When the McLaren F1 supercar was introduced to the motoring world in mid 1992, its makers had redefined the art of designing a supercar that would set the standards for many supercars in years to come by been the most powerful, the most lightest and above all the fastest production car the world had ever seen.
With a specially designed wind tunnel tuned body shell boasting an impressive CD factor of 0.32 and combined with a magnificent 6.1 ltr quad cam 48 valve BMW designed V12 producing a stunning 468kW (627HP, 636PS) and 651nm of torque, the McLaren F1 was initially tested with a maximum speed of 372km/h (231mph). This was achieved with the car knocking against its 7500rpm rev limiter.
This alone beat the previous speed of 349km/h (217mph) by the previous fastest car in the world, the Jaguar XJ220.
Most car enthusiasts were always wondering what would be the true maximum speed of the McLaren F1 if the rev limiter was removed and the car would be allowed to achieve true max. speed limited by its aerodynamics.
On 31 March 1998, McLaren took the XP5 prototype F1 to Volkswagen's famous Ehra-Lessian track in Germany with its 9km straight and rev limiter removed to test the true max speed of its legendary super car. Andy Wallace (racer) was chosen as the lucky driver to make this attempt and put the F1 in the record books for future generations supercars to beat.
He eventually achieved a maximum speed of 391km/h (243mph) with the engine revving at close to 7900rpm. Some other race drivers have admitted that the F1 would have probably achieved an even higher speed than this had it had higher gearing in sixth gear or even fitted with a longer ratio seventh speed.
With a specially designed wind tunnel tuned body shell boasting an impressive CD factor of 0.32 and combined with a magnificent 6.1 ltr quad cam 48 valve BMW designed V12 producing a stunning 468kW (627HP, 636PS) and 651nm of torque, the McLaren F1 was initially tested with a maximum speed of 372km/h (231mph). This was achieved with the car knocking against its 7500rpm rev limiter.
This alone beat the previous speed of 349km/h (217mph) by the previous fastest car in the world, the Jaguar XJ220.
Most car enthusiasts were always wondering what would be the true maximum speed of the McLaren F1 if the rev limiter was removed and the car would be allowed to achieve true max. speed limited by its aerodynamics.
On 31 March 1998, McLaren took the XP5 prototype F1 to Volkswagen's famous Ehra-Lessian track in Germany with its 9km straight and rev limiter removed to test the true max speed of its legendary super car. Andy Wallace (racer) was chosen as the lucky driver to make this attempt and put the F1 in the record books for future generations supercars to beat.
He eventually achieved a maximum speed of 391km/h (243mph) with the engine revving at close to 7900rpm. Some other race drivers have admitted that the F1 would have probably achieved an even higher speed than this had it had higher gearing in sixth gear or even fitted with a longer ratio seventh speed.
