How The Top 1% Of McLaren Customers Spec Their Hypercars

In the lead-up to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, the Wynn Resort threw a spectacular concours on its golf course fairways. Tens of millions of dollars in sheet metal and carbon sparkled under the desert sun, anchored by a stunning array of McLarens, including several P1 GTRs, some Sennas, a duo of windscreen-less Elvas, and even Albert – a Speedtail festooned in a stunning $300,000 paint job.

Much of that glimmering McLaren collection was sold via O’Gara Coach, a high-end dealership based in Beverly Hills, and the "coach" inclusion in the name isn’t merely a throwback to yesteryear. Customers can work directly with O’Gara and manufacturers to spec custom dream machines with unique paint, upholstery, and design options to suit a single individual taste.

O’Gara recently opened an experience center within the Wynn Resort in Vegas, where visitors can try their hand at a racing simulator designed by F1 driver Lando Norris’ brother, buy whatever’s on display (when we visited, a custom green P1 was on offer), and spec an array of McLarens that customers can order directly from the factory in Woking, England.

I took a crack at customizing a new 750S, a fun process that got me curious: What are an actual owner’s considerations when configuring the nigh-unobtanium strata of supercars? Turns out, all you have to do is ask. I walked around the concours lawn with Kevin Hooks – the man who owns an Elva, a Senna, Albert the Speedtail, and one of those street-legal Lanzante P1 LMs – as he explained his choices. I also caught up with Dean Lanzante, the man behind Hooks’ P1 build, and Parris Mullins, the director of motorsport for O’Gara, who has a heavy hand in helping Hooks and other clients bedeck their beauties.

"This is such a cool spec," smiles Hooks, motioning to his steed. "It’s the longest paint job in the history of automotive; it took four months and cost more than $300,000. It took [McLaren] forever because they had to keep redoing the stripes, but the finished effect is wild."

Hooks points to Mullins from O'Gara as leading the design choices for Albert and admits that he didn’t have many guidelines. "I just said make it completely different from anybody else’s