An automotive Icon turns +30 || McLaren F1 RED LINE CLUB FEATURETTE
F1 turns +30....
In the early 1980s, former mechanic Ron Dennis took over McLaren - and turned the new McLaren Group not only into a successful racing team, but also into a technology company. Dennis always managed to bring new partners on board - which made him one of the richest men in England. And he also repeatedly found engineers and specialists who became the best in the world in their field at McLaren. One of them was Gordon Murray. The South African had worked at Brabham from 1969 and joined McLaren as Technical Director in 1987. His vision became reality with the McLaren F1.
Between 1993 and 1997, around 106 McLaren F1 cars saw the light of day! The three-seater carbon fibre sports car was powered by a 6.1-litre twelve-cylinder engine from BMW, delivering between 627 and 680 hp depending on the configuration. Fuelled in this way, the F1, built from 1992, was up to 391 km/h fast - and accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. It would take until 2005 for the 1001 hp Bugatti Veyron to replace the McLaren F1 as the fastest production car in the world. To this day, the McLaren F1 is the fastest production car powered by a naturally aspirated engine. An F1 weighed just 1150 kilos when fully equipped. At 4.29 metres long, 1.82 metres wide and 1.15 metres high, the English car was also quite compact.
Mattel Creations Red Line Club F1 by Hot Wheels
The McLaren F1 from Mattel Creations has just arrived. We had already received the McLaren GTR from Hot Wheels in many different colour variants (for example as the so called SPEED MACHINES), and in recent years the regular F1 has been added in various colours as a mainliner. The Mattel Creations version stands out from the rest as the gullwing doors can be opened to reveal the special three-seater layout. A Spectrachrome Orange paint finish and rubber tyres round off the model. There was some criticism in advance as the quality of the model was not really acceptable, especially for the price of almost $45 with shipping and everything here in Switzerland. Although our model was free of any quantity, the doors can hardly be shown in the open state but fold up automatically under their own weight.
A favourite for the rich and famous...
Celebrities such as Eric Clapton and Ralph Lauren loved and still love the McLaren F1: presenter and car enthusiast Jay Leno, for example, has one. Actor Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) crashed his, had it repaired for the equivalent of one million euros, crashed it again and sold it in 2015 for the equivalent of eleven million euros. And Tesla boss Elon Musk raved about the dynamic driving characteristics of his car, which he crashed into the embankment after an unsuccessful lane change. A total of 106 McLaren F1s were built, 78 of which were road-legal.
Such cars without a road licence were put into operation for various racing series, both for the Japanese JGTC series and for 24-hour races. In 1995 there was the so-called LeMans version (with 689 hp), of which five plus one prototype were built. McLaren also built three F1 GTs as homologation models for racing. And finally, there were the 28 racing cars, known as GTRs. These vehicles also made history, the best of which was in 1995, when they took first, third, fourth, fifth and 13th place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans - on their very first appearance.
Of the total of 106 McLaren F1s, only very rarely does one go on sale. And when they do, they cost at least 10 million euros - for a "normal" F1, the racing cars and the special models cost a hefty surcharge. While Hot Wheels stuck to the road-going and GTR versions, Kyosho in particular focussed on the racing versions and their matching sponsors. This also applied to the Kyosho longtail versions. However, the longtail GTR was never really successful on the racetracks. MiniGT also put its best foot forward and is currently releasing various road-going versions of the F1 as well as the GTR, such as the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.
Whether MiniGT, Hot Wheels or other manufacturers: compared to the countless different McLaren models on the market, the McLaren F1 is by far the most popular vehicle, with countless variants available. The Hot Wheels Red Line Club model is the latest addition to our collection...and certainly not the last!
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