Tavarish did the impossible and built a $2,500,000 McLaren P1 from scratch, the only one outside the factory
Published on Mar 31, 2026 at 9:03 AM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Mar 30, 2026 at 6:50 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
In a feat worthy of acclaim far and wide, YouTuber Tavarish managed to build a $2.5 million McLaren P1 from scratch.
It sounds like a task of Herculean proportions, and it actually was.
He started off with a bare carbon fiber tub, a collection of spare parts, components from a donor McLaren 12C, and a dream.
But a dream can get only get you so far. How much elbow grease would it take to get this project across the finish line?
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Building a McLaren P1 doesn’t sound easy – and it wasn’t
In the world of car YouTubers, Tavarish‘s name is synonymous with big undertakings.
The guy doesn’t make life easy for himself with some of the cars he’s chosen to work on over the years.
You may recall that he took on an abandoned minivan from Pimp My Ride, but even that was a walk in the park compared to his usual fare.
When he secured this hand-built supercar for $250, he was in a world of aggravation.
And you don’t need us to tell that a flooded Porsche is a lot to take on.
But his latest project may be his most daunting yet.
He was going to build up a McLaren P1 from scratch, using a bare carbon fiber tub, a collection of spare parts, and components from a donor McLaren 12C.
The idea was to get it done in seven days so it could be displayed at the SEMA trade show.
You don’t need to be a car expert to know that seven days is a pressing time schedule for a project of this scale.
A whole series of hurdles popped up along the way.
The Gen 2 battery from McLaren failed to interface with the car’s older software, leaving him to turn to a set of ‘junk’ batteries.
After discovering a loose connector inside one, the team managed to get the high-voltage system to engage.
A resolver wiring harness also had to be reverse-engineered from scratch, in order to get the electric motor to spin the engine.
The fact that it spun the engine in the wrong direction was yet another headache.
How a ‘seven day sprint’ became a ‘five month wrenching marathon’
Ultimately, by the time the car went to SEMA, it went as a ‘rolling shell’.
On the outside, it looked finished, but it wasn’t mechanically functional.
“I have to be honest with myself. I may have overestimated the scope of the build,” Tavarish said.
“What started as a 7-day sprint turned into a 5-month wrenching marathon that tested me in ways I didn’t know existed.”
In the five month period, he had to fly between his home and the workshop in Denver six different times.
It just goes to show that even with a team of experts on hand, building a complex car from scratch can’t be done on such a quick turnaround.
Rome wasn’t build in a day, and this McLaren P1 wasn’t built in a week.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
