McLaren F1

McLaren F1 at a glance

The F1 was McLaren's first road car and the product of a simple brief from its technical director, Gordon Murray: build the best driver's car possible, with as little weight as possible. Peter Stevens styled the body, and BMW Motorsport, under engine designer Paul Rosche, supplied the V12. McLaren's later road cars, from the MP4-12C to the P1, all trace their line back to it, as told in the history of McLaren.

The BMW S70/2 V12

The engine is a naturally aspirated 60-degree V12 of 6,064 cc, developed specially for the car by BMW M. It has four overhead camshafts, 48 valves and variable valve timing, and drives the rear wheels through a transverse six-speed manual gearbox. With a bore of 86 mm and a stroke of 87 mm, it revs to a limiter set at 7,500 rpm. The engine bay is lined with about 16 grams of gold foil, chosen because gold reflects heat well.

According to the old 1cars text, the V12 weighs 266 kg. The F1 LM's version of the engine, without the intake restrictors of the racing GTR, produced about 500 kW (680 PS).

Carbon chassis, packaging and dimensions

The F1 was the first production road car with a carbon-fibre monocoque. Murray's team fought for every gram: carbon fibre was used wherever possible, and titanium where carbon was not suitable. The result is a dry weight of 1,140 kg and a kerb weight of about 1,260 kg, light for a car with a 6.1-litre V12. The underbody is shaped for ground effect, so the car generates downforce without a large fixed rear wing on the road version.

The cabin is the car's most famous feature. The driver sits in the middle, slightly ahead of two passenger seats, which gives an unobstructed view and a balanced driving position. Butterfly doors, inspired by the Toyota Sera, swing up and forward. Luggage goes into two lockers in the flanks ahead of the rear wheels. For a car with no power steering, ABS or traction control, the F1 is surprisingly well equipped, with air conditioning, a high-quality audio system and leather seats.

Variants: road cars, LM, GT and GTR

Different sources split the 106 cars slightly differently, because some prototypes were later rebuilt. The commonly cited breakdown is below.

Two road cars were later upgraded with the high-downforce kit, a version known as the F1 HDK. The ten 1997 "long-tail" GTRs were stretched versions built for the international GT championship.

Records and racing

On 31 March 1998, Andy Wallace drove the XP5 prototype at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track to a two-way average of 386.4 km/h (240.1 mph), with the rev limiter raised to 8,300 rpm. The peak in one direction was 391 km/h. No production car went faster until the Bugatti Veyron in 2005, and the F1 is still often described as the fastest naturally aspirated production car.

The F1 GTR raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995, its first attempt, and finished first, third, fourth, fifth and 13th overall. The GTR went on to race in the BPR and FIA GT championships until 1998.

McLaren F1 compared with later supercars

The F1 weighs around 600 kg less than a Veyron and about 120 kg less than a Carrera GT, and it needed no turbochargers to reach its speed. That combination of low mass and a big atmospheric engine is why it is still the benchmark for driver-focused supercars. More fast cars are listed in our fastest cars ranking and in the most powerful supercars selection.