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111-610: The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series , FIA GT Championship , JGTC , and British GT Championship . It was powered by the naturally aspirated BMW S70/2 V12 engine. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it won against faster purpose-built prototypes in very wet conditions. The F1 GTR raced internationally until 2005 when

222-551: A 1-2 victory at the Nürburgring , ahead of five McLarens. McLaren was able to claw back a victory at Spa before the Mercedes again took over, taking 1-2 victories in the next three rounds. McLaren would take one final victory at Mugello before the Mercedes would take the final two victories of the year. BMW Motorsport , who had scored McLaren's only victories that year, managed second in the teams championships, while Team Davidoff took

333-561: A 1-2-3 victory over six trailing 911 GT1s. However, for the next round, Mercedes-Benz would be able to put up a fight against the McLarens, with a new CLK-GTR losing to BMW Motorsports F1 GTR by less than a second. At Helsinki, with a smaller field on the temporary street course and more mechanical woes for Mercedes, the BMW Motorsport McLaren again took victory. Unfortunately, Mercedes soon overcame their mechanical problems and took

444-583: A 1997-spec car, for competition in GT500. The competition from Toyota , Honda , and Nissan had improved since the McLaren last raced, and therefore Team Take One struggled to be competitive, achieving only a best 9th place at Mine Circuit. For 2000, Hitotsuyama Racing decided to follow Team Take One's lead and enter their own 1997-spec chassis, #25R, which the team had previously used in the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km . Although both teams suffered mechanical woes throughout

555-500: A 3.5-litre V12 engine being tested in a Lotus chassis. The company was very interested in having the engine fitted into the F1. However, the designers wanted an engine with a proven design and a racing pedigree. Gordon Murray then approached BMW , which took an interest, and the motorsport division BMW M headed by engine expert Paul Rosche designed and built Murray a 6,064 cc (6.1 L; 370.0 cu in) 60º V12 engine called

666-532: A car he had owned and driven himself for 7 years without ever needing to change the AC automatic setting. Further comfort features included SeKurit electric defrost/demist windscreen and side glass, electric window lifts, remote central locking, Kenwood 10-disc CD stereo system, cabin access release for opening panels, cabin storage compartment, four-lamp high performance headlight system, rear fog and reversing lights, courtesy lights in all compartments, map reading lights and

777-638: A distant third. Although McLaren had successfully outdone Porsche, they were simply unable to compete with the power of the new Mercedes-Benz . BMW officially left the project at the end of 1997 in order to build their own Le Mans Prototype project, the BMW V12 LM . McLaren, realizing that the F1 could no longer compete against an even more evolved Mercedes CLK-LM, decided to pull out factory backing for 1998. Team Davidoff and Parabolica Motorsports, aligned with BBA Competition, attempted to continue with their aged cars in 1998, but could finish no better than fifth in

888-607: A flight home from the Italian Grand Prix in 1988 , he drew a sketch of a three-seater sports car and proposed it to Ron Dennis . He pitched the idea of creating the ultimate road car , a concept that would be heavily influenced by the company's Formula One experience and technology and thus reflect that skill and knowledge through the McLaren F1. Murray declared that "During this time, we were able to visit Honda 's Tochigi Research Centre with Ayrton Senna . The visit related to

999-453: A former GTC Competition F1 GTR of 1995-spec. Although quick enough to take six pole positions over the season, the team struggled during races, managing only a single victory against a large variety of sportscars. Although drivers Ian Flux and Jake Ulrich managed to easily take the GT1 class drivers championship, the pair failed to beat out GT2 and GT3 class teams for the overall championship. Following

1110-457: A fourth place. The following year, the GT1 class was abandoned and the McLarens no longer eligible. However, in an ACO sanctioned event in Japan in 1999 , a McLaren F1 GTR was entered by Hitotsuyama Racing in the new LMGTP class for closed-cockpit prototypes. Had the McLaren won its class, it would have earned an automatic entry to Le Mans as a prototype in 2000, however the car failed to finish and

1221-416: A gold-plated Facom titanium tool kit and first aid kit (both stored in the car). In addition, tailored, proprietary luggage bags specially designed to fit the vehicle's carpeted storage compartments, including a tailored golf bag, were standard equipment. Airbags are not present in the car. Each customer was given a special edition TAG Heuer 6000 Chronometer wristwatch with its serial number scripted below

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1332-516: A lighter magnesium housing and more robust mechanicals. These modifications allowed for the weight of the GTR to be lowered by 38 kg. Due to demand, nine more new GTRs were built, while two older GTRs (#03R and #06R) were also modified to the 1996-spec. The F1 GTR 1996 was the fastest variant in terms of straight line speed - the car hit 330 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans in 1996, which

1443-448: A low pressure exit point at the top of the very rear. Under each door is a small air intake to provide cooling for the oil tank and some of the electronics. The airflow created by the electric fans not only increases downforce, but the airflow that is created is further exploited through design, by being directed through the engine bay to provide additional cooling for the engine and the ECU. At

1554-622: A modified rev limiter set the Guinness World Record for the world's fastest production car , reaching 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h), surpassing the Jaguar XJ220 's 217.1 mph (349.4 km/h) record from 1992 achieved with an increased rev limit and catalytic converters removed. The car features numerous proprietary designs and technologies; it is lighter and has a more streamlined structure than many modern sports cars, despite having one seat more than most similar sports cars, with

1665-513: A protective paint and secured by magnesium retention pins. The turning circle from kerb to kerb is 13 m (42.7 ft), allowing the driver 2.8 turns from lock to lock. The F1 features unassisted, vented and cross-drilled brake discs made by Brembo . The Front size is 332 mm (13.1 in) and the rear 305 mm (12.0 in). The calipers are all four-pot, opposed piston types, and are made of aluminium. The rear brake calipers do not feature any handbrake functionality, however there

1776-546: A similar S70/2 engine. The engine was given a short development time, causing the BMW design team to use only trusted technology from prior design and implementation experience. The engine does not use titanium valves or connecting rods. Variable intake geometry was considered but rejected on grounds of unnecessary complication. As for fuel consumption, the engine achieves on average 15.2 mpg (15 L/100 km), at worst 9.3 mpg (25 L/100 km) and at best 23.4 mpg (10 L/100 km). It

1887-557: A single race. Team Davidoff were the only ones to score points that season, finishing 6th in the teams championship. After 1998 the GT1 class was abolished due to the dominance by Mercedes-Benz, and McLaren F1s never raced in FIA GT again. In 1996, Team Goh of Japan purchased two F1 GTRs of 1996-spec, chassis #13R and #14R, for participation in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship 's (JGTC) GT500 class under

1998-469: A system very closely based on BMW's VANOS variable valve timing system for the BMW M3 ; it is a hydraulically actuated phasing mechanism which retards the inlet cam relative to the exhaust cam at low revs, which reduces the valve overlap and provides for increased idle stability and increased low-speed torque. At higher rpm the valve overlap is increased by computer control to 42 degrees (compare to 25 degrees on

2109-477: A transverse 6-speed manual gearbox with an AP carbon triple-plate clutch contained in an aluminium housing. The gearbox was developed in collaboration with Weismann transmissions in California. The second generation GTR edition has a magnesium housing. Both the standard edition and the 'McLaren F1 LM' have the following gear ratios: 3.23:1, 2.19:1, 1.71:1, 1.39:1, 1.16:1, 0.93:1, with a final drive of 2.37:1, although

2220-508: Is 13 km/h faster than the 1997 long-tail F1 GTR and even 6 km/h faster than the 1996 Porsche GT1. With the BPR Global GT Series reformed into the FIA GT Championship in 1997, rules regarding the cars used in the premier GT1 class were altered. Homologation specials like the Porsche 911 GT1 had already proven their worth in the final races of 1996, while newcomer Mercedes-Benz

2331-439: Is a double wishbone system with an unusual design. Longitudinal wheel compliance is included without loss of wheel control, which allows the wheel to travel backwards when it hits a bump – increasing the comfort of the ride. Caster wind-off at the front during braking is handled by McLaren's proprietary Ground Plane Shear Centre – the wishbones on either side in the subframe are fixed in rigid plane bearings and connected to

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2442-520: Is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Cars and powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine, of which a limited number was produced. The original concept was conceived by Gordon Murray , who successfully convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and hired car designer Peter Stevens to design the exterior and interior of the car. On 31 March 1998, the XP5 prototype with

2553-426: Is a mechanically actuated, fist-type calipers which is computer controlled and thus serve as a handbrake. To increase caliper stiffness, the calipers are machined from a single solid piece of metal (in contrast to the more common being bolted together from two halves). Pedal travel is slightly over one inch. Activation of the rear spoiler will allow the air pressure generated at the back of the vehicle to force air into

2664-410: Is not from a Japanese manufacturer; a Porsche 911 GT2 won the GT500 team's championship in 1995, although the driver championship was won by a Nissan driver that year. Team Lark would not return to defend their title in 1997 due to disputes with GT Association over car handicaps, and no McLarens raced in the series. McLarens would return though in 1999 with Team Take One purchasing McLaren F1 GTR #19R,

2775-515: Is outmatched by very few cars, including the Bugatti Veyron and the Bugatti Chiron . However, all of the higher top speed machines use forced induction to reach their respective top speeds, whereas the McLaren F1 is naturally aspirated . To date the F1 holds the record for fastest naturally aspirated production car, a record it has held for almost 30 years. In August 1993, McLaren tested

2886-440: Is used at the rear of the machine and provides measurements of 0.04 degrees per g of change in toe-in under braking and 0.08 degrees per g of toe-out under traction. When developing the suspension system, the facility of electro-hydraulic kinematics and compliance at AB Dynamics was employed to measure the performance of the suspension on a Jaguar XJR16, a Porsche 928 S and a Honda NSX to use as references. Steering knuckles and

2997-457: The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans . Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998. In all, 106 cars were manufactured, with some variations in the design. In 1994, the British car magazine Autocar stated in a road test regarding the F1, "The McLaren F1 is the finest driving machine yet built for the public road." They further stated, "The F1 will be remembered as one of the great events in the history of

3108-511: The BMW S70/2 . At 461 kW (618 hp; 627 PS) and 266 kg (586 lb) the BMW engine ended up 14% more powerful and 16 kg (35 lb) heavier than Gordon Murray's original specifications, with the same block length. It has an aluminium alloy block and heads, with bore x stroke of 86 mm × 87 mm (3.39 in × 3.43 in) DOHC with variable valve timing (a relatively new and unproven technology for

3219-509: The ECU . Each cylinder has its own miniature ignition coil. The closed-loop fuel injection is sequential. The engine has no knock sensor as the predicted combustion conditions would not cause this to be a problem. The pistons are forged in aluminium. Every cylinder bore has a Nikasil coating giving it a high degree of wear resistance. From 1998 to 2000, the Le Mans –winning BMW V12 LMR sports car used

3330-532: The Nürburgring , McLaren would successfully take the first five positions for GTC, West Competition, and new F1 GTR owners Giroix Racing Team and Mach One Racing. Following another victory at Donington , the F1 had a slight dry spell when it first lost to a Porsche in Montléry , then to a Ferrari at Anderstorp . However the F1 GTR would return to form by winning the final four races of the season. West Competition would take

3441-787: The Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah. In the April 2017 issue of Top Gear Magazine , the McLaren F1 was listed as one of the fastest naturally aspirated cars currently available in the world, and in the same league as more modern vehicles such as the Ferrari Enzo and Aston Martin One-77 despite being produced and engineered 10 years prior to the Ferrari Enzo and 17 years prior to the Aston Martin One-77. Chief engineer Gordon Murray 's design concept

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3552-531: The "Long Tail" version due to their stretched bodywork, most noticeably at the rear. At Le Mans 1997, the car reached 317 kilometres per hour (196.97 mph) on the Mulsanne straight. This was still slightly slower than some of the field, including the Porsche 911 GT1 Evo 's - 326 kilometres per hour (202.57 mph), Nissan R390 GT1 's - 319 kilometres per hour (198.22 mph) and TWR Porsche Joest LMP 's - 320 kilometres per hour (198.84 mph). Debuting at

3663-406: The 1995 season. An unused F1 chassis which was meant to become #019 was taken by McLaren and modified by the company as a developmental prototype. Because of the similarity to a race car, extensive modification was not needed to actually turn the F1 into a racing car. Bodywork modification saw the addition of various cooling ducts, most noticeably a large one in the center of the nose and two placed in

3774-478: The 1995, BPR season opener at Jerez , three F1 GTRs took to the track (two for GTC Competition, one for David Price Racing 's West Competition). The McLarens showed their speed from the very start, taking the first three qualifying spots. In the race, facing stiff competition from a Porsche 911 GT2 Evo, the McLaren F1 GTR of Ray Bellm and Maurizio Sandro Sala was able to take victory by a mere 16 seconds. For

3885-494: The 1997 season. Major teams included the BMW Motorsport -backed Schnitzer Motorsport , Team Davidoff, and Parabolica Motorsports. Privateers continued to campaign older 1995-spec and 1996-spec cars. At the opening round, the new Mercedes showed its pace by taking the pole in qualifying, but the car suffered mechanically during the race. The newer F1 GTRs showed that they had overcome the performance advantage of Porsche by taking

3996-573: The 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 11th places. With the upgraded 1997-spec cars, McLaren returned with six entries the following year. Now facing not only Porsche, but also Lister , Panoz, and Nissan, the McLarens again performed well. Only two entries managed to finish, taking 2nd and 3rd overall (1st and 2nd in the GT class) behind the repeat winner, the Porsche LMP. In 1998, only two McLaren F1 GTRs were entered, both by privateer teams, with only one car managing

4107-477: The 60 millimetres (2.36 in) front and 80 millimetres (3.15 in) rear clearance of the 1996-spec car. The engine also saw extensive modification, with a stroke reduction bringing the BMW S70 V12 down to 5,990 cubic centimetres (366 cu in) in an attempt to prolong the life of the engines, while still maintaining the air restrictor-controlled 600 metric horsepower (441 kW). The standard gearbox

4218-433: The F1 steering column cannot be adjusted; however, prior to production each customer specifies the exact preferred position of the steering wheel and thus the steering column is tailored by default to those owner settings. The same holds true for the pedals, which are not adjustable after the car has left the factory but are tailored to each specific customer. During its pre-production stage, McLaren commissioned Kenwood ,

4329-489: The GT90s Revival Series which mainly involved former BPR Global GT Series competitors. A handful of GTRs were not only bought by private owners, but also extensively modified by McLaren to make them street-legal. In order to meet regulations, the cars were required to have their ride heights increased, as well as a change from a racing fuel tank and inlet to a more traditional tank and fuel cap. The air restrictor on

4440-590: The GTR Euroseries season, a four-hour race at Spa . Unfortunately the car was forced to retire with a blown head gasket. Following the end of competition for most F1 GTRs in 1998, the various chassis were put to different uses. Some cars, such as the Le Mans-winning chassis #01R, were put on public exhibition at motor shows or in museums. Others were bought by private collectors, either for storage or for use by their owners in historic track day competition, such as

4551-643: The Kokusai Kaihatsu McLaren obtained victory and the highest practice top speed of the year, reaching 281 km/h (174.605 mph) on the Mulsanne Straight . Following the success of the 1995 season, McLaren set forth to upgrade the car to remain competitive, especially against the threat of newer sports cars appearing such as the Ferrari F50 GT (which was withdrawn quickly) and the Porsche 911 GT1 . They were assisted by BMW Motorsport , who at

McLaren F1 GTR - Misplaced Pages Continue

4662-464: The Le Mans Prototypes was stiffer as Porsche had a factory team in the class. GT1 class itself was also more competitive, again with Porsche having a factory team with their new 911 GT1s. McLaren had seven entries again, but were unable to repeat on their success, although they were only beaten by the two new 911 GT1s and the overall winning Porsche LMP. Six of the seven McLarens finished, taking

4773-450: The M3) for increased airflow into the cylinders and thus increased performance. To allow the fuel to atomise fully, the engine uses two Lucas injectors per cylinder, with the first injector located close to the inlet valve – operating at low engine rpm – while the second is located higher up the inlet tract – operating at higher rpm. The dynamic transition between the two devices is controlled by

4884-464: The McLaren F1 GTRs were no longer eligible. Although officially not part of any one racing series, the 24 Hours of Le Mans was still considered important enough for McLaren to enter. Competing at Le Mans meant racing against many of their normal GT1 competitors from various series, as well as some unique cars which ran Le Mans only. McLaren first ran Le Mans in 1995, with all seven chassis built at

4995-569: The Mil Milhas. Team Davidoff raced in a number of events outside of the mainstream in 1997, appearing at the 6 Hours of Vallelunga with drivers Thomas Bscher and John Nielsen (racing driver) taking a 21 lap victory over the nearest competitor. Later, the car appeared at the Le Mans Autumn Cup, finishing second in combined heat races. BBA Competition would fly to China for the FIA GT exhibition event at Zhuhai , taking second. In 1998, for

5106-541: The NSX, but the NSX's ride quality and handling would become our new design target. Being a fan of Honda engines, I later went to Honda's Tochigi Research Centre on two occasions and requested that they consider building for the McLaren F1 a 4.5-litre V10 or V12 . I asked, I tried to persuade them, but in the end could not convince them to do it, and the McLaren F1 ended up equipped with a BMW engine." A pair of Ultima MK3 kit cars, chassis numbers 12 and 13, "Albert" and "Edward",

5217-640: The Porsche showing its dominance late in the season, McLaren's GTC Competition was still successful in taking the team's championship with West Competition taking third. For 1997, the BPR Global Endurance GT Championship would become the FIA GT Championship. Showing control of the BPR series early in 1996, McLaren now saw that their car was lacking against the likes of the new Porsche 911 GT1 in

5328-618: The XP3 prototype – which was limited to 433 kW (581 hp; 589 PS) – at the Nardò Ring . They calculated a top speed of 231 mph (372 km/h) from the data recording inside the car. The British magazine Autocar was given access and tested the XP5 prototype in May 1994. They wrote: "Had we enough tarmac, we have no doubt that it would finally stop accelerating at its rev-limiter in top which, taking tyre growth into account, would be somewhere

5439-400: The all new FIA GT Championship . At the same time, McLaren was aware of the arrival of the new Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR , Lotus Elise GT1 , and Panoz Esperante GTR-1 , all purpose-built racing cars that bore little relation to road legal cars like the McLaren F1. The new F1 GTR "Long Tail" cars were therefore developed, and with increased assistance from BMW Motorsport , McLaren continued into

5550-563: The body by four independent bushings which are 25 times more stiff radially than axially. This solution provides for a caster wind-off measured to 1.02 degrees per g of braking deceleration. Compare the Honda NSX at 2.91 degrees per g, the Porsche 928 S at 3.60 degrees per g and the Jaguar XJ6 at 4.30 degrees per g respectively. The difference in toe and camber values is also very small under lateral force application. The Inclined Shear Axis

5661-464: The car as a result (some cars, including Ralph Lauren 's, were sent back to McLaren and fitted with the prototype mirrors). The original wing mirrors also incorporated a pair of indicators which other car manufacturers would adopt several years later. The car's safety levels were first proved during testing in Namibia in April 1993, when a test driver wearing just shorts and a T-shirt hit a rock and rolled

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5772-539: The car back for two brief appearances in 2005, failing to finish in the first race at Fuji then taking an 18th on the series' return to Fuji before being retired for good by Hitotsuyama. This would be the final McLaren F1 GTR in competition in the world. Starting in 1996, with the expansion of the BRDC GT Championship (later known as British GT), the Lanzante Motorsports team saw an opportunity to purchase

5883-555: The car to be associated with "kit cars". The car was first unveiled at a launch show, on 28 May 1992, at The Sporting Club in Monaco . The production version remained the same as the original prototype (XP1) except for the wing mirror which, on the XP1, was mounted at the top of the A-pillar . This car was deemed not road legal as it had no indicators at the front; McLaren was forced to make changes to

5994-614: The car, and it may possibly be the fastest production road car the world will ever see." In 2005, Channel 4 placed the car at number one on their list of the 100 greatest cars, calling it "the greatest automotive achievement of all time". In popular culture, the McLaren F1 has earned its spot as 'The greatest automobile ever created' and 'The Most Excellent Sports Car of All Time' amongst a wide variety of car enthusiasts and lovers. Notable past and present McLaren F1 owners include Lewis Hamilton , Elon Musk , Rowan Atkinson , Jay Leno , George Harrison , Ralph Lauren , Nick Mason , and

6105-474: The centre stem. All features of the F1 were, according to Gordon Murray, obsessed over, including the interior. The metal plates fitted to improve the aesthetics of the cockpit are claimed to be 20 thousandths of an inch (0.5 mm) thick to save weight. The driver's seat of the McLaren F1 is custom fitted to the specifications desired by the customer for optimal fit and comfort; the seats are handmade from CFRP and covered in light Connolly leather. By design,

6216-404: The cooling ducts located at either end of the spoiler which become uncovered upon application of it. Servo-assisted ABS brakes were ruled out as they would imply increased mass, complexity and reduced brake feel; however, at the cost of increasing the required skill of the driver. Gordon Murray attempted to utilise carbon brakes for the F1, but found the technology to be not advanced enough at

6327-507: The driver to maintain maximum control of the engine is thus compromised. Murray initially approached Honda for a power plant rated at 410 kW (550 hp; 557 PS), with 600 mm (23.6 in) of block length and a total weight of 250 kg (551 lb), it was required to be derived from the Formula One power plant in the then-dominating McLaren/Honda cars. When Honda refused, Isuzu , then planning an entry into Formula One , had

6438-483: The driver's seat is located in the middle, ahead of the fuel tank and ahead of the engine, with a passenger seat slightly behind and on each side. The vehicle doors move up and out when opened and are thus of the butterfly or dihedral type. Gordon Murray's design for the doors was inspired by the Toyota Sera . The engine produces high temperatures under full application and thus causes a high temperature variation in

6549-417: The driver's seat located in the centre (and slightly forward) of two passengers' seating positions, providing driver visibility superior to that of a conventional seating layout. It was conceived as an exercise in creating what its designers hoped would be considered the ultimate road car. Despite not having been designed for use as a race car, a modified racing version of the vehicle won several races, including

6660-462: The engine bay from no operation to normal and full operation. CFRP becomes mechanically stressed over time from high heat transfer effects and thus the engine bay was not constructed from CFRP. The overall drag coefficient on the standard McLaren F1 is C d =0.32, compared with C d =0.36 for the faster Bugatti Veyron , and C d =0.357 for the SSC Ultimate Aero TT , which

6771-718: The engine was also removed, allowing the BMW engines to produce their full potential power. Comforts such as the production car's sound deadening system, and even sometimes the two passenger seats, were left out of the car. These modified McLaren F1 GTRs are considered the ultimate versions of the road car, since they weigh considerably less than any of the other street cars. Several F1 GTRs in this form are still driven today. A total of 28 F1 GTR chassis were built. Nine were built in 1995-spec, nine in 1996-spec, and ten more in 1997-spec. Some cars were upgraded from one spec to another, but this count only includes cars built from scratch to that specification. McLaren F1 The McLaren F1

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6882-504: The eventual class winner, a Toyota GT-One , declined the automatic invitation as Toyota decided to end the GT-One program in favour of Formula One. At the close of the 1996 seasons, Bigazzi Team SRL, Giroix Racing Team, and David Price Racing took their F1 GTRs to Brazil to compete in races at Curitiba and Brasília . Bigazzi took both victories just ahead of the other two McLarens. Bigazzi would return to Brazil again in 1997 to take victory at

6993-462: The fact that at the time, Honda powered McLaren's F1 Grand Prix chassis. Although it's true I had thought it would have been better to put a larger engine, the moment I drove the Honda NSX , all the benchmark cars— Ferrari , Porsche , Lamborghini —I had been using as references in the development of my car vanished from my mind. Of course, the car we would create, the McLaren F1, needed to be faster than

7104-452: The factory as a test mule, except for a one-off use by Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . British team GTC Racing received two F1 GTRs, with a third being used to replace a destroyed car. David Price Racing , BBA Competition, Mach One Racing, and Giroix Racing Team would all receive one chassis each, while the final chassis, #09R, was sold to Hassanal Bolkiah , the Sultan of Brunei , for his car collection. At Le Mans 1995,

7215-851: The far side of 230 mph (370 km/h)." BMW Motorsport The current organisation is a result of a restructure in April 2021, bringing together the BMW M high-performance division with the competitive motorsport division. Key personnel include Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH, and Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport. BMW M Team RLL BMW M Team WRT Ceccato Racing : Century Motorsport : FK Performance Motorsport : Paul Miller Racing ROWE Racing Schubert Motorsport : ST Racing : Team AAI : Team KRC Team Studie : Team RMG : Team WRT : Turner Motorsport : See Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for BMW's historical involvement in DTM. From 2021 onwards

7326-423: The final gear is offset from the side of the clutch. The Torsen Limited Slip Differential has a 40% lock. The sixth gear ratio allows for a longer cruise at 53 km/h (33 mph) per 1000 rpm. The McLaren F1 has an aluminium flywheel that has only the dimensions and mass absolutely needed to allow the torque from the engine to be transmitted. This is done in order to decrease rotational inertia and increase

7437-399: The final race chassis was retired. Gordon Murray , creator of the McLaren F1, originally saw his creation as the ultimate road car, with no intention to take the car racing. Although the car used many racing technologies and designs, it was felt that the car should be a road car first, without any intent built into the creation of the car to modify it into a racing car. However, soon after

7548-537: The first prototype car several times, and still managed to escape unscathed. Later in the year, the second prototype (XP2) was specially built for crash testing and passed with the front wheel arch untouched. Gordon Murray insisted that the engine for this car be naturally aspirated to increase reliability and driver control. Turbochargers and superchargers increase power but they increase complexity and can decrease reliability as well as introduce an additional aspect of latency and loss of feedback. The ability of

7659-412: The flap, and this high pressure zone is exploited—two air intakes are revealed upon application that will allow the high pressure airflow to enter ducts that route air to aid in cooling the rear brakes. The spoiler increases the overall drag coefficient from C d =0.32 to C d =0.39 and is activated at speeds equal to or above 40 mph (64 km/h) by brake line pressure. Steve Randle, who

7770-436: The former set premise – the goal of creating the ultimate road car . From inception, the design of the F1 had a strong focus on weight distribution by extensive manipulation of placement of, among other things, the engine, fuel and driver, allowing for a low polar moment of inertia in yaw. The F1 has 42% of its weight at the front and 58% at the rear, this figure changes less than 1% with the fuel load. The distance between

7881-467: The front and 1.75 Hz at the rear. Despite being sports oriented, these figures imply a soft ride and inherently decrease track performance. As can be seen from the McLaren F1 LM and the McLaren F1 GTR track variants, the track performance potential is much higher than that in the standard F1 road car due to the fact that the car should be comfortable and usable in everyday conditions. The suspension

7992-419: The front, there are ducts assisted by a Kevlar electric suction fan for cooling the front brakes. There is a small dynamic rear spoiler on the tail of the vehicle, which will adjust dynamically and automatically attempt to balance the centre of gravity of the car under braking – which will be shifted forward when the brakes are applied. Upon activation of the spoiler, a high pressure zone is created in front of

8103-499: The last two MK3s, were used as "mules" to test various components and concepts before the first cars were built. Number 12 was used to test the gearbox with a 7.4-litre Chevrolet V8 , plus various other components such as the seats and the brakes. Number 13 was the test of the V12, plus the exhaust and cooling system. When McLaren was done with the cars they destroyed both of them to keep away the specialist magazines and because they did not want

8214-490: The launch of the McLaren F1, the BPR Global GT Series was created. Starting in the 1994 season, the series featured racing modifications of sports cars such as the Venturi 600 LM , Ferrari F40 , and Porsche 911 Turbo . Viewed as a possible replacement for the defunct World Sportscar Championship , major manufacturers were taking interest in the series. At the same time, teams were also looking for faster and more capable cars for

8325-570: The location of the storage lockers on the side of the car. A large adjustable fixed wing was added to the rear of the car. Even the 1995 versions of F1 GTR generated enough downforce to run along the ceiling at 100 mph. The interior was stripped of all luxuries and given a full racing cage. Carbon brakes replaced the stock units. Because of the rules at the time, the BMW S70 V12 engine was required to use an air restrictor to limit power output to around 600 PS (592 hp; 441 kW), making

8436-454: The mass centroid of the car and the suspension roll centre was designed to be the same front and rear to avoid unwanted weight transfer effects. Computer controlled dynamic suspension was considered but not applied due to the inherent increase in weight, complexity and loss of predictability of the vehicle. Damper and spring specifications : 90 mm (3.5 in) bump, 80 mm (3.1 in) rebound with bounce frequency at 1.41 Hz at

8547-573: The name Team Lark. Debuting at the opening round at Suzuka Circuit , the Lark team took a 1-2 finish, with winners Naoki Hattori and Ralf Schumacher . At the following round at Fuji , David Brabham and John Nielsen would take victory for the Lark McLaren. However, in the next two rounds, the Japanese rivals would overcome the McLarens, only to have Team Lark return to take victory in the final two rounds of

8658-508: The older 1995-spec cars. BMW Motorsport , with the assistance of Bigazzi Team, purchased three F1 GTRs as well. McLaren started the 1996 season in the same fashion as they had in 1995, with GTC Competition taking the first win in the hands of Ray Bellm and James Weaver . GTC, West Competition, and Mach One would trade off wins for the next three rounds until McLaren finally suffered a loss to Ferrari at Anderstorp yet again. GTC Competition would take victory again at Suzuka Circuit , but when

8769-406: The overall design of the underbody of the McLaren F1 in addition to a rear diffuser exploits ground effect to improve downforce which is increased through the use of two electric Kevlar fans to further decrease the pressure under the car. A "high downforce mode" can be turned on and off by the driver. At the top of the vehicle, there is an air intake to direct high pressure air to the engine with

8880-455: The overall drivers championship. For 1999, although the FIA GT Championship had abandoned the GT1 class, British GT continued to allow the cars to run. EMKA Racing continued with AM Racing joining with another 1997-spec car before they were forced to drop out halfway through the season. EMKA managed a mere single victory, consistently being beaten by Porsche 911 GT1s and Lister Storms . For 2000, British GT finally abandoned their GT1 class, and

8991-466: The overall win in one of the shortest distances covered since the 1950s. Other McLarens finished 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 13th overall, with only two F1 GTRs failing to finish. In honor of McLaren's achievement, the company developed five special F1 LMs for customers to mark the five finishers. The winning car, which was driven by Yannick Dalmas , Masanori Sekiya , and JJ Lehto , was retained by McLaren and never raced again. Returning in 1996, competition from

9102-482: The peak output of the vehicle's power plant. The standard F1 achieves 550 hp/ton (403 kW/tonne), or just 0.27 hp/lb. The cam carriers, covers, oil sump, dry sump, and housings for the camshaft control are made of magnesium castings. The intake control features twelve individual butterfly valves, and the exhaust system has four Inconel catalysts with individual Lambda-Sondion controls. The camshafts are continuously variable for increased performance, using

9213-447: The prototype where it has been kept in their top-secret prototype storage facility. The McLaren F1 was an early example of a production road car using a complete carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) monocoque chassis structure. Aluminium and magnesium were used for attachment points for the suspension system, inserted directly into the CFRP. The car features a central driving position –

9324-484: The race, various WSC cars succumbed to technical difficulties and dropped well down in the standings, while the GT1 class cars continued on without difficulty. In the closing hours of the race, five McLaren F1 GTRs were still racing while only three WSC cars remained. A close battle in the final hours saw the Kokusai Kaihatsu McLaren competing against the Courage Compétition prototype, with the McLaren finally taking

9435-436: The racing car less powerful than the road car, yet faster and more nimble due to a lowered overall weight. Features such as the central seating position, Butterfly doors , and even the standard gearbox were retained. McLaren co-ordinated a 24-hour test at Magny-Cours to find weaknesses in the car and develop upgrades to supply to the teams. A total of nine chassis would be built for the 1995 season, with #01R being retained by

9546-405: The responsiveness of the drivetrain, resulting in faster gear changes and better throttle feedback. This is possible due to the F1 engine lacking secondary vibrational couples and featuring a torsional vibration damper by BMW. Standard equipment for the McLaren F1 includes full cabin air conditioning , a rarity on most sports cars and a system design which Murray again credited to the Honda NSX ,

9657-446: The same carbon-fibre monocoque as the road car, the entire exterior of the car was purpose-built. A much longer nose and tail, as well as a wider rear wing, were designed in order to maximize the amount of aerodynamic downforce, while the wheel arches were widened in order to allow for the maximum amount of grip from the tyres allowed by the rules. Ground clearance was also changed to 70 millimetres (2.76 in) front and rear, rather than

9768-535: The season, Lanzante abandoned the McLaren, and only a one-off race by Parabolica Motorsports saw the only competition by a McLaren in 1997. In 1998, British GT changed it rules to more closely compare to those used by the FIA GT Championship . These rule changes saw the return of a McLaren to British GT, with Steve O'Rourke 's EMKA Racing running a 1997-spec chassis, and later joined by Team Carl at Silverstone . EMKA would manage to take two race victories, and drivers Tim Sugden and Steve O'Rourke would take second in

9879-544: The season, Team Take One was able to take a fourth-place finish at TI Aida . Both teams continued into 2001, with the Take One McLaren outperforming the Hitotsuyama entry in most rounds. However a shock occurrence happened at the end of the season when the Take One McLaren was able to secure overall victory at Mine Circuit, a mere nine seconds ahead of a factory Nissan Skyline GT-R , and helping boost Team Take One to 8th in

9990-522: The season. At the Sugo round, Lark badly damaged their one chassis, requiring them to borrow chassis #04R from GTC Competition as a replacement for the final JGTC round. With four victories on the season, Team Lark captured the GT500 teams championship ahead of factory squads from Toyota and Nissan . Team Lark's championship victory was the second season in JGTC/Super GT history where the GT500 class-winning car

10101-410: The second race, French squad BBA Competition added their new F1 GTR to the series while Bellm and Sala would again take victory. This would be followed by a victory for West Competition at Monza , then GTC winning again at the fourth round at Jarama . However at Jarama, GTC's second chassis, #04R would be badly damaged in a practice accident. This was replaced by #08R for the next race. At next race at

10212-473: The series arrived in Brands Hatch , the F1 GTR faced new competition. Porsche debuted their new 911 GT1 , and took a strong victory in their first race. Although legally not allowed to score points at first, the 911 GT1 would still take victory again at Spa . Porsche skipped Nogaro , leaving McLaren to take the victory, but Porsche returned for the final round at Zhuhai , again taking the victory. Even with

10323-415: The series top class, GT1. Many teams, such as those run by Ray Bellm and Thomas Bscher , seeing the potential in the McLaren F1 road cars, Le Mans winner John Nielsen turned to Gordon Murray in an attempt to convince him to offer factory backing on racing versions for the BPR series. Finally, Murray relented and agreed to modify the F1 into a racing car, agreeing to build several chassis for competition in

10434-409: The short lived GTR Euroseries for privateers, Davidoff raced their F1 GTR in the opening round at Jarama , taking a dominating victory. The following week, the car was brought to the opening round of the 1998 Italian GT season, the 1000km of Monza . Davidoff's McLaren was able to defeat open cockpit prototypes to take overall victory by eleven laps. The car appeared one last time at the final race of

10545-683: The team's supplier of radio equipment, to create a lightweight car audio system for the car; Kenwood, between 1992 and 1998 used the F1 to promote its products in print advertisements, calendars and brochure covers. Each car's audio system was specially designed to tailor to an individual's listening taste; however, radio was omitted because Murray felt it wasn't necessary. Only 106 cars were manufactured: 5 prototypes (XP1, XP2, XP3, XP4, XP5), 64 road versions (F1), 1 tuned developmental prototype (XP1 LM), 5 tuned versions (LM), 1 longtail developmental prototype (XPGT), 2 longtail versions (GT), and 28 racecars (GTR). Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998. At

10656-434: The teams championship with a total of two victories, while GTC would take third with five victories, and Mach One Racing fourth with three victories. Going into 1996, McLaren debuted their upgraded cars in an attempt to continue their dominance of the series. Existing teams such as GTC Competition and Giroix Racing Team bought newer 1996-spec cars, while new teams such as BBA Competition, West Competition, and Mach One retained

10767-399: The teams championship. For 2002, both teams would continue to campaign their F1 GTRs, with Hitotsuyama taking a best finish of 3rd at Motegi while Team Take One would suffer and eventually abandon their efforts at the end of the season. Hitotsuyama would continue on through 2003, only managing a best finish of 9th. The car would be retired at the end of 2003, yet Hitotsuyama decided to bring

10878-549: The time being entered. Although only six cars were being used in the BPR Global GT Series , chassis #01R which had been used as a McLaren testbed was also entered for the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing team. Prior to the race, it was assumed that one of the competitors in the WSC class of Le Mans Prototype would easily take the win, since they were custom built racing cars with no relation to street cars like GT1 cars. However, during

10989-403: The time decided to use their connection to McLaren to enter sports car racing by running their own race team with F1 GTRs. Among the modifications were an extension of the front and rear bodywork, including a larger splitter attached to the front of the car. The bodywork was also modified to allow it to be removed more quickly for easier repair. The car's standard gearbox was modified to include

11100-443: The time of production, each car took around three and a half months to make. Although production stopped in 1998, McLaren still maintains an extensive support and service network for the F1. Every standard F1 has a modem which allows customer care to remotely fetch information from the ECU of the car in order to assist the customer in the event of a mechanical vehicle failure. There are eight authorised service centres throughout

11211-425: The time) for maximum flexibility of control over the 4 valves per cylinder, and a chain drive for the camshafts . The engine uses a dry sump oil lubrication system. The carbon fibre body panels and monocoque required significant thermal insulation in the engine compartment, so Murray's solution was to line the engine bay with a highly efficient heat-reflector: gold foil. Approximately 16 g (0.56 ounce) of gold

11322-520: The time; with one of the major culprits being that of a proportional relationship between brake disc temperature and friction—i.e. stopping power—thus resulting in relatively poor brake performance without an initial warm-up of the brakes before use. Since carbon brakes have a more simplified application envelope in pure racing environments, this allows for the racing edition of the car, the F1 GTR , to feature ceramic carbon brakes. The standard McLaren F1 has

11433-524: The top wishbone/bell crank are also specially manufactured in an aluminium alloy. The wishbones are machined from a solid aluminium alloy with CNC machines . The McLaren F1 uses 235/45ZR17 front tyres and 315/45ZR17 rear tyres. These are specially designed and developed solely for the McLaren F1 by Goodyear , Michelin , Avon and Pirelli . The tyres are mounted on 17 by 9 in (431.8 by 228.6 mm) front, and 17 by 11.5 in (431.8 by 292.1 mm) rear five-spoke cast magnesium wheels, coated with

11544-400: The world, and McLaren will on occasion fly a specialised technician to the owner of the car or the service centre. All of the technicians have undergone dedicated training in service of the McLaren F1. In cases where major structural damage has occurred, the car can be returned to McLaren directly for repair. The F1 remains one of the fastest production cars ever made; as of October 2018, it

11655-412: Was a common one among designers of high-performance cars: low weight and high power. This was achieved through the use of high-tech and expensive materials such as carbon fibre , titanium , kevlar , magnesium and gold . The F1 was the first production car to use a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis. Gordon Murray had been thinking of a three-seat sports car since his youth. When Murray was waiting for

11766-410: Was later revealed that BMW had used an E34 M5 Touring as a test mule in order to test the engine. The existence of such a test mule was revealed when David Clark, the director of McLaren road and race cars from 1994–1998 disclosed this fact to motoring journalist Chris Harris in a podcast. Clark also revealed that the prototype was kept out of the public eye and that BMW is still in possession of

11877-513: Was replaced with a new X-trac 6-speed sequential transmission . A total of ten more GTRs were built, with none of the previous cars being upgraded to the 1997-spec. In order to be allowed to construct cars that were so radically different from the F1 road car, McLaren was forced to build production road cars using the GTR '97's bodywork. These cars came to be known as the F1 GT , of which only three were built. The 1997-spec cars are commonly referred to as

11988-400: Was showing the potential of their new CLK-GTR in testing. McLaren was therefore forced to give the F1 extensive modifications in order to be able to compete against cars that had been meant as race cars first and not road cars like the F1. First and foremost, the F1 required extensive modification to its bodywork in order to gain as much aerodynamic downforce as possible. Although it retained

12099-414: Was the car's dynamicist, was appointed responsible for the design of the suspension system of the McLaren F1. It was decided that the ride should be comfortable yet performance-oriented, but not as stiff and low as that of a true track machine , as that would imply a reduction in practical use and comfort as well as increasing noise and vibration, which would be a contradictory design choice in relation to

12210-512: Was the fastest production car from 2007 to 2010. The vehicle's frontal area is C d A =1.79 square metres (19.3 sq ft) and the S·Cd figure is 0.57. Because the McLaren F1 features active aerodynamics these are the figures presented in the most streamlined configuration. The standard McLaren F1 road car features no fixed wing to produce downforce (compare to the LM and GTR editions); however,

12321-409: Was used in each car. The road version of the engine used a compression ratio of 11:1 to produce a maximum power output of 461 kW (618 hp; 627 PS) at 7,400 rpm and 650 N⋅m (479 lb⋅ft) of torque at 5,600 rpm. The engine's rev limiter is set at 7,500 rpm. In contrast to raw engine power, a car's power-to-weight ratio is a better method of quantifying acceleration performance than

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