Friday 18th May 2018

McLaren F1: Pic of the Week

A stunning photo of a legendary car makes this week's POTW a no-brainer

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The McLaren F1 needs no introduction, especially to PHers, but reminding ourselves of just how special it was is never a waste of time. Designed by Gordon Murray and Peter Stevens, its central driving position, gold-lined engine bay and full carbon fibre chassis - a first for a road car - made it a true modern legend. Those and its mid-mounted 636hp 6.1-litre V12, which propelled the F1 to 242.8mph and the title of world's fastest production road car. More than two decades later, it remains the fastest naturally-aspirated production road car ever built.

It's been 20 years since production of the F1 ceased, and yet its design remains remarkably fresh, so what better time to feature it? This particular example, chassis #069, is painted Carbon Black with a black and red leather interior, and was one of the very last F1s produced. Nowadays its performance benchmark has been bested by multiple other machines, and yet its legend, and value, only continues to grow. We may never see its like again, but you can still see it on your desktop every day with this POTW.

16:10
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[Oldwolf]

Saw (and heard) one on the road on Saturday, a rare treat!

[unpc]

Am I the only one here who doesn't really like the F1? In LM trim it looks better but the road car never looked right to me.

[kambites]

unpc said:

Am I the only one here who doesn't really like the F1? In LM trim it looks better but the road car never looked right to me.

I certainly don't think it's a pretty car but it's still wonderful.

[unpc]

kambites said:

unpc said:

Am I the only one here who doesn't really like the F1? In LM trim it looks better but the road car never looked right to me.

I certainly don't think it's a pretty car but it's still wonderful.

Probably but ignoring financial considerations, of it's contemporaries, I'd take the XJ220 or F40 over one of these every time.

[ghost83]

I’d love to have a ride in one

I had a poster of a orange lm and even now I’d love to go in one

[pSyCoSiS]

The thing is, I really don't think this car has been bettered that much by modern alternatives.

The performance stats of this car still strongly hold their own again modern hyper cars, and for the mechanical purity, I'd have an F1 over any one of them.

Still my all-time dream machine for when the lottery numbers come up!

[Krikkit]

unpc said:

kambites said:

unpc said:

Am I the only one here who doesn't really like the F1? In LM trim it looks better but the road car never looked right to me.

I certainly don't think it's a pretty car but it's still wonderful.

Probably but ignoring financial considerations, of it's contemporaries, I'd take the XJ220 or F40 over one of these every time.

When I was a kid I thought that too, but the more I get into the engineering nerdery, the more I love the F1.

Realistically if I was rich enough to own an F1 I'd have a 220 and an F40/F50 as well.

[DooM_II]

I'm probably seeing hundreds of pics on instagram each day but this one is just stunning.

[CaptainRAVE]

Oh, another McLaren pic/article. Surprise surprise.

[WCZ]

one of the greatest cars if not the greatest of all time

[Jon_S_Rally]

pSyCoSiS said:

The thing is, I really don't think this car has been bettered that much by modern alternatives.

The performance stats of this car still strongly hold their own again modern hyper cars, and for the mechanical purity, I'd have an F1 over any one of them.

Still my all-time dream machine for when the lottery numbers come up!

Totally agree with this. Yes, the fugly Kensington-adored Bugatti is faster and probably easier to drive, but it just does absolutely nothing for me. This is just perfection. Pure, unadulterated, and all about the driver.

The only thing that has come even vaguely close to knocking this off it's 'Jon's ultimate car' pedestal was the P1, but this still wins. By a long, long way.

[JasonF83]

My favourite all time car. No a.b.s., no power steering, no traction control, a pure, mechanical driver's machine.

[jcl]

unpc said:

Am I the only one here who doesn't really like the F1? In LM trim it looks better but the road car never looked right to me.

It's absolute perfection. I've always loved the lack of wings on it and short overhangs etc but when I saw one in silver it finally dawned on me why it's so special. It looks more like a 80's era Soviet fighter jet with wheels than any other car. Especially the overhead view. Plus it's tiny and the fundamentals of layout and packaging are still the benchmark. Apart from 90's/00's French hatches and Caterhams, it's the only car I get excited about.