The Ferret True, and you know you've made a good car, that passed under the radar when it was new back in 1993, which few purchased (hence why they made a racing version to sell more of them) and which was an economic loss to the company, but now is revered among enthusiasts and collectors alike and is almost priceless. Time is a great way to measure the quality and genius of a work. Great works retain their appeal and grow stronger over the years, even if they weren't instantly hailed when first released. I suppose the mid 90's recession was to blame too and the price was astronomic for a car back in 1993. Another thing people sometimes forget. Unlike many other supercars, the McLaren F1 proved its worth in racing and won its first 24 Hours of LeMans race in 1995, beating purpose-designed sportscar prototypes no less.
+Zaid Siddiqui It got amazing praise and admiration in the car magazines that tested it and it truly was ahead of its time. When they drove it around cities however nobody turned their head (few did and only as a delayed reaction) and few recognized what it was. 1993-1994 was in the pre-information society days and the only way to stay updated about new, amazing cars was by reading the leading car magazines. Only genuine car enthusiasts read those. Had we not had easy access to information through the internet and an abundance of videos we can watch any time it's likely the McLaren F1 would have become a modern day Bugatti Royale or Duesenberg SJ - amazing cars at their time few had heard of, or even knew existed, which saw a limited production due to a bad economic climate. The early 90's was a time of serious economic recession so it was a bad time to release a supercar in. Jaguar's XJ220 was the world's fastest production car in 1992 but most of those that had pre-ordered one in 1988 refrained from purchasing one as wasting money on an expensive car made little sense when even the wealthy risked going out of business. Many XJ220's even stood unsold for some years. The Bugatti EB110 was another short-lived supercar which was exceptionally well-made at the time but which ended production with less than 100 ever purchased (even though Michael Schumacher purchased one for himself following his first Formula 1 title). The first rebirth of Bugatti (1990-1995) went bankrupt. While the McLaren F1 was easily better than either of the two mentioned supercars it still appeared right after they had and the economy was still in the stages of recovering. The asking price of a F1 was also an astronomic 635,000 Pound Sterling - which was several times more expensive than any other car at that time. Even those who could afford one probably wondered if it was a wise investment. Gordon Murray, the man who designed it, originally intended it to be the "ultimate road car". As such it was *not* to be raced. Even though some individuals expressed interest in using privately entered racing versions (with no official factory backing) nothing happened until McLaren decided that a racing version (the GTR) would just be a modified F1 the owners could convert back to road-legal specification once the racing season was over. 28 GTR's were made. That's almost half the number of the 64 F1's that were made so it goes without saying that the GTR's boosted the sales of the car. Following the 1995 Le Mans 24 hour win (with 5 cars in the top 6 finishing positions) 5 LM's were made too. The racing success in the BPR series and LeMans helped boosting its reputation too because how can you argue against racing success? With modern eyes it's easy to see the greatness of the McLaren F1, but like I said, it passed under the radar when it was new. It took several years before it become a legendary supercar among the public too. If you said that your favorite car was a McLaren F1 back in 1994 most would say:"What's that? I've never heard of such a car."
+Paul Allen Man, Had to copy the information and save to my PC. Great to Read about it. Thank you so much. But What did the People think about the seats placed in the middle of the Car?
I would still prefer the F1 to the P1. V12 ICE, manual gearbox, center driving position, no driving aids. It's still a very unique car, and (20yrs later) still a modern looking (and performing) car. It's value has skyrocketed as well.
"I could go on but this will turn in to a full documentary if I do". Please go on. I would happily watch a couple of hours of this. One of the more interesting and informative videos on the F1 about at the moment. It's nice to see other things than people constantly going on about how fast it is and how it changed the rules - we know all that so lets see some more of the details.
Well, that's because most people trying to get the most out of cars in terms of top speed and acceleration isn't making naturally aspirated cars anymore. You're making it sound better than it is. It's like saying x car is the fastest rotary car ever. But fact is, barely anybody is making rotary cars anymore, due to having found better ways. I love the F1, but lets be honest, if naturally aspirated cars would've been a thing in trying to get the most of cars, there would've been made faster cars by now.
@@FedbergRoland im completely agree, if the pursuit of smaller displacement/ less emissions and fuel economy growth was completely ignored in the modern day they would be able to trample on the F1's performance. in the modern day
FedbergRoland Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Audi and Porsche to name a few, all still make NA cars. No such thing as making a McLaren F1 sound better than it is lol. They're nothing short of phenomenal
@@CPiGTi You're missing the entire point. I never said people don't make NA cars anymore. I said that when going for records, such as top speed or acceleration, NA cars, with our current technology, is usually behind all the other ways of making a car go fast. That's why the F1 is still the fastest NA car, 25 years later. The guy I responded to, made it sound more impressive than it actually is. Obviously it's still going to be the fastest NA production car, after all these years, because nobody or very few people are trying to beat that record. Because they're too busy making cars with Superchargers, Turbos and hybrid systems, because with our technology it have proven to be superior. It would be the same as talking about how some car is still the fastest steam car, after all these years and how impressive it is. But at the end of the day, it's the fastest steam car, because since then, technology have moved on we've started creating much faster cars running on a way different setup, albeit there might still be enthusiasts doing these things.
When this car went into production, it was the greatest car yet made. It was the ultimate driving machine. It was everything McLaren had learned from decades of F1. It was the supreme example of cost-no-object. And it was the most beautiful car. That was '92. It's now 2015. There are a couple of cars that are very slightly faster, but none of them have won LeMans. It's still the most beautiful, desirable car ever made.
er. there are a lot of cars are considerably faster Agera R one:1 Veyron SS Ultimate Aero TT Hennessey Venom Devlin 16 is also nearly done. Im afraid this has had its time.
Nick Magee - Brown And how many of those cars have won the 24 hours at LeMans outright? This year, Ford is taking their rather lovely GT to LeMans, but it's not an outright contender. We had seen an end to roadcars being able to win LeMans 20 years before. Then we went through the Porsche 956 and 962 days, and all that stuff was over. But the F1 brought it back. Would any of the cars you mention, (or the beautiful La Ferrari) be able to run flat out for 24 hours at LeMans? I kind of doubt it...
Kneedragon1962 im not arguing. Thats obviously the opinion of a proud brit. The fact is there are nany cars faster than this and yes with the right preparation they would all probably win it.
Nick Magee - Brown LOL, yes. Born Sydney Australia in Dec '62, and never been north of the equator. Let's think, what else have you guessed? I got my first GSX11 Suzuki brand new in May '80, and these days I ride a ZX14. And I drove cabs in Brisbane, night shift, for over 20 years. I raced gokarts a little, and then bikes. These days I have an old R6 as my race bike. My son is in the army, and rides a 954 I bought him. I love Britain, as long as we beat them at cricket...
Kneedragon1962 amazing how you are on the other side of the world yet you use the american language too. Very Cool how far our culture reaches! Never heard of Cricket though.
Chassis #040, owned by "Flemke" Chassis #050, owned by Ron Dennis & Chassis #055, owned by Ralph Lauren, all have high mounted mirrors. So there are actually 3 F1s with high mounted side mirrors. ;)
Yes! Fantastic video! I love that you show all these details about the car nobody ever talks about. It's part of why I like Jay Leno. He talks about some of the realistic situations that come with the car. More geeky details please. Good job on the video all around. Good camera work, and good audio.
This car deserves nothing less than 90 minutes of "how it's made". This car is the absolute, undisputed king of the analog era. Nothing from the era, before which it was made, comes close. This is the pinnacle of human being's automotive achievement from the road going automobile's inception to it's zenith.
Please make the documentary! I'd love to see it. I have been enamoured with the F1 since I picked up the Road & Track test back in '95(?) when I was a kid. The F1: The greatest ever.
It also had small electric underbody fans that would generate ground-effects grip and an active rear spoiler that raised during hard braking to improve stability and slow the car faster
Always loved that the drivers in the middle. makes me feel like you would be able to park better and have more awareness and grasp of the car/road. damn i wish i had one.
Please make a documentary! I can also recommend the McLaren doc mini-series. We all love all your small inside infos about this amazing lady! That V12! Like Pavarooottiii!
lovely film, well done, the P1 is the car I'm growing up fascinated by, like the F1 was to you, hopefully one day i will be able to get close to my teenage dream
Amazing video. Thanks for taking the time to show the details. Most of us never get to see the details of this awesome car. The sound is crazy sensitive though. There are excessive amounts of saliva and fabric sounds.
What an incredible review. As a fanatic I learnt even more about my all time favourite car. Though I believe there are 5 F1s with the higher mirrors and one is for sure owned by Ralph Lauren (chassis 074). Ron has one which is correct and there is one orange one (chassis 071) in Germany. There's another blu alfa one (040) in the UK. The last one is in Colorado (055).
Yeah, they don't make cars like they used to. P1 is nice, but its only a supercar. Look, Ferrari and Porsche made their own versions. However, the F1 is the one and only. Nothing has been built since that is that stunning for the time. Maybe the Veyron, but even that isn't as amazing, with it's traditional VW door ajar and VW keyfob.
God I love EVO. Thank you for filming the greatest car ever built. Until they build a V12 N/A, manual gearbox, rear wheel drive, lighter than a miata supercar faster than this, the F1 will remain king. Oh, and its gotta have some gold in the engine bay !
Please do go on though. A 50 minute video like this would be great, knowing all the odds and ends and intricacies of presumably the best car ever made.
He says Ron Dennis wouldn't have liked the front indicators? What would he say about the General Motors sourced electric mirror switch and E30 electric window controls?
My favorite car by a long way. I realise that some people will disagree but in my lifetime only two cars completely changed the game when they came out....the F1 and the Veyron. Both totally different cars with totally different objectives, however both had no competitors and became the automotive benchmark for many years. I guess the next car to do so may be electric :)
no mention of the hood prop, which comes from an early 90's nissan econobox trunk. i had the opportunity to climb over and around an f1, which was in a pretty sorry state of neglect. the owner clearly cares more for possessing it than driving it.
How come 72 people dislike this???? I can only imagine jealousy is the main reason. Fantastic British Engineering at its best...................241mph from a N/A which is still not beaten today........
That final line, about the engine note being the best ever heard in a road car.... Ehhhh.. I dunno... V12 Ferraris and Lambos sound amazing too.. And the V10's from Porsche and Lexus are also quite close.
I'm down with a full documentary video. I'm sure other people would agree. Also, don't change your ridiculous hair, Mr Catchpole. The crazy hair, conspicuous sideburns, and nerdy spectacles gives one character.
That induction noise- To die for That brake squealing- Ridiculous I’ll definitely get MSO to upgrade the brakes to carbon ceramics from modern McLaren when I buy mine 😉