Car Fule

The McLaren F1, developed between 1989 and 1992 by the project manager Gordon Murray, is not only considered to be the ancestor of hypersportives today. It is also one of the most desirable and stable market value cars in the world.

As part of the « Carweek 2021 », the auction house Gooding&Company will auction a unique McLaren F1.

A truly extraordinary example

The chassis number 029 is unique in several ways. First of all, this is the only F1 to be painted in the color « Creighton Brown ». Concretely, a shade alternating between brown and lilac, named in honor of the former shareholder and director of McLaren.

The height of luxury, it is also a practically new car. Since its delivery in 1995, this McLaren F1 has only traveled 387 kilometers. Thanks to the care and maintenance provided by the previous owners, the car is simply in perfect condition.

According to official documentation, the McLaren F1 029 was the 25th car to leave the factory and was delivered to its first owner in Japan in 1995, where it was part of a private collection for many years. It was then sold to its current owner, in the United States, without much media coverage. Here too, the car was not driven much, but was regularly maintained.

The price of this McLaren F is estimated at nearly $ 15 million, or 12.6 million euros. For this auction, there is no doubt that this threshold can be exceeded.

Only 106 McLaren F1 were built

There are many reasons why the McLaren F1 is one of the cars most sought after in the world today.

One of the important points concerns its rarity. Originally 350 McLaren F1 were to be built, but the company only managed to sell 106 between 1993 and 1997. Of these 106 cars, only 78 were approved for the road. The other 28 are F1 GTR racing cars.

The McLaren F1 is a car that breaks with many conventions. This has for example three seater, with the driver in the middle and the passengers on the right and left, slightly offset to the rear. The F1 body is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), a first in the early 1990s.

For the engine, McLaren used a 6.1-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine built by BMW, which produces 627 hp and 650 Nm of torque. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, and thanks to its light weight of just 1,138 kilograms, the McLaren F1 was very fast.

Indeed, for several years the McLaren F1 was even the most production car fast world. In 1998, the XP5 prototype, which still exists and with an increased rev limiter, reached a top speed of 391 km / h, an impressive figure for the time.

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