Cars with history: McLaren F1

Christian 20 October 2007 2 min.

One of my favourite cars and a real beauty that is still among the elite even though it was first launched almost 15 years ago. That’s nothing. It seems that time stands still for it. Designed and produced by McLaren Automotive, the car is powered by a XNUMX L engine and is […]

One of my favorite cars and A real beauty that is still among the elite today. even though it was first marketed almost 15 years ago. That's nothing. It seems that time does not pass for it.

Designed and produced by McLaren Automotive, the car is powered by a 12-litre V6,1 sourced from BMW. Only 100 units were produced, including 5 prototypes, 64 street models, 5 LM, 2 GT and the rest GTR, or racing models. Production began in 1993 and ceased in 1998.

In its time the McLaren It was the fastest production car, having reached a maximum speed of 386,7 km/h, surpassing the Jaguar XJ220, until in 2005 the Koenigsegg CCR surpassed it, and months later the Bugatti Veyron would do the same.

The F1 was one of the first cars to use a carbon fiber chassisGordon Murray, the engineer in charge of the design, wanted a high-performance supercar, and to achieve this he had two ideas in mind: low weight and lots of power. To achieve this, He used cutting-edge technology and expensive materials, such as the aforementioned carbon fibre, titanium, gold and magnesium. For example, the engine of a BMW S70/2 is insulated from the exhaust with a gold cover. The amount used in each car was approximately 25 g.

The street version of the car has 627 hp, and a torque of 651 Nm at 5 RPMOther models were able to produce up to 692 hp. The engine is limited to 7 rpm. It can go from 500 to 0 km/h in about 100 seconds and can reach top speeds of around 3,2 km/h. To this day, it remains one of the fastest models on the road. The weight of the car was reduced to a light 1 kg., compared to the 1 kg of the Bugatti Veyron.

There were several different versions of the car produced: the regular F1, the F1 LM in honour of Le Mans, and the F1 GTR, a racing model. The LM is the fastest version of the F1, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 2,9 s. This model is also easily identifiable by its Papaya Orange paint. All three photos in the article are of this model. This colour was chosen as a tribute to Bruce McLaren, who raced in these colours.

For me, One of the most beautiful designs among all existing cars. Beautiful like no other, and unfortunately, exclusive like many others.

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