McLaren F1 LM
Encyclopedia
- For the standard McLaren F1, see the McLaren F1McLaren F1The McLaren F1 is a supercar designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. Originally a concept conceived by Gordon Murray, he convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and engaged Peter Stevens to design the exterior of the car...
article.
The McLaren F1 LM is, in short, a track oriented edition of the McLaren F1
McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a supercar designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. Originally a concept conceived by Gordon Murray, he convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and engaged Peter Stevens to design the exterior of the car...
. The LM is based on the McLaren F1 GTR
McLaren F1 GTR
The McLaren F1 GTR was a racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it...
with the necessary modifications in place to allow the modified GTR to be a road legal car, however without the engine intake restrictions imposed on the GTR racing edition by racing regulations.
Background
In late 1995, five McLaren F1 LM (LM for Le MansLe Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
) were built in honour of the five McLaren F1 GTR
McLaren F1 GTR
The McLaren F1 GTR was a racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it...
's which finished the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans
1995 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 17 and 18 1995.-Race:The 1995 race was won by a McLaren F1 GTR entered in the GT1 category. The car was already well known for dominating the BPR Global GT Series with customer teams, but the car that won was...
, including taking the overall win.
Whereas the standard McLaren F1 was designed to be the ultimate roadcar in the sense that it should be comfortable and usable in everyday conditions despite being a very potent sports car, the LM edition is a lower and stiffer more track machine oriented vehicle, due to i.a. the very stripped down, bare interior, inserting solid aluminium bushings in place of the rubber bushings in the suspension system and omitting the Ground Plane Shear Centre system seen on the standard F1.
Although only five F1 LMs were sold, a sixth chassis exists in the form of XP1 LM, the prototype for modifications to the existing F1 to form the new F1 LM. This car is also painted Papaya Orange and is retained by McLaren. This car, reportedly worth $4 million, has been promised by McLaren CEO Ron Dennis
Ron Dennis
Ronald "Ron" Dennis CBE is the executive chairman of McLaren Automotive and McLaren Group, and is also a significant shareholder in both companies...
to his driver Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
if he should win an additional two Formula One World Championship titles.
The F1 LMs can be identified by their Papaya orange paint. The F1 LM's were painted in this color in memory and tribute to Bruce McLaren
Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren , born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor....
, whose race colour was Papaya orange.
It has been discovered however, that contrary to the official word from McLaren at the time, only four (including the prototype) of the LMs were originally painted 'Papaya' Orange, with two of the three delivered to The Sultan of Brunei being painted black with graphics.
Weight
The weight was reduced by approximately 60 kg (132 lb) over that of original, through the removal of various pieces of trim and use of optional equipment, i.a. no interior noise suppression, no audio system, a very stripped down base interior, no fan assisted ground effect and no dynamic rear wing—giving the McLaren F1 LM a total mass of 1062 kg (2,341 lb).Engine
The F1 LM also used the same engine as the 1995 F1 GTR without the race-mandated restrictorsRestrictor plate
A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to limit top speed and thus increase safety, to provide equal level of...
. The engine has a compression ratio of 11.0:1 and produces (680 bhp/500 kW) at 7800 RPM. It has a peak torque of 705.0 Nm
Newton metre
A newton metre is a unit of torque in the SI system. The symbolic form is N m or N·m, and sometimes hyphenated newton-metre...
(520.0 ft·lbf) at 4500 rpm; the redline is at 8500 rpm. The total weight and horsepower of the car gives it a weight to power ratio of 3.4 lb/hp
Aerodynamics
The aerodynamics of the LM is directly derived from the GTR race car aerodynamic configuration.The bodywork of the vehicle has the addition of a larger cooling duct at the nose of the machine and cooling ducts on either side of the car for the brakes where the storage lockers are seen on the standard F1.
In the place of the small dynamic rear wing seen on the regular F1 there is a considerably larger, adjustable (but not active, i.e. automatically adjusted) CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) rear wing mounted on the back of the vehicle, it has a CFRP splitter at the front, side skirts and extensions for the wheel arches in order to attempt increase downforce and thus give the car more grip. The car also features the diffuser
Diffuser
Diffuser can refer to any device that diffuses in some manner such as:* In aerodynamics** Diffuser , a shaped section of a car's underbody which improves the car's aerodynamic properties** divergent part of the flute...
from the GTR edition.
Tires
The McLaren F1 LM uses Michelin SX-MXX3 tires and features specially-designed 18-inch (457 mm) magnesium alloy wheels.The tires at the front are 275/35 ZR 18, while at the rear 345/35 ZR 18.
The front wheels are 10.85 x 18 inches and at the rear 13.00 x 18 inches.
Brakes
The carbon ceramic brakes on the GTR are not present on the LM, the front and rear calipers on the brakes are 4 pot monobloc light alloy calliper, ventilated using the GTR95 Brake Cooling System.Gearbox, clutch and miscellaneous
The LM has an upgraded gearbox with gun drilled driveshaft from the Le Mans specifications, tripod CV joint and straight cut gears, although the gear ratios are identical to the standard F1, i.e. 3.23:1, 2.19:1, 1.71:1, 1.39:1, 1.16:1, 0.93:1, with a final drive of 2.37:1. The magnesium casing for the gearbox which first appeared in the second generation GTR is not seen in the LM.The clutch of the LM is a hydraulic remote actuation triple plate carbon/carbon clutch, the clutch is 200mm (7.87") in diameter.
The McLaren F1 LM has a fuel tank capacity of 90 litres.
The fact that the idle noise level inside the car is loud enough to prevent verbal communication is the reason that the car comes with a headset, which features ear protection and a means of communication through microphone, for the occupants.
Performance
The F1 LM is regarded to be the fastest incarnation of the McLaren F1 roadcars through the gears and in overall track performance. It has a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) time of 3.9 seconds, 0-100 mph (161 km/h) in 6.7 seconds and was once the holder of many world records, including the 0-100-0 mph record which it completed in 11.5 seconds (over a distance of 828 feet) when driven by Andy Wallace at the disused airbase RAF Alconbury in Cambridgeshire.Acceleration
- 0–60 mi/h: 3.9 s
- 0–100 mi/h: 6.7 s
Top speed
- 225 mph (362 km/h), which is less than the standard version due to added aerodynamic drag.