McLaren F1 LM
If you think the limited edition McLaren F1 road car was pretty special then the McLaren F1 LM takes this to a God-Like stratospheric level! With only 6 cars produced they are indeed very special cars, just one of which would add to my dream list of top 10 cars very nicely. When the cars were initially released the Sultan of Brunei purchased 3 of the cars outright. The car below belongs to McLaren & there are a further 2 cars residing in the USA.
When Lewis Hamilton was driving for McLaren a deal was made between Ron Dennis & Lewis, depending on a couple of World Title Wins for both driver & constructor, this ultimate car could have ended up in Lewis’ garage. Oh well that didn’t happen. On chatting with senior management at the McLaren stand they weren’t particularly bothered that Hamilton had left their team & it was made very clear to me that they – “McLaren’ didn’t need Lewis!
Hamilton quickly established his dominance at Mercedes going on to win his Second Formula 1 Driver’s World Title in 2014. McLaren’s racing success since 2013 is well documented. I was disappointed with the lack of support for Lewis from McLaren, back in 2013, not very sporting in my opinion, after all Lewis did win a Drivers Championship for McLaren in 2008.
With CAD (Computer Aided Design) in its infancy it is very satisfying to see the clean functional lines & detailing very much derived from the drawing board & many clay model iterations. This purity of design will never be repeated in the future.
The horizontal cooling slots remind me of a previous car that I owned for some time – a Sunbeam Stiletto (a Hillman Imp derivative), more about this car to come in future posts. It’s interesting to note that Gordon Murray, the designer of the McLaren F1 has a Hillman Imp in his car collection.
An Impressive specification sheet above, 680 bhp is a lot in a car weighing 1062 Kg, although these days easily surpassed by modern era supercars. The F1 LM has 1,000’s of party pieces to trounce any modern car, one of which is the sound of the V12 engine! When combined with a racing like gearbox with straight cut gears, the resulting driving experience is automotive heaven, albeit very loud, hence the need for headphones when driving the car.
Its’s very unlikely you will see one these Hypercars’s actually driving on the road. If you do please let me know. Conservatively with the right buyer & market conditions being favourable a financial value somewhere between £20 Million & £30 Million is appropriate.
The McLaren F1 LM a proper drivers car for the ultimate experience. Its a pretty good investment too!
If you can’t afford the real thing then one can always have a realistic finely detailed model of the F1 LM for £3250.
I must admit this is a very desirable model to have.
I wonder if they used real gold leaf to insulate the hot areas within the engine bay, just like the real F1 cars.
Such clean functional lines are simply awesome.
You can see evidence of the gold leaf used to protect the car’s systems in hot area’s within the engine bay.
In the time that the gentleman has walked around the McLaren F1 LM, its value has probably risen by £10,000!
A stunning view of the McLaren F1 LM with its low slung functional Le Mans design.
The rear tyres appear quite small in diameter but who cares when the width is a 345 wide profile!
A small subtle F1 LM name badge for one of the most awesome road cars ever produced.
If only Ayrton Senna could have given passenger rides in the McLaren F1 LM, these experiences would have been very special indeed!
I always reckon on a seriously fast car being one that can cover the 80 mph to 100 mph interval in top gear in 5 or less seconds. Low gearing does help in this respect & I have owned one car that did just manage this feat, more about this special car in future posts. The F1 LM does this acceleration in 3.0 seconds! Drop down to 5th gear and the time interval is just 2.4 seconds. In 4th gear the time interval is only 1.7 seconds & in 3rd gear this figure would fall to 1.5 seconds. So wickedly fast.
You may well scratch your head in thinking how does one get to own such a rare car, with Lewis Hamilton probably the last potential owner. It has been alleged that Lewis marked the car in some way, just in case he decided to buy this unique car in the future & just in case McLaren tried to produce another one somehow!
One of the cleanest smooth flowing front ends of a modern Hypercar.
No driver aids with the McLaren F1 LM – i.e no ABS & traction control!
To the lucky five owners of the McLaren F1 LM, enjoy & please drive your car as much as possible & share with as many petrol-heads as you can, the experience, presence & glorious V12 sound!
