McLaren 650S Can-Am honours 50 years since Can-Am debut
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Can-Am season, and McLaren is celebrating with a limited-run 650S modeled after the championship-winning car it fielded in the series.
Built by McLaren Special Operations, the British automaker's bespoke division, the 650S Can-Am pays hommage to the series and the car that won five consecutive Can-Am championships between 1967 and 1971.
The 650S Can-Am is based on the 650S Spider and features a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that makes 641 horsepower and 500 lb.-ft. of torque, helping the car run from 0 to 100 km/h in three seconds on the way to a top speed of 329 km/h.
Added features include black five-spoke forged alloy wheels inspired by the original 1960s Can-Am cars,carbon ceramic brakes, a carbon fibre louvered front wing and a quad-exit, polished stainless steel exhaust system.
Also new to the 650S Can-Am is Mclaren's first application of a retractable carbon fibre hardtop, and a trio of race-inspired colours.
The launch colour, Mars Red, is directly inspired by the M1B car raced by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon in McLaren's debut Can-Am season.
The second colour, Papaya Spark, is a modern take on the Can-Am racing McLaren Orange, and the final option is Onyx Black, which is similar to the base colour used by many of the McLaren customer teams in the later Can-Am seasons.
Each colour is available with a corresponding racing livery.
The 650S Can-Am is limited to 50 examples globally, with a starting price of £255,850—equivalent to about $508,000.
Deliveries are set to begin in the spring of 2016, 50 years after the first Can-Am race at Circuit Mont-Tremblant.