Art of Gears
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I Love the McLaren F1 and I Don’t Care Who Knows It

By David Castro

Sep 6, 2017; Naples, FL; The 240mph McLaren F1, one of 106 produced, is moved from its display in the lobby to one of the upper floors to keep it safe from Hurricane Irma. The Revs Institute in Naples, Florida moves the priceless Collier Collection of automobiles to the second and third floors of its museum to get them out of harm’s way as Hurricane Irma heads towards southern Florida. Mandatory Credit: Lauren Miles/The Revs Institute/Handout Photo via USA TODAY NETWORK
Sep 6, 2017; Naples, FL; The 240mph McLaren F1, one of 106 produced, is moved from its display in the lobby to one of the upper floors to keep it safe from Hurricane Irma. The Revs Institute in Naples, Florida moves the priceless Collier Collection of automobiles to the second and third floors of its museum to get them out of harm’s way as Hurricane Irma heads towards southern Florida. Mandatory Credit: Lauren Miles/The Revs Institute/Handout Photo via USA TODAY NETWORK /
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As a car dude I have spent a lot of time and chatter figuring out what is my ultimate dream car. This is a common question and if you ask around you’ll get a wide variety of answers and criteria to base one’s choice on.

For me looks, performance and a certain je ne sais quoi are the basic parameters. With that in mind the McLaren F1 is my dream car. Produced from 1992-1998, just 106 F1’s were made and seven are currently missing. Of the 106 F1s only 64 were road versions and the rest were either prototypes or racecars.

Power is provided by a naturally aspirated BMW 6.1-liter V12 engine, that produced 618hp and 479 ft/lbs of torque. The mid-engine F1 has a six-speed manual transmission that sends power to the rear wheels. It’s the fastest naturally aspirated production car ever.

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With a three-seat configuration, the driver sits in the center and there are two seats behind it, weight was limited to 2,509-pounds.

Its performance was beyond the competition of its era and even today it’s an upper echelon super car.

McLaren F1 Performance Figures:

0-60 mph: 3.2-seconds

0-100 mph: 6.3-seconds

¼-mile: 11.6-seconds at 125 mph

Top speed: 231 mph with the rev limiter on, and 242.96 mph with the rev limiter removed.

The 2017 NSX Acura tested by Car and Driver:

0-60 mph: 3.1-seconds

0-100 mph: 7.0-seconds

¼-mile: 11.2-seconds at 126 mph

Top speed: 191 mph

The F1 held the production car top speed record until 2005 when the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 hit 253.81 mph. Separated by 30-years and a grip of technological advances, the F1 can hang with the current pack of super cars.

I’ve never seen an F1 in person and when that day comes, it’s on my bucket list just after jumping through a window like Shaft, I will go complete fanboy to the point where it will alarm anyone near me. I will get verklempt.

Seeing an F1 in person is tougher than you think. With approximately 99 of them floating around appearance are rare. In 2019 Sotheby’s auctioned a 1994 F1 LM for $19,805,000.00 and as of 2020 it is the 13th most expensive car ever auctioned. Long story short, unless I win Powerball it’s a bit out of my price range.

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There is a 1995 McLaren F1 at the Revs Institute in Florida. It might be time to head to the Sunshine State and peruse that museum. I will pack some tissues for the inevitable emotions that come from meeting an automotive hero.

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