RE: McLaren F1: You Know You Want To

[73RS]

smilo996 said:

73RS said:

I don't buy all the F1 hype. They built very few - if you take out the ones crashed and used for racing, it leaves a tiny number - then it turns out that most, like this one, have hardly ever been driven. Legendary? Irrelevant!

Well that is a pretty amazing comment. Completely missed the point of the F1 and your comment is really only relevant when considering the price because there are not that many.


Never get tired or articles about the F1.

Smaller, lower cd value, more luggage space, more passengers than the P1. 240mph from a normally aspirated engine and the beautiful result of the work of several very talented people. That is even before considering the Le Mans success in 1995.

Still completely relevant today and in good company compared to the current crop of Super / Hyper cars.

Trouble is "the point" of any car is ultimately to make money for the manufacturer. The F1 lost money.

[andyps]

73RS said:

Trouble is "the point" of any car is ultimately to make money for the manufacturer. The F1 lost money.

Not the first car to do that, and probably won't be the last. It is quite likely that many legendary (in a good way) cars are examples that lost money for their manufacturers. On a completely different scale the original Mini probably fits that bill.

[Frik]

73RS said:

Trouble is "the point" of any car is ultimately to make money for the manufacturer. The F1 lost money.

IIRC they claim that it broke even. Regardless, your point isn't precisely true; the Veyron proves that.

Edited by Frik on Monday 2nd May 12:32

[dunc_sx]

Wow, really surprised at the "not too fussed" comments. Each to their own but for me probably the F1 or F40 for best car ever made.

Outrageous performance for the day, central driving position, light weight, big power NA engine.

Oft, what a car.

Dunc.

[F1GTRUeno]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h459UaPgJI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjXrsMpey-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0n6RSg64UE (#069 is referenced here)

Just a reminder of what the S70/2 sounds like.

Even if you don't like the looks, or anything else about it, if you don't love that engine then you hand in your PH card and leave this site.

Edited by F1GTRUeno on Monday 2nd May 17:05

[coppice]

Nothing since has come close in packaging,weight,engine characteristics and sheer desirability - in my book anyway . It's the ultimate analogue sports car , designed for road use but adapted for Le Mans on a tiny budget .Which it won. The styling is sensational (and such a contrast to the hideous looking Veyron, the ' look at me I'm a bit mad I am ' Zonda and the shouty LaFerrari )with nods to the GT40 especially.I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven .

[Patrick Bateman]

Video and sound are out of sync but this bit is utter bliss-

https://youtu.be/W0n6RSg64UE?t=521

[Tony Starks]

coppice said:

Nothing since has come close in packaging,weight,engine characteristics and sheer desirability - in my book anyway . It's the ultimate analogue sports car , designed for road use but adapted for Le Mans on a tiny budget .Which it won. The styling is sensational (and such a contrast to the hideous looking Veyron, the ' look at me I'm a bit mad I am ' Zonda and the shouty LaFerrari )with nods to the GT40 especially.I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven .

Surely safety regs have had alot to do with that?

[Olivera]

coppice said:

I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven.

Our very own flemke has stated on many occasions that the F1 has unresolved handling issues. It's brakes are also poor as stated by many - something like a Seat Cupra with Nurburgring pack has much more effective brakes due to way bigger discs and calipers. I'd also say the styling is iffy but that is just my subjective view.

[coppice]

Tony Starks said:

coppice said:

Nothing since has come close in packaging,weight,engine characteristics and sheer desirability - in my book anyway . It's the ultimate analogue sports car , designed for road use but adapted for Le Mans on a tiny budget .Which it won. The styling is sensational (and such a contrast to the hideous looking Veyron, the ' look at me I'm a bit mad I am ' Zonda and the shouty LaFerrari )with nods to the GT40 especially.I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven .

Surely safety regs have had alot to do with that?

I am not sure about that; they would mandate ABS I guess but they don't mandate a 1600kg kerbweight , nor heavy batteries and gratuitous complexity generally.

[coppice]

Olivera said:

coppice said:

I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven.

Our very own flemke has stated on many occasions that the F1 has unresolved handling issues. It's brakes are also poor as stated by many - something like a Seat Cupra with Nurburgring pack has much more effective brakes due to way bigger discs and calipers. I'd also say the styling is iffy but that is just my subjective view.

Of course I cannnot doubt his experience with the F1 - but just passing on someone else's wide experience. Indeed many long standing and respected journalists(ie not Troy Queef ) still name the F1 (or F40 )as their ultimate road car . If the Cupra has better brakes I am not sure that alone would be quite enough to make me choose one over an F1 . They certainly seemed to stop OK when I saw them in GT races in the 90s

[e21Mark]

coppice said:

Olivera said:

coppice said:

I was talking to somebody the other day who has driven just about everything , and won a lot of races and he , too , rated the F1 as the best road car he has ever driven.

Our very own flemke has stated on many occasions that the F1 has unresolved handling issues. It's brakes are also poor as stated by many - something like a Seat Cupra with Nurburgring pack has much more effective brakes due to way bigger discs and calipers. I'd also say the styling is iffy but that is just my subjective view.

Of course I cannnot doubt his experience with the F1 - but just passing on someone else's wide experience. Indeed many long standing and respected journalists(ie not Troy Queef ) still name the F1 (or F40 )as their ultimate road car . If the Cupra has better brakes I am not sure that alone would be quite enough to make me choose one over an F1 . They certainly seemed to stop OK when I saw them in GT races in the 90s

Didn't Tiff Needell have a lot of love for the F1? Seem to recall him saying it could be a bit twitchy on the limit - he liked that though. He also said the brakes are absolutely fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MXKsg1YIm8

Edited by e21Mark on Tuesday 3rd May 07:29

[robinessex]

If I ever get the money to buy one, I'd

1. Learn to drive it very, very fast.
2. Thrash the bks of it.
3. Fix anything I found horrible. Handling, Brakes ?
4. Use it to pop into Tesco's or B&Q. Do McLaren make a roof rack for it? But not exclusively. Empty roads at 5am in the morning would look tempting.
5. Strip it & rebuild when it's been trashed. It's only a bloody car.

[marcosgt]

I really really wish I could adore this car, but for some reason it's always left me a little cold.

If I had that kind of cash I'd have an F40 and an EB110 and ten million in change!

M.

Edited by marcosgt on Tuesday 3rd May 11:47

[anniesdad]

If only....

I'd buy it and put some (read plenty of) miles on the poor thing.

Fabulous.

[Davey S2]

If this standard road version doesn't float your boat then Simon Kidson is selling this GTR Long Tail





POA as well though so I doubt he will take my 320d in part ex.

http://www.kidston.com/kidston-cars/2560/1997-McLa...

[Sway]

Kidson has done a proper number on the values of race F1s... The relative rise in value is far greater than the road spec ones, and pretty much entirely down to him controlling the stock and talking up the market.

Fair play.

[Davey S2]

Sway said:

Kidson has done a proper number on the values of race F1s... The relative rise in value is far greater than the road spec ones, and pretty much entirely down to him controlling the stock and talking up the market.

Fair play.

He has (or had) a black road car as well. I saw it in Monaco a few years back at the Classic GP just after he acquired it and had not long come back from a 6 figure service

[tankplanker]

I'd love it, but I'd only buy it if I could afford to drive it regularly both on the road and on the track. I'd want to be able to drive to Italy to a track day at Monza, that type of thing.

[Sway]

Davey S2 said:

Sway said:

Kidson has done a proper number on the values of race F1s... The relative rise in value is far greater than the road spec ones, and pretty much entirely down to him controlling the stock and talking up the market.

Fair play.

He has (or had) a black road car as well. I saw it in Monaco a few years back at the Classic GP just after he acquired it and had not long come back from a 6 figure service

He's had loads. I think after the factory (and possibly Lazante), he's brokered the most deals on F1s.

There was certainly a point a few years ago where the only place you could reliably get one was from him, and he used it to his advantage with the GTRs.