Photography by Brian Bailey
Still Fastest After All These Years
June 4, 2002
Says Dermott, “It is essential to understand that the F1 was designed from the ground up as a road car. Many other such cars are conceived as racing cars.” Interior comfort, outward visibility and the suppression of road and transmitted noise were key factors in the design process. McLaren didn’t jettison amenities such as leather upholstery, power windows or a CD player to achieve its performance goals. The doors are tight and rattle-free, the cockpit sealed and dry. A ventilation system changes air in the cabin every 20 seconds. “One sound that was intended to be heard in the cabin was from the engine. And a great deal of attention was paid to the orchestration of this wonderful sound from idle through to full power,” Dermott adds.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc(); "McLaren GTR")
Gordon Murray, McLaren’s chief engineer, is credited with the car’s design. “All the great cars in history have been created by the drive of one man,” says Dermott. “And the F1 is no exception.” Murray’s innovations include the three-seat layout that places the driver at the center of the car with outboard passenger seats slightly behind on each side. The arrangement allows for an uncompromised driving position and more involvement on the part of the passengers in a car that is no wider than a Porsche 911. (Click image to enlarge)
The carbon fiber chassis is imbedded with honeycomb aluminum core components, along with aluminum and magnesium castings. Starting out as a stiff fabric, carbon fiber is placed in a mold with resins and baked until it is a rigid chassis assembly. (Carbon fiber has an unusual texture and is frequently used as interior trim on many high-performance cars.) The fabric’s weave is perfectly aligned, each chassis component’s woven texture matching that of the adjoining part. This match occurs even with parts that are not actually joined together, but are of separate construction and closely fitted. The precision is mind-boggling and results in the strongest, lightest and most crashworthy chassis available for a road or race car—and arguably the most beautiful. The roll cage, which is usually a heavy fabrication essential to the structural strength of race cars, is simple and lightweight, as it needs only to protect the driver, rather than add rigidity to the chassis. The exterior body panels are also made of superlight carbon fiber. The panel fit is perfect, with unexpectedly fine detailing. (Click image to enlarge)
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