Dammm I know top gear is funny now but it was so much more credible and fascinating especially when you can feel Tiff's genuine passion for not just the cars but their engineering too. It makes the modern Top Gear look like they sold their soul for entertainment bucks.
+Geelar Gotta agree...the show was very much about the cars. It's much more about the hosts now (or was...with Clarkson gone now maybe we'll see a return to the show's roots)
Chris Ducat I don't think so, when the executives see that it brings in less ratings they'll try and go back to the Clarkson way again. Sad to say thats most likely.
The F1 was so reliable that it won Le Mans 1,2,3 in the first year they ran. That's a 24 hour race with stops just for gasoline, brakes and tires VS Porsche, Ferrari and all other factory cars. The Veyron? it would last about 1/2 hour....
I will never have the cash to buy either one, however I have found a GREAT engine to implant into a small civic hatchback. It's the K24 (Accord engine) built by Honda exclusively for racing. They use it in the Ariel atom. 2.4 liter with 230 hp. Ariel also uses a K24 Turbo engine (produced by?) that makes 365 hp. In a Civic, these engines would probably result in crazy performance.
i love how he's actually giving it the business in this review, it's great to see the F1 actually put through its paces. Don't get me wrong i love seeing the reflections on how great the car is now, but people are much more gentle with these cars now that they're 20+ million dollars and a quarter of a century old. seeing this old girl fully loaded in the corners is just amazing, how it was meant to be driven.
5:30 is one of the most glorious moments in all of automotive journalism. I will never forget that moment when you hear that absolutely incredible engine driven by, in my opinion, the best automotive presenter.
+Bhong666 I don't understand why the BBC didn't give Clarkson a stab in the back and hire Tiff as the new presenter of Top Gear that would have really put 2 fingers up to Clarkson and viewers would have enjoyed watching Tiff a lot more than bloody Chris Evans
+Christopher Michael Ayres i agree, but maybe he gave the BBC the finger about it too because it was sorta his opportunity to turn the tables on them sorta like what they did to him. plus im not sure Fifth Gear would let him go or him letting go of them if he is the chief.
+Christopher Michael Ayres Evans is a character i didnt like even on his interview on top gear with his lap times and when they James went to his house to drive his California or whatever i loved his line of white Ferraris and his California but it's just him i find absolutely stupid. his jokes he made on the episode were terrible and well Sabine Smitz drove around Laguna Seca with him in the passenger seat and he puked from the experience. sure she's a damn good driver and it's probably rough in the car but you couldnt make me puke over something like that even if you put everything you had into it. when i saw that (spy shots from the upcoming season of Top Gear) emerge i hated him even more. il still give them a shot though but 7 hosts to replace 3 sorta gives me the feeling they know the trio were their savior
Still the greatest car review I’ve ever seen. I can find no other video on RU-vid showing the Mclaren f1 road car being thrashed like this. Tiff is brilliant at what he does. I just wish the quality was a bit better.
Still remember watching this for the first time on VHS as a boy, 5:30 sticks with me to this day - at the time (and arguably still now) this thing = masterpiece of engineering
Wow Top Gear back in the day.The best F1 review on the net. Tiff certainly knows his stuff . What an amazing sound that V12 makes. Makes a Veyron sound like a dustcart
Mclaren F1 is still the best and fastest TRUE supercar ever made my man, no real supercar should cheat using turbos and superchargers, thus making Mclaren keep the best racing pedigree and making this car a Bugatti hunting legend from generations ago, period.
WTF Automatic rear braking spoilers back in the early 90,s damn this car was advanced they have only just now begun using them on cars like the Veyron or P1 that's how technologically ahead of the time the F1 was
@@christineayres5339 In the 1950s American cars had Aircon, Electric windows, electric seats, electronic light controls and even light detectors that would sit on the dash and automatically dip the lights once another car light were detected. Even airbags were created in the early 1970s. Auto innovation has been in decline for decades due to government interference.
The line "wheelspin in 4th" on a car that can do 240+ is quite amazing...that motor pretty much represents the greatest normally aspirated engine ever made. I love how he saws at the wheel to keep that thing straight, it well and truly is A Drivers Car...one of us mere mortals would be en route to hospital via life flight within half a lap... Gotta love the F1...greatest car ever built, period.
How have I missed this for so many years?!?!?! Best ever review of the McLaren F1. Proper driving on a circuit and proper sound recording. Proper camera angles and overall just such a realistic feel. Compared to all these new reviews with tons of effects and almost no realism, this is so REFRESHING!
@CypherX5. I agree. Just keep in mind the 'replacement' for the F1 is rumored to be due out next year in 2013. Unfortunately, it may not have that awesome V12 but a turbo charged V8?! I hope that someone at McLaren keeps the V12 in order to differ it from the MP4-12C and works out a better gearbox and transy.
5:08 It was, by Rowan Atkinson. 8:43 It did, for over a decade. The McLaren F1 is my favourite car of all time, completely pure with no forced induction or driving aids such as traction control, ABS or stability management. Just you, a manual transmission, an exceptional engine and a lovingly crafted chassis. It's a car that could only ever come from the 90s and we'll never see one like it ever again...
Tiff is amazing as a Top Gear tester. I would love to have him on the top gear team now, he would bring some serious driving skills and a keen interest in the mechanical part to the show.
It’s unfortunate that these cars are so expensive that we will likely never see anyone “give it some stick....WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” any more. Just the best review and car.
6:25 Absolutely epic, & an epic engine as well, undoubtedly a dream come true for its designer Paul Roche at BMW, & the final Balanced result Gordon Murray who designed the car overall.
Its benchmark was the Honda nsx and even wanted Honda to make the engine but they declined. The nsx standards of drive by wire, suspension, and everyday use etc was set in the f1 and from the f1 to the zonda and the other Supercars today.
Is the gold to reflect heat off the carbon fibre so that it doesn't get compromised? I just wonder because why would you reflect heat back onto the block/turbos etc?
The McLaren F1 is definitely my all time favourite super car. But I actually think they should have mentioned BMW in the car name, like McLaren BMW F1, because I mean, it's really one of the greatest V12 ever made. It is the engine's (apparently) endless power development that makes such a top speed possible. And the McLaren is STILL the fastest car with a naturally aspirated engine. So I think that BMW deserves credit for this.
That guy was a gettin it done on the track. Did you see when he came out of the turn and just blazed the tires... He was pushing it around the turns hard... I love watching someone who can push a car like that one. Awesome!!!!
***** In 1992 when the engine was ready, the S70 was the greenest engine of all of the V12 on the market. BMW continued the production to 1998 when new emission arrived. The cost to improve that engine to the new specification was to high. This partly disabled the F1 from production.
+Chris Molyneaux because modern supercars have downforce, and are geared for lower top speeds, and faster acceleration, shorter gearing, faster braking, faster cornering. It's absolutely easy to make a 600hp car go faster than an f1. Just make a car with super skinny tires with a hunkered down streamline car and stick a 600hp engine in it. Problem is it won't go around corners. A modern Z06 does 1.17g on the skidpad, while the F1 can only do .86.
***** The mika tested xp5 on both japan and on nurburgring. And yes the time is for stock road car F1. Not LM or GTR, which should be quicker than stock F1 on track.
***** There is no laugh matter. The exit speed of one of the last corner (Döttinger Höhe straight) over 2 km straight F1 can crack over 330 km/h. The gear ratios is the same on stock F1 like in LM car. The gearing of F1 is very suited for this track, 1th, 2th, 3th and 4th are very relatively short gears in F1. 5th and 6th gear is almost overun, but F1 still achieved very high rev speed on 6th gear. Many people complain about brakes in F1, but reality is they are bites really well on speed above 240 km/h not on the ''100km/h test'' measures same as F40 brakes are good on high speed, not low.
imma always be a Mc laren F1 fan that car is sooo agile around the corners although the veyron is fast as hell the mc laren would hammer the veyron off the start and destroy it around the corners.. i aint tryna start no arguement or debate so plz no one start trippin lol.... i'm a Mc laren fan love it
I watch this at least every year to remind me what a purely savage super car the F1 is. Nothing can ever match the F1 as a road going car, and Tiff's unadulterated reaction to it.
You are right in a way because the two are very different (both the F1 and Veyron, and the Apple Watch and Schaffhausen), but don't be tempted to denigrate the Apple Watch or Veyron, because they are just as great an achievement (more so in many ways) as what you are comparing them to.
@@bighands69 How long have you used one for to gain that opinion? And how do you explain the vast number of users who like them? Also, surely there must be at least *one* thing stupider! :)
@@OJB42 Because it is just a watch that connects to the phone. Everything the watch can do my phone can do. And they look like cheap plastic bits on the arm.
This top gear clip takes me back - at 5:30 when he floors it we were talking about it for days in 6th form. There was roumoured to be an outtake from that show when tiff floored it the camera fell off it's mounting
Technically speaking, the Bugatti Veyron is the best car ever made, and I have no doubt about that. However, it is idiotic to compare it to the McLaren F1. Even if I could buy 3 Veyrons for the price of the F1, I would buy the McLaren without a pause. It is, simply, the finest driver's car ever built. The average Veron owner likely has no idea of the potential performance of the machine, whereas it is more likely that a McLaren owner knows exactly the boundaries of its performance.
The way Tiff just runs through the gears so nonchalantly, is masterful, it's a shame the values of these cars now means that many may not see such use ever again.
he said the car would set the standard for years I'm sorry but I don't agree, because even today, some 26 years after it was first produced in 1992, it laughs at supercar standards set by ferrari and lamborghini and keeps up with hypercar standards in terms of top speed and acceleration
I just wonder that if the engine was upgraded to LM spec and made 680 HP, it might have even beaten the Veyron. They had a video showing it's acceleration at Ehra Leissen during the record breaking attempt... the acceleration was way better in the hands of Andy Wallace than all car magazines when the rev limiter was pushed up to 8300 rpm. In fact it was nearly on par with the Veyron SuperSport at some places!
depends how much the LM engine weighs, not sure about its specs, sadly, but I am aware that one of the big reasons why this masterpiece was so fast was because it was really light
@0to60in3point2 you forgot the veyron probably weighs nearly twice of this car, what your saying is a V8 Landrover would run rings around a Lotus Elise?
This is from the Top Gear Fast & Furious VHS with Jeremy Clarkson and Tiff Needell. My local library had it and I used to get my Mother to rent it out again as soon as she had taken it back so I doubt anyone else ever got to see it from that library. I'd watch it many times a day and still get shivers up my spine when Tiff opens up the F1's throttle for the first time.
Rowan Atkinson sold his twice badly crashed F1 for £8m so yes it'd be very expensive! Also anyone lucky enough to own an F1 will be incredibly wealthy so not many would sell for any price.
David Paterson actually it sold for 16 million dollars. If the euro or whatever that currency is double that of the US dollar about a year or 2 ago then yea but i know for a fact it sold for 16 million. And yea he totalled it twice but he got it completely redone by Mclaren themselves just to the way it was done before so technically it never crashed (structurally) and nothing has changed on his from those crashes in terms of modifications the real cause for the low price is probably because he had over 40 000miles on it many years back even before the second crash. Sure the crashes definitely were taken into account but they really shouldnt have
Underpowered? Mclaren expected smth around 550 HP and BMW made a 627 HP engine for the NORMAL version. The race car had even 680 HP. Lets see whats better: 550hp on 250 kgs, or 680hp on 266 kgs hmmm... lol
I like the fact that the F1 is still the fastest naturally aspirated car in the world. Turbos and supers are great, but the rawest power comes from a normally aspirated high revving engine like the BMW engine in the F1.
I agree that non-turbocharged cars are kinda more classic and pure, but that example is almost like cheating lol, turbochargers use the power from their own engine gases, but I'm not arguing more because I love the F1 myself hahaha
I respect both the Veyron and the F1 as technical achievements, but I know which I'd pick for a blast around a race track. HINT: the engine bay is lined with gold...!!
McLaren F1 #001 - Silver McLaren F1 #002 - ??? McLaren F1 #003 - ??? McLaren F1 #004 - Red McLaren F1 #005 - Black (Jay Leno's I think). Anyone know the colors for 2 & 3???
I think we should all recognize, this guy drove the balls off that car and didn't wreck it...!!! I love how he blazed the tires coming out of that last turn...fucking awesome. What an awesome ride...
***** well regardless what you put this car up against I would still bet my money on it winning something like the 24hr le mans. in my opinion all other cars would either not finish the race or fail to beat the mclarens lap times.
@creep2300 You realize that in its day, the Mclaren was the exact same thing? It has air con, CD player etc and in a car that is half the weight of the Bugatti, although it has 4 less cylinders and no turbos. It was still comfortable, quiet, and luxurious. It also had 1 more seat than the Bugatti. Not to mention the Mclaren had a modem port(yes, we know its an old car) and you could plug it in and the factory would be able to interface with it and diagnose problems from anywhere in the world.
@fwak822 I do see you're point, but the bugatti does have luxury leather seats, heated as well, carpets, radio, cd, ac and another +400kgs of equipment (ABD and TCM as well). All that weight need more power to get it going. The F1 is a raw bare boned techno masterpiece, the veyron is a luxury concord.
@12enter12 yeah, untill top gear stopped in 1998 Tiff had been on the team for many years. After the rebirth of Top Gear in 2000 or so, Tiff went to Fifth Gear.
