you’ve not seen his videos, Tavarish’s P1 is the infamous yellow car ruined by Hurricane Ian in Florida in 2022.

Frankstephenson Design says the project is only at its early stages and will get properly underway this summer and move to road-based testing in 2026. But the company has released some renders showing how the car could look, revealing a massive dorsal fin like the ones seen on Le Mans prototypes and incorporating a roof snorkel.

The bodywork’s exposed carbon bodywork is tinted plum red, and though initially it looks like little changed, it features modifications to almost every surface. The spine on the frunk lid is slimmer, there are new vents on the front fenders, reshaped door coves and a new look to the rear, plus turbine wheels with flush aero covers. But the updates are so cleverly executed they manage not to ruin the identity of the original design, though they won’t be to all tastes.

Frank Stephenson left McLaren in 2017 and you might have seen his own popular YouTube design series, or come across his Babyarc child car seat or Atmo supercomputer in the years since. But the Moroccan-born creator wants to get fully back into the car space and hopes this P1 Evo project will shine the spotlight on what Frankstephenson Design could do for other clients, whether they’re looking for one-off builds or OEMs needing a design partner and someone to handle low-volume production.

Stephenson isn’t the only well-known car designer who has been tempted to go back to one of his earlier projects to see if it can be improved. Ex-Jag man Ian Callum reworked the late 1990s Vanquish he originally created for Aston Martin, and more recently had a second crack at his Jaguar C-X75 supercar. And if Stephenson fancies revisiting more of his past masters, he’s got plenty to choose from, including the 2001 BMW Mini and 2004 Ferrari F430.

Frankstephenson Design