The McLaren F1 was designed and manufactured by the British car manufacturer McLaren Cars, and it is a surprise that the vehicle is powered by a BMW S70/2 V12 engine. The original concept was dreamed up by Gordon Murray, who successfully convinced Ron Dennis to back his project and hired car designer Peter Stevens to design the car’s appearance. 1998. on March 31, the XP5 prototype with a modified rev limiter set the Guinness World Record for the world’s fastest production car, reaching 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h), beating the modified Jaguar XJ220’s 217.1 mph (349 km/h /h) record from 1993.
In 1994, the British magazine Autocar stated in an F1 road test: „The McLaren F1 is the best driving machine ever built for the road.” They further stated: „F1 will be remembered as one of the greatest events in motoring history and will perhaps be the fastest production road car we have ever seen.” In 2005, Channel4 put the car at number one in their 100 Greatest Cars list, calling it „the greatest automotive performance of all time”. In pop culture, the McLaren F1 has earned the title of „Most Powerful Sports Car of All Time and Greatest Sports Car of All Time” among a wide range of motoring enthusiasts. The proud owner of such a car is race car driver Lewis Hamilton, comedian Rowan Atkinson, TV host Jay Leno, entrepreneur Elon Musk, fashion designer Ralph Lauren and, of course, the main subject of our article, His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei.
Chief engineer Gordon Murray’s design concept was common among high-performance car dreamers: light weight and high performance. This was achieved using high-tech and expensive materials such as carbon fiber, titanium, Kevlar, magnesium and gold. The F1 was the first production car to use a carbon fiber monocoque chassis.
In general, the McLaren F1 was a mid-engined sports car that was produced between 1992 and 1998, with a total of 106 cars produced. Due to the extremely limited production numbers, the cars are extremely rare, with values ranging from $8 million to $13.5 million. The Sultan of Brunei bought ten of the 106 McLaren F1s produced, including five street cars, three F1 LMs, one F1 GT and one F1 GTR. Even though Gordon Murray wanted all F1 LMs to be built in Historic Orange, two of the three F1 LMs ordered for the first time were custom painted. By the way, the Sultan still owns these rare cars.
Adam Gubán
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