The Incredible Engine That Powered The Legendary Mclaren F1

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Conceived by motorsport visionary Gordon Murray and brought to life by McLaren successful 1992, the F1 was built to beryllium 1 of nan champion sports cars of each time. Fast guardant to 1998, erstwhile nan F1 went connected to shatter nan world's top-speed record, reaching 240.1 mph (386 kph), making it nan fastest people aspirated (N/A) accumulation car ever built — a title it still holds to this very day.

McLaren F1s routinely waste astatine auction for tens of millions of dollars these days. And while its carbon-fiber chassis, gold-plated motor cover, and an iconic cardinal driving position play a large domiciled successful bringing those high-dollar auction prices, each awesome capacity car lives and dies by its engine. In this case, a BMW-derived S70/2 6.1-liter V12 is what provided nan power. This motor was developed by an arsenic coveted BMW engineer, Paul Rosche.

Making 627 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque, nan V12 is characterized by superbike-quick levels of throttle response, a c clutch, a dry-sump, and individual throttle bodies. The Le Mans variants of nan F1 were capable to nutrient moreover much powerfulness – 680 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque. Murray was besides down nan unreal Cosworth GMA V12 engine, which was influenced by nan iconic F1 and its engine.

Clive Rose/Getty Images

In nan very early days of nan F1, Murray approached Honda successful an effort to unafraid an engine, but nan business ne'er materialized. At that time, BMW had a 5.0-liter N/A V12 successful improvement and was a suitable campaigner because of its motorsport credentials. This very motor later recovered its measurement into nan E32 BMW 750i and nan E31 BMW 850i. However, for nan F1, nan 5.0-liter was not capable because it was excessively dense and didn't rev quickly enough, according to Murray.

In an question and reply with GQ, Murray recalled approaching Paul Rosche, and laying retired his demands successful nary uncertain terms: "I want large displacement successful nan smallest imaginable wide package-size – perfectly nary much than 600mm long, revving to astir seven-five, 550-plus bhp, maximum weight 250kg, rigid capable to activity arsenic a load-bearing structural member, dry-sump lubrication to minimise wide tallness and debar surge successful high-G cornering."

Rosche, known for his activity connected BMW's Formula 1 engines successful nan 1980s and 1990s, accepted Gordon's requirements. In March of 1991, nan activity began, and nan consequence was an motor afloat of engineering wizardry. Nikasil-coated cylinder bores, highly tight tolerances, quad overhead cams pinch hydraulically actuated, per-cylinder VANOS adaptable timing, a c clutch, an Inconel exhaust (also utilized successful the caller Ferrari 849 Testarossa), a 7,500 RPM redline, and a ray aluminum flywheel that enabled nan F1 to rev arsenic quickly arsenic a superbike.

Martyn Lucy/Getty Images

The McLaren F1 GTR's type of nan V12 motor was constricted to 600 horsepower owed to regulations, so nan racecar was technically little powerful. However, that did not extremity it from winning nan wide 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, nan first clip McLaren won nan race. The GTR besides won the 1995 and 1996 BPR Global GT Series. The S70 was besides utilized for nan road-going F1 LM, wherever it was pushed to 680 hp. The other powerfulness was courtesy of a higher wide compression ratio, different cams, caller pistons, and caller aerial unit sensors.

Le Mans and BPR weren't nan only places you could drawback a glimpse of nan F1 GTR, arsenic McLaren besides utilized it to make nan 1997 F1 GTR Longtail, a much aerodynamic type of nan car. For nan Longtail, nan motor was downsized to 5.9-liters and was made 25 kg lighter. It was besides mated pinch a 6‑speed sequential XTrac transmission. This helped nan Longtail to triumph 5 rounds of nan FIA GT Championship, and yet decorativeness 2nd wide (first successful its class) astatine nan 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Some of nan aforementioned F1 title cars were eventually converted for roadworthy usage by Lanzante. This is nan aforesaid institution that made nan Lanzante 95-59 — a McLaren F1 tribute car, besides built connected McLaren underpinnings. Overall, nan McLaren F1, on pinch its various evolutions, stands firmly among nan top icons of automotive history. It was a clip erstwhile giants from nan racing world came together to create thing genuinely typical and timeless, each powered by nan legendary BMW S70/2 V12 engine.