20 years ago this week, a McLaren F1 GTR much like this one took victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A lap around Mid-Ohio proves the F1's still got it.
It's hard to overstate just how much of a legend the McLaren F1 really is. When our own Paul Frere drove one in 1994, he could hardly contain his enthusiasm. Elon Musk bought one in 1999, flush with cash from selling a website you've never heard of. McLaren's mighty P1 hybrid hypercar may have 276 more horses than the F1, but it still doesn't stand above Gordon Murray's masterpiece.
The race-prepped F1 GTRs that ran at Le Mans were amazing too, in part because of how similar they were to their road-going counterparts. They were lighter, stripped of their interior luxuries, and given more grip thanks to racetrack aerodynamics, but they ran stock bodywork and, surprisingly, the same gearbox as the street cars. Thanks to FIA restrictor plate rules, the Le Mans racers actually lost 27 horsepower compared to their road-going brethren.
In 1995, at the Circuit de la Sarthe, that all added up to victory: The McLaren F1 GTRs finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 13th. It was the last time a car in the production-based GT category took overall victory, beating out the purpose-built WSC racers.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this astounding and unlikely victory, BMW Classics pulled a McLaren F1 GTR out of mothballs, and did what anyone would do in this situation: Put BMW driver Bill Auberlen behind the center-mount steering wheel and set man and machine loose at Mid-Ohio.
The peculiarities of the F1 make this video particularly great. From the cockpit camera, we're able to watch Bill's hand and footwork, heel-and-toeing the downshifts and finessing the steering wheel. From the roof-mounted camera, we can see his hands flashing into view at the top-most edge of the windshield.
The sound? Glorious.
There may be road cars that accelerate faster, purpose-built racers that get around a corner with more grip, and hybrid-powered freak machines that absolutely blow past the F1 in terms of horsepower and torque.
But there will never be another vehicle like the McLaren F1.
Source: www.roadandtrack.com
