5 Incredible McLaren F1 stories.
Everybody knows that the McLaren F1 is a great car, and with a great car... comes even greater stories, we'll go over some of them here.
McLaren Chassis XP1
Chassis XP1
Around the late 1992, McLaren F1's designer Gordon Murray, Promised Ron Dennis that the first prototype of the McLaren F1 would be up and running by Christmas of that year, and that deadline was coming fast. Thus it began, The test to the engineering team, They were doing everything they could to get the car ready before December 25. One story even cited the tale of how an engineer's wife had bear a child at the same night when the team was pulling an all nighter, so the Engineer snuck out of the factory for around an hour to see his newly born, then came back to the factory to complete his work.
Then in the 23rd of December, it was born, The XP1. Weighing just over a thousand kilograms. When Gordon tried to turn it on for the first time however, they encountered a little bit of a problem with the clutch, where it just wouldn't engage. But it was nothing they couldn't fix, and by the end of the day the car had already been moved out of the factory. It took 6000 man hours to build, But the car was finally ready for testing duties.
XP1 being driven somewhere in England.
Unfortunately, the glory was short lived. As the XP1 was brought to Namibia for some testing, a BMW engineer driving it had an accident, Where he hit a rain gutter at more than 150mph, Rolling the car multiple times. But the carbon monocoque did it's job though, keeping the driver safe and he managed to get out of the car just before it went up in flames.
It is known that after the crash, Ron Dennis, McLaren CEO at the time. Tried to retrieve everything he could from the wreck, some even mentioning that he had put some of the parts inside his own suitcase. And as for the rest of the carcass, well it was rumored that they took everything. Put it inside a crate, buried it and created a tombstone for it somewhere. But it's never been confirmed. All this is documented in the 1999 book "Driving Ambition: The Official, Inside Story of the McLaren F1" By Doug Nye, Gordon Murray, and Ron Dennis.
"El Chapo's McLaren" The Chassis 39
Prehaps one of the most known F1 example of all time. Chassis 39
Okay, i kinda cheated. It's not really owned by El Chapo, But it's still amazing because... Why wouldn't it be?
With it's story it's certainly one of the most interesting chassis, originally made in 1995 to be delivered to McLaren's CEO Ron Dennis, also the founder of McLaren cars. But story has it that his wife wasn't really a fan of the interior, and so he passed on chassis 39 and went with chassis 50 instead. (ontop of chassis 003 which he already owned)
Maybe Lisa, Ron's wife, Didn't know this at that time, but she single handedly started a hell of a journey for Chassis 39, because what follows is quite literally a barrage of fire. After a while, McLaren found a buyer from Mexico, and the car was to be transported through the USA to get to it's new owner in Mexico, and who would have thought, it was sold to a guy who handles alot of "forest products".
Enter Ricardo "El Robachivas" Beltran, Sinaloa cartel's most prolific drug runner. He took delivery of his brown McLaren F1 around 1997.
Supposed picture of El Robachivas next to El Chapo.
Supposedly, El Robachivas had been killed in 1997. When he was driving is armored and gold plated Jeep, a gunfight broke out. He managed to drive to a safehouse, got his son out. But he died shortly after that, not after he said where he had kept the keys to his F1. But some sources also said that he wasn't killed in 1997, but in 2004 instead, Because the following picture of chassis 39 is known to be taken around that time and El Robachivas died shortly after these shots were taken in Culiacan. And if he did die in 1997, This car certainly wouldn't be seen with it's doors open in 2004.
There were rumors that the people who took the car after his death tried to contact McLaren and asked to buy a spare key, But one problem with that. It's that the car had been brought into Mexico without proper documentation. But supposedly McLaren agreed and quoted them arund 250,000 dollars to which the family declined. Ever since then we had never heard anything about the car, supposedly hidden somewhere under a tarp in Mexico. Many attempts have been tried to get the car out of the country, most notably by the youtuber Ed Bolian of Vin Wiki. He tried to track it down and even offering an incentive if anyone could provide information that leads him to finding/buying the car. See the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoCWpXMRSl0&ab_channel=VINwiki
Up until now, we still don't know where the location of the car is. And whether it's going to see the light of day is still nothing more than a hope. So if you or someone you know has contact with the Sinaloa cartel, you might want to ask about the car next time you ring them up.
Lewis Hamilton and his F1 Ownership.
Right around 2008, Lewis had made a deal with Ron Dennis that had he won 3 world championships, he would receive a *free* McLaren F1. But not any other McLaren F1 though, the one that he was going to be given is the very rare McLaren F1 LM Prototype, or chassis "XP LM", the only prototype F1 LM to be ever made. Which was owned and stored by the McLaren factory in Woking.
F1 LM Prototype in Geneva 2013
Gordon Murray had described the F1 LM as "The closest you can get to a GTR on the road" So it was a very special car then. Lewis, being unconvinced that he would actually get such special car, went to the McLaren factory, got to chassis XP LM and left a "mark" somewhere in the car. So if he was given the car, he'd know that it's actually chassis XP LM instead of a normal F1 that's converted to LM specification. And apparently he's really good at hiding it, because until today nobody have been able to find the mentioned "mark".
But as we know, Lewis unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on if you're a fan or not) Didn't win 3 championships, so he had to buy one of his own... And buy one he did.
In 2017, a car was available to be bought at an Bonham's auction. This particular car was originally bought and owned by an American billionaire business man, Herb Chambers. He bought the car in 1995 when he was visiting the McLaren factory in England. Upon buying it, Herb took the car on a 4500 mile road trip in Europe with his friends, afterwards. He sent the car to the USA making it the first ever McLaren F1 to be brought into US.
Picture via www.autoevolution.com
The mentioned car had the chassis number of "044" Up until that auction in 2017, it was only ever owned solely by Herb chamber, Making it a one owner vehicle from the start. Perhaps, Lewis saw this as an opportunity to have his own McLaren F1, and so he bought it at the auction for 15,6 Million USD, Making it the most expensive F1 to ever be sold in auction at the time.
Lewis Hamilton driving his F1 in January 2020.
The car stayed in the U.S, and Lewis rarely drove it out. But it's known that he still owns it as he was seen driving the car in Beverly Hills in January 2020.
The car that killed 3 people...
Chris Dawes, I don't know where to even start with this one. He was a prominent figure in the tech industry back in the day, known for his network management software he created in his attic, Micromuse.
Chris Dawes and logo of his software company. Image via IBM
He was also notoriously known for his lavish lifestyle and questionable financial decisions, He once spent 10 million dollars in a single week, buying jets, helicopters and a house in Amsterdam, which was listed for 3 mil GBP, but he offered to pay 3,5 mil GBP if the occupants would leave the house the next day, and to no surprise... they all did. He also once bought a hotel after only spending 10 minutes in the bar, writing a cheque for 475,000 GBP before adding an extra 300,000 for good measure. So when he bought 2 McLaren F1s it wasn't something out of the ordinary for him, The car in question is chassis "17" and "68". But it was something a little different to the fleet of armored cars he would travel in everyday.
Chassis 17 in Calypso Red Pearl, photo by Supercar Nostalgia
He would take delivery of chassis "017" in 1999, as for chassis 068 he would never receive, Because in March 1999, he took his chassis 017 for a drive. During the drive, there was heavy downpour and accident report unveiled that he was travelling at over 100 miles an hour when he lost control and hit a tree. Upon impact, the fuel tank was ruptured, and the car went up in flames. Also in the car were his assitant, and his friend, an Australian architect, We only know that because of the dental remnants that were taken from the crash site. For the car itself, nothing could have been done, the fire had destroyed even the carbon tub, it was in the same realm as chassis XP1. But we are only getting started...
Chassis 68, which was bought by another American businessman. And was sold to Costa Rica in 2005. Picture credit © Wouter Melissen
Here is the interesting part, moths before his accident, He was caught in a police raid in a hotel in Amsterdam, together with many other suspected drug dealers. But he was not found guilty and was free from any charges. But then, his residence in the UK was raided by the police and he was charged with having 2,000 dollars worth of illegal substance. He was set to fight the case in court before his demise. On top of all that, he was also accused of an alleged rape claim, by a hairdresser named Amanda Lawson. She told the police of how she was abducted, drugged and raped multiple times by Dawes. He spent a couple of nights in prison, but he quickly paid the bail to be released.
All this is just rumors, but apparently before the crash happened, Dawes had given to his father a "list of 8 people he believed wanted him dead" this story was brought into light as a witness account recalled seeing the car going up in flames before the car had hit the tree. But the police ruled it out as an accident, and as for Miss Lawson. in 2018 she got awarded 260,000 GPB for the rape claims, and was famously quoted saying 'I'm glad he's dead' when asked about Chris Dawes.
THE UNFORTUNATE ONES
It all depends on how you would consider an F1 to be "unfortunate", Either it's unfortunately never driven, or it's unfortunately driven and totaled. But in this story we will take a look into some of the example of F1 cars that can be considered as "unfortunate"...
Chassis 004, notably one of the F1s owned by the Brunei Royals, built and finished in Grand Prix Red. Crashed somewhere in the late 90s by a mechanic, and the car was later taken for parts. This was back when the cost of repairing the car would not be sensible. Not confirmed to be true but a witness said he saw this car testing on a highway in Brunei in the late 90s.
Chassis 004 in an assembly line, one of the few pictures of the car ever taken. Picture via instagram.com/macf1registry
Chassis 010, originally built for BMW, this car that was painted in Magnesium Silver was crashed by BMW's CEO at the time Bernd Piscnetsrider. He lost control while driving the car, Chassis 047 was built to replace this car, and there were rumors that the engine was taken and put inside a BMW M5 and is now locked somewhere in BMW's storage.
Chassis 010 after the crash. Picture via instagram.com/macf1registry
Chassis 21, This "Blood Red Soil" car was made by McLaren as a show car, and then was sold to a buyer in Singapore. But because of the country's 140% tax rule on cars, it's never registered and probably never driven either. The car was stored outside in less than ideal condition, and had some minor paint damages. But was later restored and kept inside McLaren Singapore, occasionally brought out for events.
Chassis 09R, A McLaren F1 GTR once again owned by the Sultan of Brunei. The only F1 GTR to not ever have competition history, still owned by the Royals. Of all 28 F1 GTRs were made, we know very little about this car, other than it was finished in the same spec and livery as the F1 GTR chassis "01R", Which was the LeMans winning car, Completely the same including the Ueno Clinic livery.
Chassis 09R, pic credit to instagram.com/macf1registry
That's it ladies and gentleman! to be true with you, I don't really know how to actually write an article. This was just a little project that came into my mind when i thought it would be quite interesting, one of the main concerns for me is that i hope i give the proper credits to the right people, so i hope i did that right. Thanks for your time and thanks for reading! All feedbacks are welcomed!
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