Exclusive: Project 26 is the Codename for the new McLaren Speedster

Earlier this year, McLaren had announced that they were building a new open-top Speedster. The first teaser image of the car was revealed at Pebble Beach, however McLaren stopped short of revealing its name. We can now confirm that McLaren’s new Speedster is internally known as the Project 26.

McLaren has described the Project 26 as the “ultimate road-legal track car”. It is an open cockpit roadster with two seats and low-profile dihedral doors. It will be powered by the familiar twin-turbo V8 engine that is available in other McLaren supercars. The Speedster’s engine will be based on the Senna’s 4.0-liter unit and might receive a performance boost.

The Project 26 will be positioned between the Senna and the hybrid Speedtail. It will rival cars like the Ferrari Monza and Aston Martin’s DBR1-inspired Speedster. Only 399 cars will be built with each costing between 750,000 and £1.2 million.