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McLaren bringing unique P1 MSO to Pebble Beach

With only 375 examples to be made (170 of which have already been completed), you can bet that few of the McLaren P1s to leave the factory in Woking will be the same. But for those looking to further distinguish their supercar, McLaren Special Operations is glad to meet the customer's individual requests, and will be bringing two examples of its latest work to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this year, the same place where MSO was launched three years ago. The most noteworthy is a P1 commissioned by a North American customer who had MSO outfit his hybrid hypercar to unique specifications. It's done up in Stirling Grey metallic with a satin nickel Stealth Pack, gloss carbon fiber and McLaren's trademark shade of orange detailing everything from the brake calipers to the rear wing brackets. The buyer also had MSO install 24-carat gold heat shielding around the engine bay and inconel exhaust, just like the original McLaren F1, a custom aluminum grille and an interior decked out in carbon fiber, Alcantara, a custom steering wheel and more orange and satin nickel detailing. Alongside this unique P1, MSO will also be showcasing a unique 650S Spider commissioned by the Newport Beach dealership in Cerulean Blue metallic flake and satin carbon trim. See the press release below for all the details on both these bespoke takes on already-exclusive supercars. Of course the bigger news, however, is the P1 GTR track car that will be unveiled at Pebble this year as well. McLAREN SPECIAL OPERATIONS RETURNS TO PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D'ELEGANCE TO SHOWCASE THE LATEST MODELS Three years after launching at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, McLaren Special Operations (MSO) will return to the fairway of the 18th hole at the famous Pebble Beach automotive weekend with unique examples of the McLaren P1™ and the recently launched MSO 650S Spider. The bespoke McLaren Special Operations division was launched in 2011, and offers a full personalisation service for McLaren owners. The dedicated division grew out of McLaren's Customer Care programme, which goes back more than 20 years to the days of the McLaren F1 roadcar, and continues to look after servicing and maintaining cherished F1s for owners, as well as undertaking personalisation work for all McLaren models. Commissioned by a North American customer, the McLaren P1™ to be shown features a host of bespoke options which subtly mark this car out, and is on display publicly for the first time.

2016 Canadian Grand Prix: A tale of 3 starts and 2 stops

The first curve in the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix happened before Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton sat on pole in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari behind. That order changed as soon as the lights went out. Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg started well enough, but Vettel flew off the line, passing Hamilton in just a few meters. Vettel led through Turn 1 while Hamilton defended against Rosberg trying to pass on the outside by using the entire track. Hamilton bumped his teammate, sending Rosberg into the concrete runoff with an " infuriating but fair" maneuver Hamilton blamed on understeer. The Brit stayed second, his teammate fell to ninth by the time he rejoined the circuit and got back on the gas. The Ferrari finally looked an even match for the Mercedes, Vettel slowly building a gap out front. On Lap 11 the Honda in Jenson Button's McLaren self-ignited just after the hairpin, forcing Button to pull over on the Casino Straight. A Virtual Safety Car slowed the field, convincing Ferrari to pit its drivers. Vettel came in, handing the lead to Hamilton. The marshals cleared Button's car more quickly than expected, so the scuderia didn't get the full time advantage it expected, sending Vettel back on track seven seconds behind the Mercedes. Button's and Ferrari's unplanned stops decided the race. Ferrari had always planned to run a two-stopper, but the early pit didn't give the team a chance to gauge the ultra-soft Pirelli. The ultra-softs lasted longer than anyone expected. Hamilton only pitted once, Vettel had to pit again, and the Ferrari simply couldn't close the gap to the Mercedes even with newer tires. Post-race commentary accused Ferrari of two blunders: giving up track position, and not taking advantage of Mercedes' only known weakness of not being nearly as good in dirty air. If the ultra-softs had fallen off a performance cliff, however, Ferrari's play would have been considered daring and brilliant. Hamilton took his second win of the season, followed by a hard-driving Vettel five seconds later. Valtteri Bottas and Williams got everything right, the Finn taking advantage of a one-stop strategy, a perfectly-timed pit stop, and more unusual Red Bull issues to finish third. It's Williams' first podium of the year. Max Verstappen claimed fourth after two pit stops, holding off a frustrated Rosberg who had to make an unscheduled stop to remedy a slow puncture.

Watch Evo pick its 2015 Car of the Year in this epic video

With just a few days left in 2015, it's the perfect time to check out Evo's annual Car of the Year test to determine the greatest performance vehicle of the last 12 months. The writers' picks for the 11 finalists spanned a breadth of engaging models and included: Peugeot 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport, Lamborghini Aventador SV, Seat Leon Cupra Sub8, McLaren 675LT, Porsche 991 GT3 RS, Porsche Cayman GT4, Honda Civic Type R, Ferrari 488 GTB, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Lotus Evora 400, and Mercedes-AMG GT S. For the venue to test the mettle of these performance machines, Evo stuck close to home this year and visited the twisting roads at the beautiful north coast of Scotland. Racing brothers Marino and Dario Franchitti also came along for the ride to provide two more voices in the competitive challenge to determine a winner. Evo's video explains why each model deserves to be among such rarified company but doesn't gloss over their faults either. There can be only one winner, though. We don't want to spoil it, so check out the clip for magnificent views of these performance machines through the Scottish countryside.