McLaren F1

McLaren F1

Standard McLaren F1 with all user accessible compartments opened.
In 1988, McLaren took the decision to expand from Formula One and design and build what it described as “the finest sports car the world has ever seen”.[28] In March 1990 the team that was to create the F1 came together for the first time and three years later, in December 1993 the first production car was born. Even by today’s standards, the McLaren F1 road car is considered by many to be one of the greatest road cars of all time.[29]

McLaren F1 was the world’s first carbon fibre road car featuring the Formula 1 inspired monocoque weighing only 100 kilograms.[30] The car also defined the McLaren road car DNA: low weight, clever packaging, superb quality and innovative design, resulting in an outstanding driving experience.[31] The revolutionary central driving position was designed for visibility and no compromise on control positions for the driver.

The F1 was launched in 1994, and over the course of the next four years 64 F1, 5 F1 LM and 3 F1 GT road cars were produced, together with 28 F1 GTR race cars. Six additional prototypes were also manufactured.

In 1994, after pressure from owners, McLaren developed a racing version of the F1 road car to run in the FIA GT1 category in the 1995 season. Despite a design and development period of just 3 months, the F1 GTR won the 1995 GT1 Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its debut where it finished in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th places. The F1 GTR secured for McLaren a unique position in motor racing history, as the only manufacturer to win all of the Formula 1 World Championship, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Production of the McLaren F1 ended in 1998. In August 2015, Sotheby’s auctioned off a 1998 McLaren F1 for a reported £9 million, underlining the F1’s status as one of the great motoring icons.[32]