We Scratched a Multi-Million Dollar McLaren P1 GTR Supercar

It's the nightmare situation for anyone that gets near a million-dollar supercar. If I scratch this thing, will I go bankrupt due to the cost of paint and repair of that scratch? Now imagine scratching a car in which only five were ever made and the cost was upwards of multiples of millions instead. Here's what was going through our heads when we visited the Xpel booth at the 2023 SEMA Show and scratched just that: a one-of-five McLaren P1 GTR coupe.

You can imagine our thoughts when we got the invite to check one of five McLaren P1 GTR examples that were converted to be road legal in the U.S. This is a car that can easily cost upwards of $5 million or more to reportedly own, so it was a surprise to see that this car was not warded off by stanchions during the heavily-trafficked 2023 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Though, most people were very cautious around the car anyhow knowing its rarity and cost beforehand. We are in the Mecca of Gearheads, after all. And yes, we like to consider ourselves careful around such toys, as well.

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We were greeted at the booth by the friendly staff and Chris Hardy, Senior Director of Sales, at Xpel. This is a company known for its protective films that go beyond just paint protection, but also included stainless steel, glass, and other surfaces that are hard to keep clean or damage free. Beyond that, they also include UV and heat protection films for building glass to help reduce interior temperatures as well as protect furniture from harmful sun rays. This surface protection also extended into pre-cut films for electric mountain bikes to help protect a gloss or matte finish or even change to those finishes to refresh the look of a well-owned bicycle. It's easy to say that Xpel has a lot of options for nearly any surface you need protection for.

They gave us a quick demonstration using a hood from a Toyota 4Runner SUV to show how their protective film was installed and just how much their blends or changes a surface. The hood was split between a gloss white and a matte black finish and each side was given the opposite finish by using a piece of Xpel matte or gloss finish film. Their demonstration concluded with scratching the surface with the film and seeing it heal in real time using only a heat gun on its lowest setting. Or so we thought.

It's Vegas, A Place Known For Taking Things To 11

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That's when we were invited to scratch that McLaren P1 GTR. Not the people from Xpel,us. Needless to say that while we knew it was going to be a controlled demonstration, we're still putting scratches onto a $5 million, one-of-five supercar. There was some trepidation in doing this demo ourselves and we had to wonder if the owner was actually OK with this. Turns out, he was excited to see just what would happen himself. If you're one of those people who hates seeing a car like this just sit in the garage and waste away doing nothing, you'll be happy to know this car isn't such a sad case. He's not afraid to drive the car and allow it to be viewed without stanchions thanks to the full Xpel wrap and was as confident nothing would happen to his car as the Xpel staff were. While we wouldn't be damaging the wrap that was on it, we're still scratching a multi-million-dollar car here. Things can still quickly go wrong.

It does take a bit of training to get the film to set correctly, but it only takes a few sessions for most people to get the hang of it, according to Xpel. It's not far off from laying vinyl the old-fashioned way—before breathable vinyl became normal for vehicle graphics and wrapping. You spray some soapy water down—so you have time to adjust the film as needed—before taking a squeegee and forcing the water out from under the film. This also helps semi-permanently apply the film to the surface you're wanting the protection on while a heat gun is used to evaporate any leftover water from both surfaces. You can easily remove the film if you want or need to, as we would be shown later.

That's A Lotta Damage

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We were then handed a brass metal brush and were told to make multiple swirls into the section we were allowed to damage. I pressed down enough for you to hear it scraping against the film that was applied on top of the wrap. It was a skin-crawling screeching sound that everyone around me could hear. Those not in the loop winced, thinking we just made some damage to this very expensive car and made several passes around this patch of film.

Once I was satisfied with my abuse, I was handed a heat gun and was told I'll be able to easily fix the damage. To not burn or do any extra harm, we kept it on the lowest heat setting and moved it around the film patch. In what seemed like an instant, the film healed itself in real time. Yes, we just saw this process demonstrated on a Toyota hood just moments ago, but the reality of what this film does really doesn't hit you until you do it, especially on a car that you would never be able to afford in several of your own lifetimes.

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Just as we were finishing up the repair, Xpel explained to us that you don't need a heat gun or any other special heating tools to make the film repair itself. Simply allowing the car to sit in the heat of the sun is more than enough to make the film heal over enough time, and given a certain amount of damage. Knowing that simple dings and impacts that you'd get from scratches, maybe in the parking lot, maybe in the weekend racing paddock, will no longer require a trip back to your local vinyl or body shop really makes us wonder why this wrap service isn't standard practice on cars that cost even less than this McLaren P1 GTR. Regardless, while self-healing film has been around for some time, it's still amazing to watch something that was scratched up return to normal in less time than it took to make those scratches. Meanwhile, our insurance and bosses, and the GTR owner, can all breathe a sigh of relief that we didn't force them into paying for a $5 million paint job.