This is it: Lanzante reveals its three-seat, £1.2m, 850bhp+ 95-59 supercar

This is the Lanzante 95-59, a lightweight V8 supercar developed and built to a) celebrate the company’s Le Mans win 30 years ago, but more importantly b) make you giddy with joy because you get to sit in the middle.

That’s right, this one’s a three-seater, just like the original McLaren F1. And now the GMA T.50. And McLaren Speedtail. And… well, precious little else that’ll compare. Speaking of McLaren, Lanzante has spun this 95-59 off a re-engineered version of a “current McLaren platform”.

There’s certainly no mistaking the visual identity, but we’ll come back to that. First, let’s talk power. At the 95-59’s ‘Ueno Grey’ heart sits a slightly tweaked version of McLaren’s familiar, robust and really rather energetic 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, here producing upwards of 850bhp and 650lb ft.

That’s bolted into the middle of the car, along with a seven-speed dual-clutch ‘SSG’ gearbox, sending those 850 horsies and 650 torques on their merry way to the rear wheels.

Lanzante hasn’t yet provided any performance stats, but consider the target weight for the 95-59 is just 1,250kg. The Goodwood-bound “styling concept” pictured here gets the ‘LM30’ pack – forged aluminium wheels, Inconel exhaust headers, titanium pipes and body fixings, gold-plated heat shielding like the F1, that sort of thing – which sheds a further 20kgs. Lightweight story short: it’ll be rapid.

Not least because that body is clad entirely in carbon fibre, styled by one Mr Paul Howse. He’s the chap who did the McLaren P1 and 720S, so knows his way around Woking. Naturally everything grew out of the three-seat design and aero, with a “two-layered” exterior design serving the latter.

Lanzante said the “lower, visual carbon fibre surfaces” tell the “aerodynamic story, creating downforce and ejecting high pressure from the front wheel well”, while the “aerodynamically efficient surfaces are then tightly wrapped over the top”.

It’s certainly a smooth, flowing and stunning bit of design, with added menace via the sculpted rear deck with that monster diffuser and central exhaust, which took inspiration from “the brutalist organic forms of the fifth generation F22 fighter jet”.

Dihedral doors open into that three-seat cockpit – a (literal) central focus right from the outset. The driver sits low, in front of a relocated steering column and wheel, and ahead of a pair of passenger seats mounted a little lower and intergrated into the chassis.

There are glass roof panels to stream in some light, a “clean design” with functional switch packs relocated for easier entry and exit, and – just like a fighter jet – switches on the roof pod. Very cool. Lanzante hasn’t provided any interior pics just yet, so you’ll just have to believe us.

Oh right, the name: Lanzante won the 1995 Le Mans 24hrs campaigning a McLaren F1 numbered #59, and that, said big boss Dean Lanzante, is where the journey to this new 95-59 started. “The original brief of ‘Project 95-59’ was to create something accessible and useable, for drivers,” he said.

“Three seats, luggage space, enhanced range; something drivers could, and wanted, to use. We wanted to deliver the same enjoyment and passion of buying and owning a classic car but in a contemporary way. Full focus on what the driver needs and wants, with a blend of modern technologies but pared back to maintain driver focus.”

It’ll be focused alright – Lanzante is building just 59 of these things, each costing £1,020,000 a pop + tax. So you’re looking at £1.2m to make you giddy with joy.