This car should not be confused with a normal P1. Only 14 ‘Experimental Prototypes’ were ever produced, they represent the earliest chapters of the McLaren P1 story, each with a colourful history that recounts setting lap times on the world’s toughest circuits, sliding over frozen Arctic lakes, and enduring some of Earth’s hottest temperatures in Death Valley. These are the cars, too, that told the world a new kind of supercar was coming: the McLaren P1 that Jenson Button drove at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the prototype that gave Jay Leno his first taste of a hybrid supercar, the production car that wowed crowds on its world debut at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show. Many of the XP cars didn’t survive as were used for crash testing, however this particular car was utilised for the gearbox and Bosch injection development, then later used as the GTR show car at the Geneva and New York motor shows. Because prototypes are subjected to such demanding test schedules and because specifications are fine-tuned throughout the development process, the XP cars that survived including XP05 were stripped back to its carbon fibre Monocage and rebuilt to the same specification as the final production cars but sold by McLaren at a much higher level than the standard production run cars. So while the chassis of each prototype bears testament to its pivotal role in the development of the McLaren P1, every other component, from the body panels to the engine, has been assessed, replaced where necessary, and reassembled to McLaren’s world-class standards. The previous owner of XP05 chose to have the car finished in the historic McLaren Orange and fitted with a host of special order MSO options. It is still complete with its dedicated build book which includes all the testing notes from its time as a development car, its scale model, original handbooks and spare key plus a documented history file from new. This really is a P1 for the collector, a car that has been part of its own development.