This papaya orange coloured machine represents the ultimate in roadgoing F1's. After the McLaren F1 GTR's maiden win at LeMans in 1995, Ron Denis decided they should produce the ultimate road car in celebration. Chief designer, Gordon Murray, thought he had produced the last word in roadgoing supercars when he created the original F1, but the LM version is lighter, more powerful and has more grip. It is actually slower in a straight line than the "regular car", due to the significant drag penalty imposed by the large rear wing. This wing though ensures that the LM model is considerably more stable at high speed than the standard car.
At 1062kg, the LM comes the closest to Gordon Murray's original target weight for the F1 of 1000kg. That fact, combined with a boost in engine power from 627bhp to 680bhp is enough to ensure this special edition outperforms the standard car in all areas except top speed. Whereas the standard car reaches a record shattering 241mph, the LMs top speed is slightly lower at 225mph due to the higher aerodynamic drag caused by the rear spoiler. In fact, the LM is also faster than the racing GTR version as it does not have the mandatory engine air intake restrictors that handicaps the racing engines output.
Acceleration is truly this cars forte. "CAR Magazine" published an exclusive roadtest of the F1 LM in their Dec'99 issue, in which they set a new production car world record for the fastest 0-100-0mph time. The test involves maximum acceleration from a standstill to 100mph, then maximum braking effort to bring the car back to a standstill. The previous record holder, a Caterham Seven JPE, managed it in 12.4 seconds. The F1 LM completed the exercise in 11.5 seconds!
Only five F1 LM's were built, including the prototype XP1 LM which is represented by this UT model. All were finished in this distinctive colour (papaya orange) which was also used on Bruce McLaren's Can-Am racing cars of the sixties (which are now being modeled in 1:18th scale by GMP). The reason that Bruce chose the colour was that it stood out best on black and white television!
This model is very rare at present (2007) as UT models went out of business in 2000. They were taken over by Gateway Global (the parent company of AUTOart and Gate) and unfortunately they haven't yet relaunched models of the McLaren F1. Apparently BMW will not license models of it anymore as McLaren are now in partnership with their arch rivals, Mercedes-Benz.
It shows it's age (in model terms!) as it has rudimentary brake detail, poor lights (the headlights are merely circles of silver paint!) and basic interior and engine detail. But overall it is a great looking model of a fantastic car and for the time being is the best 1:18th of the F1 LM there is.
Below is a link to a sound file which contains the magnificent sound of the F1 LM being used in anger, well worth checking out!
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F1 LM Accelerating (WAV. Sound file)
