Currently reading: 20 years of the McLaren F1
McLaren brings together the largest collection of F1s ever for its 20th anniversary

McLaren has celebrated 20 years of its iconic F1 supercar by gathering 21 of the 106 variants built at a special event at the McLaren technology Centre.

The firm invited current and former F1 owners to the MTC to a special dinner and to witness the F1 display, which was the largest number of F1s ever assembled in one place.

McLaren first announced its plans to build a supercar in 1988 and development on the F1 began in 1990. Two years later, the first concept was launched and the first production example was delivered in 1994.

McLaren is celebrating 20 years of the F1 with a series of special events this year, including a large display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.

Goodwood will also be the location for the world public debut of its new MP4-12C, which will launch in the UK early next year.

Ron Dennis described the F1 as a “technical tour-de-force and a real triumph in terms of packaging and design”.

“I enjoy driving mine more today than ever before because I find its technical purity highly satisfying,” he said. “The F1 remains one of McLaren’s proudest achievements.”

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SandyCR 6 June 2010

Re: 20 years of the McLaren F1

In my opinion the F1 pretty much had the last word on Supercars; anything afterwards just gilded the lily. The world has moved on since and the fact McLaren did all of this back in the early 90s just highlights what an underwhelming achievement a Veyron is. It also disappoints me that McLaren are rehashing the supercar thing with their new MP4 thingy after ripping the rule book up more than a decade ago. The fact Gordon Murray is working on a super frugal Micro car shows just how ahead of the game he always is…

As for the very very very tedious “the Veyron is faster” argument I think you will find that the market eventually shows a car's true worth, Veyons are depreciating heavily, and with no motorsport pedigree and only the "fastest at the moment" moniker will continue to depreciate. F1s just keep getting more expensive and are indeed now entering the rarefied world of the GTOs and the D Types. These are cars with true pedigree that will always command stratospheric prices due to provenance, history, rarity and performance. Now have another look at the classic car markets as a guide to future value. The most expensive car in the world in the late 1970s was the Rolls Royce Camargue, the most expensive car in the world in the early 1980s was the Aston Martin Lagonda. Both worth less than a poorly spec'd 3 series today....why, the market sees nothing in them worth valuing.

Think of yourself as an investor and imagine what the Veyron will be worth in a decade? Its only claim to fame is being the fastest, and as anyone knows there will always be an incrementally faster car. However being the first is always unique!This reminds me of a heated discussion I had with a friend of mine who bought an Enzo as an "investment" despite numerous howls of protest from his friends (including me) We simply said – “what happens when Ferrari build a faster car, or worse still a faster car with the steering wheel in the right place?” For a few years he was sitting smugly pretty on a tidy profit (having only driven it less than 500 miles) However one 458 Italia road test later (and a Scuderia version in the pipeline) and watch now as Enzo prices are heading through the floor...for a brief few months worth over £1m, now crashing through the £750K barrier and, in my opinion heading for £500K before long. This stands to reason as why would you pay more a slower, uglier and less advanced Ferrari? Unless it had, say, won Le Man first time of trying! Or been sublimely beautiful and extremely rare (288GTO) or the last car Enzo Ferrari oversaw (F40). F50s (remember them!) are in the wilderness and Enzos won’t be far behind. Tom Hartleys have a 1600 mile Veyron for £795K ... if I were an owner I’d be getting fairly worried. McLaren F1s - heading for £3m

jmd67 1 June 2010

Re: 20 years of the McLaren F1

So right. The F1 came a wee bit too soon. Had it been 10 years ago instead of 16 it would have sold more and would probably been developed further. They reckon 1000bhp could have been achievable. Even knocking that back a bit, can you imagine a non-racer F1 with about 850bhp, ceramic brakes and updated gearbox/suspension? The Veyron wouldn't stand a chance against that.

david RS 31 May 2010

Re: 20 years of the McLaren F1

One supercar : the Mac Laren F1!