The original McLaren F1 press release in full - Every detail of the incredible V12 supercar - McLaren today
As McLaren re-publishes the full, original 1992 press release for its F1 supercar, it's a perfect time to celebrate the F1, we think
THE F1 WILL CONFIRM MCLAREN CARS’ ENTIRELY NEW STANDARDS OF BUILD QUALITY AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE ROAD CARS
McLaren Cars was formed in 1989 to create a unique high performance road car reflecting the McLaren International World Championship Formula 1 racing team’s record-shattering standards. From the new project’s inception, Technical Director Gordon Murray and Commercial Director Creighton Brown set about recruiting a multi-talented team with wide motor industry experience.
Gordon Murray has been associated with cars which have won over 50 Grand Prix races and four World Championship titles, his exquisitely-integrated designs embodying such trend-setting innovations as pull- and push-rod suspensions, carbon brakes, and underbody aerodynamic skirts – plus such renowned lateral thinking as the Formula 1 ‘FanCar’ and lowering suspensions. He subsequently devised the ingenious refuelling-stop/tyre change tactic to achieve record race-winning average speeds in early ‘80s turbocharged Formula 1 racing.
But he had also cherished a lifelong ambition to create the ‘ultimate’ road car. Eager for a fresh challenge away from the Formula 1 circuits, he jumped at the opportunity offered by McLaren Cars to head a design team dedicated to do just that – to realise that dream, in conjunction with Peter Stevens – one of the leading figures in the outstanding ‘new wave’ of British automotive stylists.
The McLaren F1 now represents an entirely new beginning within the world of exclusive sports cars of exceptionally high performance, a vehicle whose design simply re-writes all existing standards by applying wide-ranging technical innovation and imaginative conceptual thinking.
McLaren Cars’ three-year prototype programme was launched in January 1990, in a purpose-built pre-production facility neighbouring McLaren International’s racing headquarters in Woking, Surrey.
When the first production F1 is completed late in 1993, it will confirm McLaren Cars’ new standards of build quality and technical innovation for ultra-high performance road cars.
