The McLaren F1 LM is a track oriented edition of the McLaren F1. The LM is based on the McLaren F1 GTR, with modifications necessary for the modified GTR to be a road legal car but without the engine intake restrictions that racing regulations impose on the GTR racing edition.
In late 1995, McLaren built five F1 LMs in honour of the five McLaren F1 GTR's that finished the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans and took the overall win.
McLaren designed the standard F1 as an ultimate road car, in the sense that it strives to be comfortable and usable in everyday conditions despite being a potent sports car. However, the LM edition is a lower and stiffer, track-oriented vehicle, with a stripped down, bare interior, and solid aluminium bushings in place of the rubber bushings in the suspension system and without the Ground Plane Shear Centre system on the standard F1.
Although only five F1 LMs were sold, a sixth chassis exists in the form of XP1 LM, the prototype for modifications to the existing F1 to form the new F1 LM. This car is also painted Papaya Orange and is retained by McLaren. This car, reportedly worth $4 million, was promised by McLaren CEO Ron Dennis to his driver Lewis Hamilton if he should win two Formula One World Championship titles. Subsequently however, Lewis Hamilton left McLaren with his single World Championship title to drive for the rival Mercedes Formula 1 team in 2013.
The F1 LMs can be identified by their Papaya orange paint. The F1 LM's were painted in this colour in memory and tribute to Bruce McLaren, whose race colour was Papaya orange.
It has been discovered however, that contrary to the official word from McLaren at the time, only four of the LMs were originally painted 'Papaya' orange, with two of the three delivered to The Sultan of Brunei being painted black with graphics.
The weight was reduced by approximately 60 kg over that of original, through the removal of various pieces of trim and use of optional equipment, i.a. no interior noise suppression, no audio system, a stripped down base interior, no fan assisted ground effect and no dynamic rear wing—giving the McLaren F1 LM a total mass of 1,062 kg.
The F1 LM also used the same engine as the 1995 F1 GTR without the race-mandated restrictors. The engine has a compression ratio of 11.0:1 and produces 680 bhp at 7,800 rpm. It has a peak torque of 705 N·m at 4,500 rpm; the redline is at 8,500 rpm. The total weight and horsepower of the car gives it a weight to power ratio of 3.4 lb/hp.
The aerodynamics of the LM is directly derived from the GTR race car aerodynamic configuration.
The bodywork of the vehicle has the addition of a larger cooling duct at the nose of the machine and cooling ducts on either side of the car for the brakes where the storage lockers are seen on the standard F1. In the place of the small dynamic rear wing seen on the regular F1 there is a considerably larger, adjustable CFRP rear wing mounted on the back of the vehicle, it has a CFRP splitter at the front, side skirts and extensions for the wheel arches to increase downforce and thus give the car more grip. The car also features the diffuser from the GTR edition.
The McLaren F1 LM uses Michelin SX-MXX3 tyres and features specially-designed 18-inch magnesium alloy wheels.
The tyres at the front are 275/35 ZR 18, while at the rear 345/35 ZR 18.
The front wheels are 10.85 x 18 inches and at the rear 13.00 x 18 inches.
The carbon ceramic brakes on the GTR are not present on the LM, the front and rear callipers on the brakes are four-pot monobloc light alloy calliper, ventilated using the GTR95 Brake Cooling System.
The F1 LM is considered the fastest incarnation of the McLaren F1 roadcars through the gears and in overall track performance. It has a 0-60 mph time of 2.9 seconds, 0-100 mph in 5.9 seconds and was once the holder of many world records, including the 0-100-0 mph record it completed in 11.5 seconds when driven by Andy Wallace at the disused airbase RAF Alconbury in Cambridgeshire.
225 mph, which is less than the standard version due to added aerodynamic drag.
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