Gordon Murray once outlined to TopGear.com eight things he really didn’t like about the McLaren F1. He kept these things on a list and vowed that should the day ever come where he’d get another opportunity to build an epoch-defining hypercar, he’d fix them. (Hey there, GMA T.50.)
For the rest of us? Yep, the McLaren F1 remains pretty much perfect. Poached by McLaren in 1987, Murray – a Brabham F1 designer at the time – was asked by then boss Ron Dennis to build the best production sports car the world had ever seen.
Murray set about creating the purest driving experience possible, using techniques and materials that would later become industry standard for exotic projects like this. Famously the car featured an expensive carbon fiber and aluminum monocoque chassis, carbon fiber bodywork (penned by Peter Stevens), and a bespoke naturally aspirated V12 built by BMW especially for the F1.
Adding to the F1’s aura wasn’t just its exquisite material selection, singular pursuit of driving pleasure over top speed (though it was of course the world’s fastest car at the time), or mad V12, but its rarity. Only 106 McLaren F1s were built in total, and Hagerty has now shared with TopGear.com the locations where the world’s (remaining) McLaren F1s currently reside.
“A detailed analysis by Hagerty of all the McLaren F1 cars known to exist has showed that the UK and US dominate where the cars are located,” said Hagerty UK price guide editor John Mayhead. But there’s an interesting line that emerges when you dig into the data a little more…
So, the USA is home to 25 McLaren F1s, while the UK – where it was designed and built – houses only 18. However, those numbers are built from the 64 road cars, spanning the ‘regular’ F1, 5 prototypes and 3 F1 GT’s McLaren of course, built quite a few racing variants, and when you factor those in, the numbers change quite significantly.
“When the race variants are considered,” Mayhead told TG, “it’s a different story: the UK roars into pole with 40, with the US behind on 30.” (Of the racing F1s, they’re categorized thusly: 28 F1 GTRs, 5 F1 LMs and a single ‘XPLM1’.)
Interestingly, 6 McLaren F1s have been destroyed, the Sultan of Brunei has 7 – 3 road cars, 4 race cars – and both Australia and Singapore have a single F1 in their territory.
So while Murray might have a few things he doesn’t like about his game-changing hypercar, here’s one thing he might. “As the most valuable British car ever produced, the F1 is now also the car to have for any top British collector,” Mayhead told us. Check out the table below for the full breakdown.
