C O V E R    S T O R Y

The History 

The name tells it all: McLaren F1.  McLaren has always been synonymous to Formula One racing, winning no less than ten driver's championships and eight constructor's championships.  McLaren has always been a competitive team on the track…now for the road as well?  Conceptualized ten years ago by then technical director Gordon Murray, the McLaren F1 had only one goal: to redefine the word 'super car'. 

The story began not from the McLaren factory, but from the childhood imagination of Gordon Murray, the chief designer of the McLaren F1.  His vision was to create a 3-seater sports car with a center driving position to give maximum visibility all throughout, the most ideal for a car, actually.  His passion in building this automobile carried with him until his high school and college years.  It was only when McLaren managing director Ron Dennis and TAG Group President Mansour Ojjeh gave him the green light in 1988 to create his dream. 

In 1990, Murray started calling old friends and colleagues for a meeting regarding the road car project. Murray's original concept was later given flesh and finishing touches by Peter Stevens who worked with Murray until the final shape has been completed.  With the car design underway, Murray had to look for a suitable engine manufacturer to fill in the roll of engine designing and manufacturing for this new super car.  He wanted an engine that would be as light as possible and would push out the most horsepower per liter of displacement.  He first approached Honda, who was collaborating with McLaren at that time in Formula One, Honda denied the idea, stating that they did not have time to create such an engine.  Murray once again had to look for old friends to help him.  He came knocking on the front door of BMW Motorsport--the same company who designed and built engines for Murray's Brabham Formula One car. BMW Motorsport took the job and started to design the engine. 

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