The original McLaren F1 press release in full - Every detail of the incredible V12 supercar - The McLaren F1

PRESENTED AT THE SPORTING CLUB MONACO ON THURSDAY 28 MAY 1992

PREFACE

Having won seven World Championship titles in the past eight Formula One racing seasons, the next logical challenge for TAG/McLaren has been to exploit its outstanding Grand Prix racing capabilities in the design of an entirely new order of high performance road car – the production McLaren F1.

Our new McLaren F1 presents Formula 1 technology in road-going form – a high performance sports car, dedicated to driving pleasure, yet being habitable and spacious, capable, in fact, of carrying three tall adults and their luggage in great comfort.

All manufacturers claim excellence, advance and high-technology in new products. All modern ‘supercars’ claim high-performance, low drag, head-turning style.

But now McLaren Cars’ philosophy marks a completely new departure. Our thinking behind the McLaren F1 is genuinely different. Different but not new. McLaren Cars’ approach matches that of the earliest pioneers of motoring itself, combining a completely clean sheet of paper with leading edge technology.

Because no avoidable compromise is acceptable in Formula 1 design, none has been accepted in our new F1 – no carry-over of existing components; no separated design of chassis and body; no expedient use of proprietary parts, nor any proprietary engine; no submission to passing fads or fashion. Unless the most penetrating engineering analysis has demanded it, the F1 does not feature it.

A Formula 1 car simply adapted for the road, however, would be uninhabitable, impractical, harsh, vibratory – ferociously tiring. But Formula 1 technology applied unreservedly for the road – as in the McLaren F1 – marks an entirely new departure, a new dawn for high-performance motoring.

This is the exclusive McLaren F1 – painstakingly redefining the Grand Touring ‘supercar’ and ‘driver’s car’ for the 21st century.

Mansour OjjehCHAIRMAN