LIDL is gearing up to launch a Stanley cup dupe that’s £55 cheaper than the original.
The discount store’s version is almost impossible to tell from the real thing, and it’s just £5.99.
The Livarno Home Stainless Steel Insulated Mug will be hitting stores from June 22.
Just like a Stanley flask, it comes in a Barbie pink shade and has a narrower base to fit in car cup holders.
It also has a 2-in-1 lid, which can be used with or without a drinking straw.
The body of the flask is double-walled, meaning that it keeps drinks hot or cold.
It is also BPA-free, meaning it contains no bisphenol A, which is a synthetic chemical used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.
It’s often found in various products, including food and drink containers.
It can hold up to 1.2L and comes with a three-year warranty.
The lid and straw is also dishwasher safe.
Original Stanley flasks range between £30 and £60, making Lidl’s product £54.99 cheaper.
Stanley travel cups are available to buy directly from Stanley’s website and other stockists including Amazon, John Lewis, Urban Outfitters, Fruugo and Foot Asylum for a huge £42-£48.
Both flasks have a stainless-steel design, double-wall insulation and multi-function sipper suitable to be used with or without a straw.
Stanley unveiled an impressive new 2025 line up earlier this year, sending hydration enthusiasts into a frenzy.
Since the Barbie collection took the UK by storm in 2023, Stanley has elevated their game with fresh designs that are both practical and Instagram-worthy.
Stanley Quencher cups are available to buy directly from Stanley’s website, but there are plenty of other UK stockists you can shop from, including:
If you’re one of the many Brits coveting your very own Stanley Adventure Quencher cup, we have details of where to shop the must-have cup here in the UK.
This comes after Lidl unveiled its own take on Crocs.
Set to fly off the shelves like clog-work, the headline act, is a shoe-stopping pair of Lidl Adults’ Clogs, which come in the iconic Lidl yellow or bold blue.
Priced at just £4.99, with sizes ranging from 3.5 to 11, savvy shoppers of all sizes can tap their toes to the beat in style.
BARGAIN hunters have revealed how millions of Brits could qualify for cheaper TUI flights this summer.
The little-known trick could knock £100 off TUI holidays for 4.5 million people.
Signing up for a Blue Light Card if you are a member of the emergency services could get you access to hundreds of discounts.
Not least of which is a £100 off TUI holidays discount for members of the scheme.
The scheme is available for a huge range of professions and offers hundreds of amazing discounts at several businesses.
Those working in the emergency services, NHS, social care sector, teaching community and armed forces can apply for a Blue Light Card.
Discounts at a range of stores and businesses can be nabbed by card holders who pay just £4.99 for the service.
TUI is now offering discounts on flights for Blue Light Card holders with £100 off holidays.
The discount also applies for NHS staff under TUI’s “Holidays for Heroes” scheme.
While checking out on the TUI website, entering a Blue Light Card code or NHS email automatically activates the discount.
The “Holidays for Heroes” scheme offers eligible members the chance to amend their departure date free of charge if needed.
Specifically for NHS staff, the scheme offers the lowest online price for TUI package holidays, plus an extra £100 off on bookings over £1200.
The Blue Light Card discount allows members to get the same £100 off offer as the “Holidays for Heroes” scheme.
The membership scheme offers discounts on a range of goods and services with dozens of big name brands offering money off to card holders.
Discounts at JD sports, TUI, Dominoes, EE, Halfords, Starbucks, Apple and more are available with the scheme.
To sign up you will need to be a professional working for the emergency services, NHS, in the social care sector, teaching community or armed forces.
People employed in accepted jobs can head online and sign up for the scheme online, offering up proof of employment.
Once accepted, members will need to pay a £4.99 fee for two years of membership.
After completing the simple sign up members will get their card and gain access to the impressive range of discounts.
Eagle eyed bargain hunters recently discovered that card holders could save £100 on TUI holidays and shared the news on social media.
Hundreds of people responded with likes and comments, amazed by the discounts.
IF you're jetting abroad this summer, here are the cheap holiday essentials you won't want to miss.
PACKING CUBES: They’re loved by mum-of-22 Sue Radford and not only do they save space in your luggage, but they’ll ensure that your case is super neat and tidy.
TAG TRACKER: There’s nothing worse than loosing your luggage, but thanks to this handy £15 buy from B&M, you won’t have to worry about that on your next trip.
KIDS’ CABIN BAG: Don’t worry if you can’t afford to splash the cash on a Trunki, as Aldi are selling an alternative dupe buy for just £29.99 – and it’s great for children.
HAND LUGGAGE CASE: For those that are opting to go hand luggage instead of paying a fortune for a check-in bag, Morrisons are selling extra small cases, that are perfect for taking on a flight, for only £7.99.
WHILE I haven’t got my summer getaway sorted yet, I’ve found the solution to when you only have cabin luggage allowance.
And that’s a full-face make-up palette.
Here, I put three to the test . . .
By Beauty Bay Make Face multi-use complexion palette, £18 for 48.5g, beautybay.com: Cream formulas are my favourite.
I find they tend to be easier to apply as you can use your fingers rather than needing any brushes.
And they often look more natural than those with a powder finish.
There’s an impressive 12 shades in this compact – three concealers, two colour correctors, three bronzer/contour shades, two blushers, setting powder and a highlighter shade.
It works out at £1.50 per pan, which is a bargain.
But I found the formulas slightly waxy, which means it’s hard work getting them to melt into skin.
Sculpted By Aimee bare basics palette, £34 for 22g, sculptedbyaimee.co.uk: I’ve never used every single shade in a palette, but this clever collection has made that possible.
The seven pans contain a suits-all edit of products.
Three powder eye-shadows (a champagne-hued shimmer, matte warm-toned brown and a shimmery darker brown), a bronzer and a setting powder alongside a cream highlighter and a cream blush.
The powders are super pigmented, and finely milled so as not to be chalky or dusty, while the balms are buttery enough to blend out in seconds, yet still deposit plenty of colour.
It’s so good, I’ve been using it daily, rather than saving it just for travel.
Kevyn Aucoin Contour Book: The Art Of Sculpting & Defining Vol III, £54 for 23.9g, sephora.co.uk: I am a huge fan of Kevyn Aucoin’s The Sculpting Powder, so I had high hopes for this palette.
There are only six shades, all centered on the cheeks, which can be repurposed as eyeshadow.
But the lack of setting powder is a huge omission for my oily skin.
The powders are very pigmented, so a little goes a long way, and they don’t look at all heavy on the skin.
It’s brilliant for sculpting cheeks, but there isn’t enough variety to replace my usual make-up.
THE sell-out £35 M&S Summer Beauty Bag is back for another year.
Launched this week, the edit contains the best of the beauty hall, with four full-sized products and seven travel miniatures, all worth £210.
Inside, you’ll find Colour Wow Dream Coat, new launches such as REN Evercalm Barrier Support Advanced SPF50, and products from This Works, Arkive, Tangle Teezer and Estee Lauder.
A BRAVE victim of the UK’s “paedo island” has refused to help investigators in their efforts to improve safeguarding, fearing it is an impossible task.
Caldey Island, off the coast of Tenby, Wales, has a dark past – with children being systematically sexually abused by a number of monks there for more than 50 years.
Multiple men with convictions for sexual offences have been known to have resided on the island at various times for decades.
In December, a report was published following a “thorough review” and has recommended several safeguarding measures.
But one victim, who was abused for several years on the island during visits with her family, from age six, told The Sun this week: “It’s just posturing, I’m not going to take any notice.
“They say they’ve got this review and we’re going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.”
The victim – who previously described to us the horrors she suffered – went on to explain why she believed the systems overseeing the island would make it impossible to prevent future abuse.
Evil monk Father Thaddeus Kotik, stationed at Caldey Island’s monastery from 1947 until his death in 1992, never faced any criminal charges despite countless claims against him.
However, six victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987.
One victim – who received a £19,000 payout – told The Sun she was advised against taking action by her mum and some former islanders who didn’t want her to “blacken the good name of Caldey”.
She made the trip to the island over school holidays and was preyed on almost every day by Kotik – also claiming she saw him abuse others, including babies.
The victim told us how the priest would wear Y-fronts back to front to seem harmless and naive, and “to pretend he didn’t know how it all worked”.
“We just thought, ‘This is an adult who is interested in us.’”
She continued: “What I noticed about Father Thaddeus, he always abused [the children of] vulnerable families.”
She described coach loads of kids from care often visiting the island for days at a time, who he would prey on as they visited the Abbey grounds, often after luring them into the garden.
“The other monks said he was a bit of a joker, a bit of a child,” she explained. “They didn’t take him that seriously, but they knew there was something dodgy about him.”
Referring to the other monks and staff, she said: “The whole island was like a cult, it was a feudal hierarchy. You had them at the top and then everybody else underneath.”
She claims in 1990 she told her mum – who died several years ago – about the abuse but was warned not to report it or Kotik would be segregated from the other monks on the island.
“Father Thaddeus would abuse us three or four times a day,” she recalled. “His hands were very rough, and he always stank of BO. We would get infections because his hands were so dirty.”
She described how Kotik was “so compulsive” and would invite kids to a makeshift office he had near the dairy.
His myna bird would chatter and he’d offer them biscuits before abusing them.
She said the Lincoln biscuits had “lumps all over them”.
“I remember thinking they were the tears in my eyes and how sad they were. Thinking of somebody’s eyes.”
The victim finally stopped going to the island regularly at the age of 16.
By then, she had gone through puberty, so Kotik had lost interest in her.
But the trauma has remained, and she was later raped by someone linked to the Catholic church when she was 15.
“I felt I didn’t have any rights over my body, I didn’t feel I could say, ‘No, I don’t want to do this’,” she said.
“What I tend to do now is just avoid people because I was never brought up to have the self confidence to say no.
“What I’ve realised is I’d rather be busy and lonely than in a relationship.
“When a relationship gets remotely sexual I’m right there and it’s too loaded and too many conflicting feelings.”
The probe was overseen by Former Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales, Jan Pickles OBE.
It came after Maria Battle, former chair of the Howell Dda University Health Board in Wales, had been appointed to oversee the island earlier in 2024.
She is a director of the Caldey island Estate Company Ltd which has led anti-abuse campaigners to question her independence.
The report – which focused largely on accusations against the late Father Thaddeus Kotik – concluded victims of sexual abuse on the island were treated in a hostile, heartless and cruel way.
In response, Caldey Abbey, which commissioned the report, apologised for the suffering caused.
Victim testimonies from the 1970s collected by Ms Pickles suggest Kotik – who lived on Caldey from 1947 until his death in 1992 – was a “serial and prolific abuser of children”, often in “plain sight” of others on the island.
The report states there were multiple other occasions where accusations of child sexual abuse were not appropriately logged or reported to the authorities.
Six of Kotik’s victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987.
The victim we spoke received a £19,000 payout. She told us Ms Pickles’ has been “very good” but added: “They’re not going to put the right things in place.”
They say they’ve got this review and we’re going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.
Caldey Island victim
She described the island itself as still “a very feudal society” and said her and other victims have been invited to join the board which oversees the island, to help implement new safeguarding measures.
But she declined, telling us: “I just don’t really trust anyone who wants to sit on that board because it is like Sherry Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation.”
This refers to a framework developed in the 1960s which shows who had power when important decisions are made.
“It looks at how undemocratic inviting people to give their views is,” said the victim.
This guide was produced by Operation Hydrant – a coordination hub
established in June 2014 to deliver the national policing response,
oversight, and coordination of non-recent child sexual abuse
investigations.
It specifically looks at cases concerning persons of public prominence, or in relation to those offences which took place within institutional settings.
You can report to the police at any time.
It can be done in a number of ways – going to a police station, dialling 101, reporting online via a police website, or even through a third party, such as a friend or relative.
When you first make contact with the police, they will take an initial report, a ‘first account’.
The force will then make contact with you to take more detailed information.
An impartial investigation will then be launched based on what you have told officers.
“It’s just posturing, I’m not going to take any notice.
“They say they’ve got this review and we’re going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.”
She added the measures are just “playing lip service” to “show that they’re doing due diligence… it doesn’t help anything”.
As part of the review, the monks are not allowed to give religious or pastoral advice to visitors, even if asked, or pose for a selfie with them.
And under a “no touch” policy will be obliged to report any accidental physical contact.
The victim described the selfie ban is “pathetic”, adding: “It’s not the selfies, it’s the grooming of the families who come and stay.”
She said it is “systemic” to the way the Catholic church often attempts to “deal with things internally… they don’t want to hand over the criminals to the law”.
She recalled during the 1980s an article in a Catholic publication blaming paedophilia on divorcees.
“It said if people didn’t get divorced you wouldn’t have this problem,” she said.
The review revealed that a number of sex offenders had spent time on Caldey, including Paul Ashton, who lived there for years under an alias while on the run from police.
He had unrestricted access to the IT system and used it to download indecent images of children.
A visitor who discovered his true identity informed police and he was later jailed.
When he was discovered at Caldey Island in 2011, more indecent images were found on his computer in the monastery.
The visitor believed he had been operating a distribution network for indecent images of children, masquerading as a cleaning company.
Two other men, Father John Shannon and John Cronin, convicted of sexual offences involving children, have also been linked to Caldey Island.
In a letter from an island resident seen by The Sun, it was alleged that a “grooming” culture still persists and that offenders are “protected”.
The unnamed victim went on to tell us: “If you’re going to encourage people to take the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, it’s going to attract somebody, a certain sort of person, and quite likely that sort of person might be a little bit inadequate emotionally, or has something wrong.”
She continued: “I just think you’ve got the same situation now as you had back then.
“There’s plenty of opportunity for a paedophile to groom families.
“There’ll be someone on that island now who is a paedophile and it’s just attracting that sort of person.”
She said: “The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away – like any kind of grass roots community, you’re going to get some people who are on the run from something.
“There’s quite a lot of dodgy people there.”
The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away – like any kind of grass roots community, you’re going to get some people who are on the run from something.
Caldey Island victim
Father Jan Rossey, who took on the role of abbot in 2023, said he’d read the review with “deep sorrow and regret” and that it was “particularly heartbreaking to hear children spoke up to adults and no action was taken.
“Children and their families were failed when they should have been supported and listened to,” he said.
He went on to “sincerely apologise” to the victims of Kotik and “past failures”.
He added: “Since becoming Abbot, I have ensured that many safeguarding improvements have been put in place. These are detailed in the review.”
Father Rossey said he had also reached out to anyone who came forward for the review “offering to meet with them in person to apologise”.
The victim we spoke to, who was not involved in the review, said she had not received such an offer.
But said: “I would meet him in person and I would tell him where I think the Catholic church has gone wrong – and how hollow some of these apologies are, and defensive, and not really genuine.”
She added: “I know there are people who are happy to speak about what happened but I try to have as little to do with it all as possible.
“I don’t like to talk about it, I like to forget it. It’s very haunting – this thing is still living with me.”
The Sun understands Safeguarding Officers and Trainers from the Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS) have visited Caldey Island on multiple occasions since the investigation began, with the most recent visit taking place at the end of May.
Melissa Andrews, CEO of the RLSS, said: “We are working closely with Caldey Island to ensure best practice in safeguarding.
“Our team recently visited the island to deliver a series of training courses on-site, and we will continue to collaborate with their safeguarding lead to support and encourage their ongoing engagement.”
A spokesperson for Caldey island Estate Company Ltd said: “We are committed to ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding on Caldey Island.
“Following the Independent Review led by Jan Pickles OBE—conducted entirely independently of Caldey Abbey—we have taken significant steps to implement all of the recommendations made.
“Safeguarding matters are now overseen by an independent committee, which includes representation from victims and survivors. In line with the Review’s guidance, our Safeguarding Lead is a qualified and experienced social worker who operates independently of the Island.
We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community.
Caldey Island spokesperson
“We’ve made meaningful progress, much of which is detailed in the 2024 Annual Safeguarding Report, available on the Caldey Island website.
“Looking ahead, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be conducting an independent audit of our safeguarding practices in June 2025.
“We welcome this review, and its findings will be made publicly available.
“We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community.”
The Sun has also contacted Father Rossey for further comment.
Do you know more? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk
THE Club World Cup is set to return in the summer, with a brand new format for the 32 qualifiers.
The new-look tournament will take place over in the US between June 14 and July 13.
Clubs from all over the world will compete, with 12 from Uefa, six from CONMEBOL, four from Concacaf, CAF, and AFC respectively, and one from USA and one from OFC.
Some big names will miss the tournament, with Liverpool and Barcelona among some of the names watching this one from home.
SunSport can reveal how every side qualified for the tournament.
Uefa was given 12 slots for the Club World Cup, with four going to Champions League winners, and another eight going to the highest ranked Uefa sides.
Champions League winning qualifiers:
The rules dictate that only two clubs from one country can qualify by ranking, but with two English sides already in the competition, Liverpool miss out.
Barcelona also miss out, as only one Spanish side was eligible for qualification.
Ranking qualifiers:
As is the case with an international tournament, the host nation automatically qualified for the event.
However, the inclusion of Inter Miami has come with controversy.
LA Galaxy won the MLS play-offs and the MLS Cup, but were not awarded the spot.
Instead, Fifa decided the winners of the MLS Supporters’ Shield, Inter Miami, would qualify.
The MLS Supporters’ Shield is awarded to the team with the best record after 34 games in a regular MLS season – Inter Miami were the best, with 74 points.
OFC only got one spot, determined by the OFC Champions League, which Auckland City FC have won 11 times in 14 years.
CONMEBOL had six slots, with the winners of the Copa Libertadores qualifying, and two others via selection.
Copa Libertadores:
CONMEBOL ranking qualifier:
Club World Cup rankings:
Four teams from Concacaf qualified either by winning the Concacaf Champions League, or by winning a play in*.
Concacaf Champions League:
Play-in winners:
*Liga MX’s Leon won the 2023 Concacaf Champions League, but were disqualified by FIFA for violating the club ownership structure rules.
There were two ways teams from CAF qualified, either by winning the CAF Champions League, or through the CAF rankings.
CAF Champions League:
CAF rankings:
Four Asian sides qualified by winning the AFC Champions League, or by the AFC rankings.
AFC Champions League:
As the competition was re-branded, there were only three winners during the qualifying period.
As a result, the fourth spot went to the highest ranked side:
JESY Nelson has shared she’s finally home with her newborn twins – after three months in the hospital.
The former Little Mix singer, 34, announced the birth of her daughters earlier this year.
Taking to Instagram, Jesy has confirmed the duo are finally home with a poignant message.
Sharing a snap of her looking down at them, she penned: “My babies made it home for my birthday.”
A fan commented: “They are both so beautiful! Happy birthday Jesy.”
Another added: “So happy you guys are all home together.”
While a third shared: “They are so beautiful and I hope your birthday is amazing.”
A fourth remarked: “I knew they would make it home to be with you, precious miracle girls they did it for you.
“They love you so much and wanted to be with mummy on her special day. Happy birthday angel!”
Jesy welcomed the two baby girls with her boyfriend, Zion Foster two months early following a high-risk pregnancy.
Prior to the girls’ birth, esy was diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).
TTTS is a rare but serious condition in which blood flows unevenly between identical twins sharing a placenta – putting both babies at risk.
The diagnosis took Jesy and Zion by surprise and they revealed they had no idea what TTTS was before the diagnosis.
Jesy has already had a successful operation, though didn’t specify the type of procedure.
She later announced the twins’ birth on Instagram and said her babies are “healthy and fighting strong” despite being born prematurely.
Jesy also revealed to her fans that she had named her daughters Ocean Jade Nelson-Foster and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster.
Meanwhile, the singer also previously opened up on her experience with the girls in NICU.
Most babies are born at 40 weeks, but 37 weeks is considered full term and twin pregnancies are rarely longer than this.
Meanwhile, babies born at 31 weeks will likely spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), receiving round-the-clock care.
She penned: “Nothing or no one will ever be able to prepare you as a parent for NICU.
“It’s the most scary overwhelming feeling of emotions not being able to feel like you can protect your babies.
“Naturally as a mother you just want to hold them and comfort them when they cry but you can’t because there are what feels like a million wires coming out of them.
“Tubes and masks in the way with people poking and prodding them, it breaks your heart into a million pieces.
“But slowly as the days go by and they get stronger and wires start to come away, moments like this feel like a dream.
“Having them reunited for the first time ever today was the most magical feeling I will never be able to describe.
“The strongest little girls I’ve ever known who really do have the most inspiring story to tell.”
DUMPED Love Island star Blu has taken one final swipe at Shea after butting heads over who would leave.
Blu was dumped from the villa in Friday night’s episode after on Thursday, he and Shea were left single and vulnerable when they were failed to get chosen by the girls to be in couples.
The girls made their decisions one by one, until only Shea and Blu remained.
Dejon then received a text which read: “Blue and Shea, you are now single.
“Between you both you should now decided who should stay and who should go.”
But both lads were determined to stay and refused to back down.
Blu confidently said: “I ain’t f****** leaving,” as Shea echoed: “I ain’t either.”
The Sun then revealed that the pair got into a war of words, with this seen in Friday night’s episode before the Islanders were tasked with deciding on who would be dumped from the Island.
Blu was chosen to pack his bags and leave, with him now breaking his silence on what he really thinks about the man who won over the Islanders and was picked to stay.
In his exit Q&A, Blu seemingly took one final swipe at Shea.
“We asked them [the Islanders] for their point of view as we were both really stubborn in that situation.
“We weren’t going to budge, so we had to get them to make the decision,” he explained.
Then, taking a subtle swipe at Shea, Blu said: “I felt like I had a stronger bond with everyone in there, obviously I’d been there a bit longer.
“I was constantly trying to make a connection and exploring everyone.
“I was making moves as quickly as I could, as opposed to Shea who was a bit more laid back,” he slammed.
Blu went on: “Everyone had their own thoughts.
Departures:
“But listen, someone’s got to go at the end of the day.
“The way it went was better than I thought it would have gone; I had some nice things said about me and that meant a lot to me.”
The Sun revealed yesterday that Blu and Shea got into a rather tense war of words in the most savage dumping twist ever, before the scenes aired last night.
A villa source told The Sun: “Things get very heated between Blu and Shea after the savage twist that they have to decide between them who will go.
“Viewers will see it play out in tonight’s episode but it’s really tense.
“Neither of them wants to back down and while it doesn’t get physical, they get into a real war of words and some of the things they said to each other were brutal.
“Neither boy wanted to leave and it’s pretty explosive telly.
“Emotions were very high as they have both spent months trying to land their spot on the show, so neither one was going to back down easily.”
A PETROLHEAD struggling to buy the car of his dreams was forced to settle for the next best thing – and save a ton of money in the process.
Car enthusiast and YouTuber Chris Slix was desperate to own a top-tier McLaren 675LT, a supercar that costs around £400,000.
However, he couldn’t afford it and also lacked the strictly required purchase history with McLaren to even be considered for buying one.
But the resourceful petrolhead had another idea, after discovering that McLaren’s limited-edition models, including the 675LT and P1 hypercar, share many parts with their more affordable base models, such as the 650S.
This gave him the idea to transform a damaged, cut-price McLaren 650S Spider into a premium, customised version resembling one of its more high-end models.
After purchasing a heavily damaged 650S Spider, which had been crashed multiple times and used as a track experience car, he then sought out budget parts to help transform the motor into a more exclusive-looking version.
After finding that McLaren-branded parts would have cost more than a second-hand 675LT, with some individual components costing as much as £25,000, Chris turned to trusty budget vendor Temu.
From the site, he managed to buy a full dry-carbon fibre body kit and other affordable components – including a unique tangerine paint/
“If we start with one of McLaren’s cheapest cars, we can potentially turn it into something much more expensive and much rarer,” he told viewers.
Initially, he explored various different options, including second-hand parts, aftermarket kits and even AliExpress, but settled on Temu.
“I had four criteria when I was hunting for pieces – harder, better, faster, stronger; five, if you count ‘cheaper’,” Chris said.
“The parts from Temu ticked every single box.”
He added: “Buying these parts new from McLaren is going to cost more than a second-hand 675LT. It’s ridiculous.”
After an eight-week wait, the Temu kit arrived in a massive box – which Chris and his team unpacked.
Instantly impressed with the parts and their quality, which were made entirely of carbon fibre – making them both lightweight and strong – the gearheads were first forced to address the McLaren’s damaged brackets and mounting points, which were bent or poorly repaired from previous accidents.
This meant Chris was forced to purchase replacement brackets directly from McLaren, adding to the costs, but ensured proper alignment and fitment of the new body kit.
The build began with the front wings and bonnet, which proved tricky and time consuming as the team had to pain-stakingly refine the fitment to ensure the car looks as good as a factory-built model.
The rear bumper and diffuser were also replaced with the carbon fibre components from the kit, as well as the rear spoiler and side pods – matching the 675LT’s design.
Chris added that he didn’t aim to create an exact replica of the P1 or 675LT, but rather his own personalised version that incorporates various elements from other McLaren models – including an exposed carbon fibre bonnet similar to the P1’s design.
While still a work in progress, the car is coming along brilliantly – with only a handful of bits requiring fine-tuning, including the panel gaps and headlights.
He also hints at upgrading the car’s performance to match its aggressive new look.
To the average person or casual observer, the car’s beastly look – largely thanks to the full dry-carbon fibre body kit and tangerine paint – makes it incredibly difficult to tell that it isn’t a factory-built high-end McLaren.
Chris added: “Squint really, really hard and it looks like a bad boy.”