Frank Stephenson created a masterpiece when he penned the McLaren P1 in the early 2010s. Now he’s teamed up with Freddy Hernandez, a YouTuber better known as Tavarish, to build on the original design and turn the hypercar into the fastest McLaren in the world.
Hernandez’s YouTube channel is filled with videos showing him and his crew finding wrecked cars and restoring them – or more accurately, restomodding them – as he doesn’t normally restore them to original specification. His P1 project is no exception.
Rebuilding A Flood-Damaged Hypercar
McLaren only built 375 examples of the road-going P1 (there were a couple dozen track versions on top, known as the P1 GTR), and Hernandez’s is number 348. He bought it in a salvage sale after the car was flooded with saltwater during Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in early 2022. The car’s previous owner had just picked it up a week before the hurricane.
Hernandez bought the P1 wreck for $575,000, and two years – and so far 16 videos documenting his frustrations – later, he’s still working on it. It’s safe to say he’s probably bitten off more than he can chew.
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Impressively – or perhaps insanely – Hernandez has also set himself the challenge of making his P1 faster than any other McLaren to date. We assume he means road cars only, but that still means eclipsing the 250 mph reached by a McLaren Speedtail in 2019. We’ll remind you that the stock P1 had its speed limited to 217 mph. To do this, he’s teamed up with Frank Stephenson, the P1’s designer, to evolve the flooded P1’s design and achieve greatness. It’s not often a designer gets to revisit one of their greatest cars and evolve it, so this is some exciting news.
Meet The P1 Evo
To help ensure his P1 can reach those speeds, Hernandez is making a number of key changes. One of those is a new body with aerodynamic characteristics suited to the speeds at which passenger jets normally take off. That’s where Stephenson’s expertise comes in.
Stephenson is a talented designer responsible for icons like the original BMW X5, the modern Mini, and multiple supercars spanning the Ferrari, Maserati, and McLaren brands. He was McLaren’s design chief when the P1 was launched and eventually left the company in 2017 to start his own studio, frankstephenson Design (yes, that’s how the company writes it).
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For Hernandez’s P1 rebuild – now dubbed the P1 Evo – Stephenson has revised almost every body panel, added a large stabilizing fin that connects to a roof-mounted snorkel, and extended the rear with a new element that appears to blend into a huge diffuser with Venturi tunnels. The level of modification, Stephenson said, is an example of what’s possible via a new special projects program at frankstephenson Design. The P1 Evo is just the first project, and more will be revealed in 2025, spanning both two- and four-wheel models.
More Power, Too
The original P1 is powered by a plug-in hybrid setup that combines a twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 with an electric motor integrated into the transmission. However, due to overwhelming damage to this car, Hernandez has swapped the original V8, electric motor, and battery system for a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 from McLaren’s later models, like the 720S.
He’s modifying the engine to produce up to 1,400 horsepower – well above the P1’s stock 903 hp. For this, his engine features upgraded internals, as well as bespoke turbochargers from a Dutch company called Tachyon. It’s the same company that designed the turbochargers for the P1, and it’s created higher-performing versions for the P1 Evo that fit the stock housings.
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Hernandez said he hopes to have the car ready in time for the SEMA Show in November, after which he aims to attempt a top-speed run on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida sometime next year. That’s the same location where McLaren made the Speedtail’s high-speed runs.
Source: frankstephenson Design
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