Interesting color!

[Koenig Viper]

Never seen a blue F1 before though the rear mirrors look a bit strange. Spotted in England.


This was another recently spotted one in Australia.


Credits to 2 members of GTPlanet. Just thought this forum might enjoy them, and probably know who owns them and what chassis they are.

[Sauc3]

Originally Posted by Koenig Viper

Never seen a blue F1 before though the rear mirrors look a bit strange. Spotted in England.
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3...trafficnr8.jpg

This was another recently spotted one in Australia.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8...ytrip23hy7.jpg

Credits to 2 members of GTPlanet. Just thought this forum might enjoy them, and probably know who owns them and what chassis they are.

Blue car is #040, owned by 'flemke' of PistonHeads forum fame.

Silver car is #009 and owned by Barry Fitzgerald, from Melbourne VIC, Australia.

[Koenig Viper]

Originally Posted by Sauc3

Blue car is #040, owned by 'flemke' of PistonHeads forum fame.

Silver car is #009 and owned by Barry Fitzgerald, from Melbourne VIC, Australia.

Why do the side mirrors look so weird though on the blue one? I've seen other McLarens with their side mirrors in that position, but they weren't that, well, big.

[Peloton25]

The original design concept for the F1 featured side mirrors mounted on the A-pillar with an integrated turn signal as well. During the development process McLaren learned that the design would not satisfy the regulations for road use and so the mirrors were changed for a more traditional style once the first few running prototypes were built.

At some point in the production process one customer requested that McLaren find an acceptable way to integrate that mirror design into their car during the build. McLaren ended up utlizing the mirror fitted to the BMW Z1 and in order to account for the added stress on the doors, changes were made to the carbon fiber in that section. Although the major component was an off-the-shelf part from BMW, apparently this "option" was quite pricey - to the tune of around £25,000 if I recall correctly.

According to the owner of the unique blue F1:
"Five F1s have the high mirrors. Three were originally produced that way; the other two had the high mirrors retro-fitted by the factory."

The chassis numbers we know of are #040, #055, #071 and #074. Unless I am confused, I don't believe that the 5th car's chassis number is known at this time.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

I didnt have the pic of #009 - thanks!

[Koenig Viper]

Peleton, I just read somewhere that the blue has the most miles on any F1 and that it actually runs around 700 horsepower?

True?

[Peloton25]

I know that #040 is driven quite a bit more than most F1s. It's certainly possible that its mileage total is the highest, but I also know that #020 is frequently driven and may be a contender for that throne.

Also, XP5 was a prototpye, but when it set the 240.1mph speed record at the Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany in 1998 it's odometer was registering 77,003 km or 47,849 miles. Surely it's gone a bit further than that in the past 9 years so it may still be the highest.

As for the higher power figure of #040 - that claim, to my understanding, relates to an optional exhaust system which was fitted to this car. Personally, I just don't see an exhaust system on a normally aspirated engine being able to produce such a large increase in power (nearly 10% or more). I'm sure the original system fitted to the F1 was not quite that restrictive. Maybe the owner, or his friend joe911 who posts here on occasion, will be open to commenting on this in greater detail.

>8^)
ER

[F1FREAKZILLA]

It is in the new EVO magazine

something like 36,0000 plus miles

[Peloton25]

I just went back through EVO to pull the quotes.

The comment on the mileage reads like this:

"This car is a very rare beast, in that it's an F1 that gets lots of use. With 36,000 miles under its wheels, 32,000 of those covered since Flemke took custody, its one of the highest mileage F1s in the world. Which, in my book, also makes it one of the coolest F1s on the planet."

Couldn't agree more with that last sentence. Note there is no claim of it being the mileage king which I think they would have mentioned if it were indeed a fact. Surely up there compared to most though. The highest mileage F1 I am aware of in the USA is #038, but when it was sold recently it had just 22,750 miles on it, so #040 is doing pretty well for sure.

The comment on the power figure goes like this:

"Flemke's last sentence rings in my ears. 'Gordon Murray reckons that with the sports exhaust and such a high mileage, this car probably has 680hp or so...'"

So, it appears to be a guesstimate based on the addition of the exhaust and the fact that the motor has loosened up over time. I'm not sure if it would make that figure on a chassis dyno, as I have a feeling that the air intake on the roof of the F1 adds a ram-air effect at speed that would not be seen in a stationary test. The power figure could be accurate at speed, but I am guessing that Flemke would have no reason to test it, thus we'll never really know for sure.

>8^)
ER

[Thorst13]

I've always thought that Flemke's F1 was one of the "least" appealing ones, but seeing that first picture I got to say it looks lethally amazing!
Good to hear Flemke is riding the crap out of that car as that's what you're supposed to do!

Oh man #009 is one of my all time favorite, it's just an amazing looking F1.