Overheat
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Its official: the McLaren F1 road car is the greatest automotive achievement of all time, as voted by the readers of 4Car. And I promise you, the fact that the F1 was also my own nominee for top spot had absolutely nothing to do with the final outcome. Honest.
You're a remarkably discerning lot, it has to be said. While I've had the enormous privilege of having driven the F1, I'm pretty sure that's not true of the vast majority of those who voted for it. So you were voting strictly on the basis of your knowledge of how significant this ground-breaking car really is, which is pretty impressive. And all these years later, the headline figures still amaze - three seats with a central driving position like a Formula One car, a 627bhp V12, 240mph and about one million dollars to you, sir.
As with so many of the finest things in life, it's existence is owed to the commitment and talent of a driven individual. In this case, its designer Gordon Murray. A veteran of Formula One race-car design, Murray set out with one purpose: to build the best road car of all time. "The F1 was created as the purest driver's car, compact and above all ultra-lightweight," he says. "It also embodies the most advanced engineering, intricate and elegant detailing and peerless quality."
Its chassis and bodywork are constructed from immensely strong, yet incredibly light and frighteningly expensive carbon fibre. So strong, in fact, that when the first prototype crashed in Namibia during testing, despite numerous rolls, the driver walked away unscathed. Meanwhile, no stone was left unturned in Murray's pursuit for perfection. Electric fans assist the creation of downforce, Kenwood created a premium sound system weighing just 8.5kg, the engine has no fly-wheel and the clutch is carbon fibre. When the car was still in production, each F1 took 2,250 hours to construct, obviously at huge expense.
Our own columnist Jay Leno owns an F1 (along with a mind-blowing selection of other hardware). So what does he reckon? "Well, the F1 is the greatest car of the 20th century," says Leno. "It sounds odd to say that but of all the cars from the year 1900 to the year 2000, the greatest of them all is the F1. There's a great deal of satisfaction in that when you drive it, knowing this is the best, the fastest. The weight of it feels German and the handling feels British."
The first time that I achieved 210mph-plus without the help of British Airways was aboard a McLaren. And I was there on the day that Andy Wallace (a brilliant driver and raconteur extraordinaire) set a road car speed record of 240.1mph at VW's test facility at Wolfsburg early in 1998. To say that this car changed the way I viewed the art of the possible is huge understatement. I'm with Leno on this one - Murray's achievement in creating a lightweight, shatteringly fast supercar that could be enjoyed by three people is an achievement unlikely to be matched, ever. Did I mention the engine bay lined with gold (for its heat reflecting properties) or the onboard toolkit made of titanium (for extreme strength and lightness)? Quite sensational.
So it's no surprise to me that you voted the McLaren F1 to be the greatest car of all time. Because, quite simply, it is.
Gavin Conway
Editor, 4Car
