The Official: "There's no such thing as a dumb question about the McLaren F1" thread

On the heels of this great thread: Lurkers, Leeches, and Lesbians perhaps? (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=976182)

...which, if I am being modest, seems to have worked a little magic around here - :bananasmi - thanks everyone!

I thought it would be wise to start an anything goes - McLaren F1 Questions & Answers - thread here as well.

In my travels around the web I find lots of people with questions about the F1 and I do my best to answer them with the most accurate information available.

Around here though, we don't seem to get too many general questions which seems a bit odd to me, because surely this is the single best place on the internet to get an answer with so many knowledgeable folks looking in here.

Perhaps that last statement is the reason why we don't get the questions - maybe everyone watching here already knows everything they want to? Either way, I figured it could not hurt to have one general thread where people should feel comfortable asking anything they want about the McLaren F1. Maybe you could even treat it as a 'stump the experts' exercise to try and make it a little entertaining? :naughty:

So if you have something to ask - be it about the specs of the car, chassis numbers, a photo you are curious about or any other topic on the F1 then by all means don't hesitate to include it here. I'm sure I speak for all the regulars in saying that we'll do our best to provide the answer, if known. This thread doesn't mean that you can't ask questions anywhere else, by the way. I just figured that if questions are out there and someone didn't think they would be worthy of their own thread, that having a place to include them would be good.

Hopefully this too will end up being a successful topic. :smile:

>8^)
ER

And I'll actually chime in with the first question too.

Q: Does anyone have a photo of Mansour Ojjeh with a McLaren F1?

I have pics of Murray and Dennis (obviously), as well as Creighton Brown found recently on the Iding Power website, but have never seen a picture of the 4th member of the Milan Airport discussion along with a McLaren F1 of any type, and would really love to add one to the collection.

Thanks to anyone who might be able to assist! :)

>8^)
ER

It's such an obvious question, and you'd expect there to be one, but I'm struggling to find one....

Q: Who drove each Mclaren F1 GTR over the finish line at Le Mans in 1995?

Q: Does anyone have a photo of Mansour Ojjeh with a McLaren F1?

>8^)
ER

From the Le Mans DA, Mansour in XP1

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8940/dscf1858.th.jpg (http://img19.imageshack.us/i/dscf1858.jpg/)

and next to it for a Mclaren documentary video

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6869/dscf1856.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/dscf1856.jpg/)

Hey look at that!! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/Smilies/clap.gif

That might even be the first good interior photo I have seen of XP1 - Wow! :thumbsup:

Thanks very much sir!! :sunglasse

>8^)
ER


EDIT: ...and you know what - regular copies of DA have the very same images (Pg 155) so it has been under my nose this whole time. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/Smilies/duh_smiley.gif

He needed a cool car wearing that sweater. :screwy:

:) It was the early 1990's - check our Murrays clothes in this thread (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=976540) for a fashion statement! :)

I was thinking you were going to point him to photos of the other Murray - Gordon. As he was certainly known for having some interesting items hanging in his closet too back in the day. :D

Maybe that's who Mansour got the sweater from - one of those presents you just don't know how to say thank you for? ;)

Related song: "Present Face" by Garfunkel and Oates (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMWTs0YT928)

>8^)
ER

That might even be the first good interior photo I have seen of XP1 - Wow! :thumbsup:

Thanks very much sir!! :sunglasse

>8^)
ER




How about another :)

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5020/120986zx4002.th.jpg (http://img35.imageshack.us/i/120986zx4002.jpg/)

What was the name of Gordon Murray's pet Labrador when he was designing the F1?

:) It was the early 1990's - check our Murrays clothes in this thread (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=976540) for a fashion statement! :)


Hey! It was the late 1990's! Kick boxing (you ARE warned!) gym baggies, an Ayrton Senna Foundation approved Nacional embroidered cap and a Senna Double-S t-shirt! The 90's weren't that bad! Were they? ;)

you have had that picture of Mansour Ojjeh with XP1 all along...it is on page 155 of the regular DA

Read my edit, inclusive of the "duh" smiley. Thankfully, this is the "no dumb questions" thread so I am okay to look a bit foolish in here. ;)

But thanks. :)

>8^)
ER

hey for you buddy...the world

Q: Who drove each Mclaren F1 GTR over the finish line at Le Mans in 1995?
Dalmas was in 01r, thats all i know.

And one from me. Any pics of #023 & #046 in their original colors (British Racing Green & Genesis Blue Metallic, respectively)?

What was the name of Gordon Murray's pet Labrador when he was designing the F1?

I've read / heard that somewhere before....

Hey! It was the late 1990's! Kick boxing (you ARE warned!) gym baggies, an Ayrton Senna Foundation approved Nacional embroidered cap and a Senna Double-S t-shirt! The 90's weren't that bad! Were they? ;)

Not bad at all. and once again, THANKS!! :)

Dalmas was in 01r, thats all i know.

I knew Dalmas had #01R. I think I have reference somewhere as to who crossed in the 3rd place, #06R, but will really have to look.

And one from me. Any pics of #023 & #046 in their original colors (British Racing Green & Genesis Blue Metallic, respectively)?

None here of either car at those stages of its life unfortunately.

I remain hopful that Mr Bellm will return, and of course he might have some to share with us on #046.

If someone knows how to contact Liam Howlett, I believe when he was posting on PistonHeads for a brief stint that he mentioned having images of #023 when he purchased it, but I never saw them materialize over there.

>8^)
ER

Here's a hopefully not so dumb question:

Does anyone have a reliable weight for the F1 GT? What about drag coefficients?

And Pictures would be nice too, if you don't mind.

Dry weight for Mclaren GT is 1120 KG or 2469 lbs according to the Mclaren F1 bible (Driving ambition). no idea about drag coeff though....sorry

Based on the positioning of the drivers in the '95 Le Mans article on wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_24_Hours_of_Le_Mans), I'm gonna guess that Andy Wallace crossed the line in car #06R, Mark Blundell in car #02R, Fabien Giroix in car #07R, and Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière in car #05R.

But its just a guess.

And Pictures would be nice too, if you don't mind.

So that we don't repeat ourselves, most of the better F1 GT pictures are in this thread:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=931136]Want to learn more about the GTs - Pictures particularly

>8^)
ER

What did Gordon Murray say to me when i went up to him at Silverstone in 1994 and said hey your that bloke arent you?? :):screwy:

What did Gordon Murray say to me when i went up to him at Silverstone in 1994 and said hey your that bloke arent you?? :):screwy:

Did he say "Yes I am, and aren't you the bloke who goes all over the world to all the Super Car shows where exotica are displayed"

;)

I don't know is this a dump question, but.....

Watching that Pursuit of Le Mans video just a minute ago, there were shots from the factory (recently seen screen shots here), where was told about the carbon fibre braking system of Le Man's GTR's. There were a big sing,
GTR 036. But the car seemed to be #01R.

How the chassis numbers went that time?
First they did a roadcar, and named the chassis it afterwards again?
IF that 036 is the basic F1 roadcars chassis number and it became #01R....
How this chassis number thing went back then?

I
How the chassis numbers went that time?
First they did a roadcar, and named the chassis it afterwards again?
IF that 036 is the basic F1 roadcars chassis number and it became #01R....
How this chassis number thing went back then?

Directly from DA's chassis history:


V.I.N. numbers 019, 026, and 027 were replaced by 01R, 02R and 03R. 019, 026 and 027 together with numbers 030, 032, 034, 035 and 041 have never been allocated to any F1 Road Car or derivative.

The later GTRs were directly named to their respective xxR-chassis numbers. So that 036 does not match any of the GTRs. The road car 036 was in the making during the 1995 so it might have been that at that point of time when the video was made. Maybe someone more knowledgeable on the road cars could provide better info on that.

OK, very interesting indeed. Here is the screen shot of that video:
Defenitely sing 036 GTR.

looks like it has a roll cage, too!

I have a particular intrest for blue mclaren f1's.
Does anybody know the location and latest info as regards to chassis
#048 and #052? :)

What we believe to be pictures of #048 have only surfaced on the web once since leaving the factory so far as I can tell. You'll find the pics here wearing registration from Fribourg, Switzerland:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=4094422&postcount=8

There are other pics of the car inside the factory in that thread if they're all still active, and there are also a couple of build photos of what is believed to be #052 there as well.

I've never seen or heard of anything related to that second car in all my years of looking, so news of its location or new photos would be tremendously appreciated.

>8^)
ER

OK, very interesting indeed. Here is the screen shot of that video:
Defenitely sing 036 GTR.

The easy answer is that the number on the sign atop the car doesn't correspond to the chassis number. The difficult answer is: "what the heck did it correspond to?"

...oh wait, that's another question. :lol:

That's believed very strongly to be GTR #09R Sami, the one built for the Brunei collection that looks identical to the LeMans winner.

I think it is pretty safe to ignore those numbers when you see them. Here's a pair of images of the easily identifiable chassis #071 in build, as documented in Driving Ambition, and you'll note the number on that car is 099.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/DSC02655.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/DSC02656.jpg

What is interesting is that GTR #09R wasn't the 36th F1 built no matter how you count them and chassis #071 wasn't the 99th car either. What I suspect the number might relate to is perhaps an order number or customer record number that McLaren used to track things in the factory, but has no correlation to anything that we're typically familiar with. It could also relate to the order in which the actual chassis were built perhaps. :dunno:

>8^)
ER

Okay, the Gordon Murray’s Labrador question was a bit of a ‘red herring’! It’s pretty well documented that he owned a Golden Retriever actually! ;)

I had thought about enquiring what colour of socks Ron Dennis was wearing during the famous discussion at Linate Airport, but was scared someone would actually take the question seriously, answer and post photographic proof!

Here’s a genuine F1-orientated question though. At approximately the same time as Peter Stevens was styling the F1, he also worked on the design of a loudspeaker for an English loudspeaker company. Upon it’s release many reviews drew comparisons and comments on Peter’s involvement with the F1. Who was the loudspeaker manufacturer? For extra ‘Brownie Points’; can anyone name the speaker model he styled and post photos? I can answer the manufacturer question. The model designation escapes me however!

The easy answer is that the number on the sign atop the car doesn't correspond to the chassis number. The difficult answer is: "what the heck did it correspond to?"

...oh wait, that's another question. :lol:

That's believed very strongly to be GTR #09R Sami, the one built for the Brunei collection that looks identical to the LeMans winner.

I think it is pretty safe to ignore those numbers when you see them. Here's a pair of images of the easily identifiable chassis #071 in build, as documented in Driving Ambition, and you'll note the number on that car is 099.

What is interesting is that GTR #09R wasn't the 36th F1 built no matter how you count them and chassis #071 wasn't the 99th car either. What I suspect the number might relate to is perhaps an order number or customer record number that McLaren used to track things in the factory, but has no correlation to anything that we're typically familiar with. It could also relate to the order in which the actual chassis were built perhaps. :dunno:

>8^)
ER

Hmm yes now I remember, there was some discusion earlier this same video and part of it. It was #09R not #01R, my mistake.
That your theory might be sence a lot.

Are those numbers not the in factory build number of whatever car is being built.

The dashboard material of GTR's, I have notised that 1995 GTR's it looks quite much different than 1996 GTR's.

http://kuvablogi.com/nayta/prev/img2436589.jpg

And if you look this #16R's dashboard, the material looks quite much different than the #05R's.
What was the reason of changing it to 1996?
Costs or practicality or reflections on the wind screen or...?
The last case, I would expect it to be other way when you comapre the materials of #05R and #16R.
Or was it simply "it's not important thing of the car" case?

Anyone have a better photo of the rear of GTR #06R taken at the 1995 LeMans race, showing the "PER TE AYRTON" sticker, than this one?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/c51PerTeAyrton_L.jpg

Thanks in advance!

>8^)
ER

Is it for what i hope its for?

Anyone have a better photo of the rear of GTR #06R taken at the 1995 LeMans race, showing the "PER TE AYRTON" sticker, than this one?



Erik, do you need especially from LM'95? I checked my archives, LM'95 annual and Cotton's GTR book without any better images of the rear regarding LM'95 but if it's not necessary to be from LM'95 I could have some with only minor differences to the LM'95 version.

From what I saw flipping through my own set of images, LM95 was the only place the 'Ayrton' sticker was fixed to the car. Perhaps I am wrong on that assumption, and if so, then I'd take any rear shot of the car showing it more clearly. :)

>8^)
ER

Not Le Man, but there sure is something written on the back of #06r in this pic

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4271/mclsi060.th.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/mclsi060.jpg/)

and this one too [somewhere ;)]

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9679/95lemans0201.th.jpg (http://img46.imageshack.us/i/95lemans0201.jpg/)

The dashboard material of GTR's, I have notised that 1995 GTR's it looks quite much different than 1996 GTR's.

http://kuvablogi.com/nayta/prev/img2436589.jpg

And if you look this #16R's dashboard, the material looks quite much different than the #05R's.
What was the reason of changing it to 1996?
Costs or practicality or reflections on the wind screen or...?
The last case, I would expect it to be other way when you comapre the materials of #05R and #16R.
Or was it simply "it's not important thing of the car" case?

"Weight reduction" is the simple answer Sami.

The 95 GTR,s dash was laid up in grp and covered in Alcantara. Very nice they looked too. but this is a race car. So in 96 a lighter lay up was used and finished with a textured anti-glare coating.

Here's a scan from BMW Magazin 1/96 taken at Donington 1995.

http://thumbnails28.imagebam.com/6675/1393a066742094.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/1393a066742094)

Could still be better on that "PER TE AYRTON". There's a better one in Cotton's book on page 126 from Nurburgring if someone has it already scanned! :wink:

Not Le Man, but there sure is something written on the back of #06r in this pic

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4271/mclsi060.th.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/mclsi060.jpg/)



Taken at Monza 1996. :wink:

The easy answer is that the number on the sign atop the car doesn't correspond to the chassis number. The difficult answer is: "what the heck did it correspond to?"

...oh wait, that's another question. :lol:

That's believed very strongly to be GTR #09R Sami, the one built for the Brunei collection that looks identical to the LeMans winner.

I think it is pretty safe to ignore those numbers when you see them. Here's a pair of images of the easily identifiable chassis #071 in build, as documented in Driving Ambition, and you'll note the number on that car is 099.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/DSC02655.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/DSC02656.jpg

What is interesting is that GTR #09R wasn't the 36th F1 built no matter how you count them and chassis #071 wasn't the 99th car either. What I suspect the number might relate to is perhaps an order number or customer record number that McLaren used to track things in the factory, but has no correlation to anything that we're typically familiar with. It could also relate to the order in which the actual chassis were built perhaps. :dunno:

>8^)
ER

OK children, time for a maths lesson, "One and One does not make Two" :nono:

Well at least, not down at McLaren :screwy:

Not all the F1,s were built at Genesis, up to that point in time when #09R was being built. So its all down to how they counted or how many fingers they had :rofl:.

"Weight reduction" is the simple answer Sami.

The 95 GTR,s dash was laid up in grp and covered in Alcantara. Very nice they looked too. but this is a race car. So in 96 a lighter lay up was used and finished with a textured anti-glare coating.

Of course...I should quess that. Just didn't believe it could be so critical what kind of dashboard the car has. :iceslolan
Well knowing Gordon Murray's obsession of weight, I should have quess that.

And yep, 1995 GTR dashboard looks very detailed and great. Stylish, I should say even it's a racecar. 1996 GTR's then a bit "hasty" done. But main thing is that it works.

I had thought about enquiring what colour of socks Ron Dennis was wearing during the famous discussion at Linate Airport, but was scared someone would actually take the question seriously, answer and post photographic proof!


Black Hugo Boss socks - he would have been in McLaren travel gear :D

Does anyone know what type of glue was used to hold the individual peices of the car to form the monocoque...it is clearly visibal in the original top gear test with tiff driving around XP4 as some kind of black goop....anyone know what it is?

Does anyone know what type of glue was used to hold the individual peices of the car to form the monocoque...it is clearly visibal in the original top gear test with tiff driving around XP4 as some kind of black goop....anyone know what it is?


It will just have been some RTV silicone adhesive....at least on the GP side, it was used all the time, some industrial stuff (Loctite IIRC), would stick anything

Anyone have a better photo of the rear of GTR #06R taken at the 1995 LeMans race, showing the "PER TE AYRTON" sticker, than this one?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20I/c51PerTeAyrton_L.jpg

Thanks in advance!

>8^)
ER

Clipped this from the Cotton GTR book, if its of any use.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9138/06rayrton.th.jpg (http://img34.imageshack.us/i/06rayrton.jpg/)

Its as scanned, so you can play with it in photoshop :).

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. (still no lesbians here, I guess... :()

Chris- missed your reply earlier. Not sure what you were thinking this is for, but really I just wanted to see if there was a better reference of it for the future. No particular 'need' at the moment.

The first 5 shots in this Flickr gallery are pretty cool:

McLaren Set (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffgarage/4140017054/in/set-72157622844008311/)

>8^)
ER

Oh i thought the owner was restoring it back to "Le Mans spec" or something similar

Is this one any good?

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8104/06rayrton2.th.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/i/06rayrton2.jpg/)

I have seen a close up shot, not sure where? it may have been on a VHS/DVD clip.

Actually that one is pretty interesting because the text is not all in capital letters like the others, which implies the sticker made at least two appearances on the rear of the car. Thanks!

>8^)
ER

Is this one any good?

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8104/06rayrton2.th.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/i/06rayrton2.jpg/)

I have seen a close up shot, not sure where? it may have been on a VHS/DVD clip.

is that from 96 though? Note the carbon engine cover and the recessed 96 lights.

Good eye Andy - sometimes I don't pay attention like I should. :screwy:

Interestingly, Greg's "Monza '96" photo ID'd by DocGTR appears to have the same writing as Le Man's picture, but still wears the original road car tail lamps.

>8^)
ER

Good eye Andy - sometimes I don't pay attention like I should. :screwy:

Interestingly, Greg's "Monza '96" photo ID'd by DocGTR appears to have the same writing as Le Man's picture, but still wears the original road car tail lamps.

>8^)
ER

Yes, that latest addition is from 1996 Jarama race as 06R had that type of rear wing and the smaller and edgier mirrors. Also it has already the '96 type of rear lamps which were not on it in Monza. Thanks Erik for pointing that out. Still I had guessed this would be from Jarama as the track surface color matched better to Jarama than Monza.

During the 1995 season the text was written in capitals (PER TE AYRTON) in Arial type of font and then in 1996 in Times New Roman kind of font (Per te Ayrton). In 1996 it also appeared on the front in some races, e.g. Le Mans.

Here’s a genuine F1-orientated question though. At approximately the same time as Peter Stevens was styling the F1, he also worked on the design of a loudspeaker for an English loudspeaker company. Upon it’s release many reviews drew comparisons and comments on Peter’s involvement with the F1. Who was the loudspeaker manufacturer? For extra ‘Brownie Points’; can anyone name the speaker model he styled and post photos? I can answer the manufacturer question. The model designation escapes me however!

TAG/McLaren Audiolab

Speakers= F1,s

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6493/dsc00452e.th.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/dsc00452e.jpg/)

Only sound coming out of these speakers, is an F1 car on full song!! :iceslolan

Several owners of f1's had lm downforce kits.
Would it be possible to customize an f1 with a gt or a longtail gtr (with spoiler) kit? And if so, has any owner customized their Mclaren in this specific way? :)

I let that one run for a day to see if anyone else had a comment.

My answer is 'I don't know' - so it seems silly to reply, right? - but I'd speculate that while it might be plausible to do, that the factory probably would not undertake such a drastic change to a car like that. By all evidence we have, they certainly haven't done anything like that up to this point.

I'm sure the monocoque for the longtail cars was different at each end to allow the new bodypanels to attach. The rear wings or fenders are dramatically different on the longtail cars, and that's not something that could just be tacked on - they tie into a significant portion of the structure of the car. Of course if you waved the right amount of money at them, I won't deny that anything is possible.

>8^)
ER

TAG/McLaren Audiolab

Speakers= F1,s

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6493/dsc00452e.th.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/dsc00452e.jpg/)

Only sound coming out of these speakers, is an F1 car on full song!! :iceslolan

Wrong! ;)