Motorsport’s Triple Crown, the Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans, has only been won by one driver in history: Graham Hill. For teams, it’s been no less of a challenge with just Mercedes and McLaren being able to lay claim to all three race wins.
As McLaren marks 60 years since it was founded in 1963, the British sports and racing car manufacturer has developed a remarkable livery that brings these race wins together on one very limited edition road car.
Known as 3-7-59 after the race numbers of the McLarens that have won at Indianapolis, Monaco and Le Mans, respectively, the paint job combines the Papaya Orange of Johnny Rutherford’s number 3 M16D which won the Indy 500 in 1974, the stealthy black of the McLaren F1 GTR that JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya drove to victory at Le Mans in 1995, and the classic Marlboro red and white of Alain Prost’s MP4/2 which took the checkered flag at Monaco in 1984.
The elaborate livery took McLaren Special Operations more than 1,200 hours to paint and features over 20 different colours, plus silver leaf detailing and special QR codes that link to webpages on each of McLaren’s Triple Crown winners. Inside the carbon fiber seats and door trims boast Triple Crown artwork, the shift paddles are hand-painted in a “shattered” red and white scheme as a tribute to Prost’s Monaco winner and even the pedals come with special etched art.
Only six cars will be painted in the 3-7-59 scheme, a mix of 750S coupes and Spiders, and all have been sold.
