There are several reasons why the McLaren F1 LM is a special car.
Firstly, it’s the fastest and most powerful McLaren F1 ever made.
Perhaps the most special thing about the F1 LM is its rarity – only five were ever produced.
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Yes, a rare beast indeed – but what’s really incredible is that one big name bought three of them.
That’s right, the Sultan of Brunei bought three of the five McLaren F1 LM cars.
Apparently, the remaining two went to Yoshio Tsuzuki of Japan and David Morrison, a wealthy Brit.
The latter’s LM eventually found its way into Ralph Lauren’s vast car collection.
You can be forgiven for not knowing much about the McLaren F1 LM, so we’ll bring you up to speed.
The F1 LM was built to honor the F1 GTR’s dominance at Le Mans in the mid-90s, hence the LM in the name which stands for Le Mans.
In a nutshell, the ultra-rare, limited-run F1 LM is essentially a race car for the road, a bit like this McLaren Senna GTR that’s just been converted for road use.
Five examples were built to honor the five F1 GTRs that finished the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans and each wore a distinctive shade of Papaya Orange.
Two also have a chassis with a black and grey trim, similar to the Ueno Clinic-sponsored winning F1 GTR.
Unlike the base model McLaren F1, which was designed to be the fastest road car ever produced and came with a ton of comfort and convenience features, the F1 LM didn’t make any such sacrifices.
The McLaren F1 GTR, upon which the LM is based, was modified specifically to participate in the racing series, with stiffer suspension, more refined aerodynamics, a lighter body, and more powerful engine.
Although the F1 inherits all these elements from its racing cousin, several modifications had to be made to make the F1 GTR road legal.
Okay, that meant some weight was added in the form of unnecessary features for a track-only car, but the LM was now free of any restrictions the racing series had imposed on it.
In terms of performance, the LM features a 6.0-liter naturally-aspirated V12, pumping out 668 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque.
It can do the 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) sprint in 2.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 225 mph (362 km/h).
Needless to say, the McLaren F1 LM is the fastest and most powerful F1 ever made, holding several records thanks to those impressive performance figures.
