McLaren F1

[hedgerley]

Not by me but my mate Grant - Rowan Atkinson in his McLaren F1 driving through Woodnewton (near Peterrborough) yesterday afternoon.

[red vtec]

Cool.

Was it his burgandy one? he is very generous with it, it was the one used by Top gear against the Veyron in Dubai. Gordon Murry has commented that, that car has the best steering of all the road going ones..

I am a big, big, big F1 fanatic. I have only seen them at car shows never on the road. Where as I have seen XJ220, Zonda and Veyron on the road.

[hedgerley]

As far as I know yes. That's the one I've seen him in - I was at Oulton Park years ago to watch some GT racing and the AMOC Club series (my mate Tom used to run a 1959 DB4GT Lightweight) and Rowan was there with his Aston Martin Zagato. If memory serves that had been trailored as his F1 was in the Paddock and he'd driven there in it.

He was very generous with his time chatting to fans and my daughter got Mr Bean's autograph We all stood around later in the day when he'd packed up and watched him drive off. Awesome.

Edited June 19, 2011 by hedgerley

[nolotusyet]

It was the maroon one (P380 GJM). Youtube of it at Salon Prive

I was delivering some flyers around the village and I heard a fruity engine noise and saw the F1 sitting behind a woman in a merc a-class who was lost. As the F1 passed by I had to give him the thumbs up and then saw it was Mr Bean! Rowan Atkinson has his country pile in the next village. Seen him once or twice in an Aston and a while back in an Audi RS6. The last time I saw an F1 on the road was when they had just been launched, one with a MCL registration on the M40, could have been no later than 1993.

Our other local petrolhead claim to (tenuous) fame is that Clarkson's mum lives in another next village and is often seen in the butchers - never seen Jezza in there though

The F1 is such a wonderful thing, it looks so small and delicate. IMHO this was the pinnacle of supercars; rational, subtle and intelligent as opposed to the brutish ugly arrogance of the Veyron or the Zonda's sci-fi lunacy.

McLaren have not quite repeated the trick with the MP4-12C (silly name for one thing), in some ways it's more a spiritual successor to the Esprit rather than the F1 - let's see if Behar's Esprit can match it.

[red vtec]

Thanks for that

As said i am a major fan of the F1 and agree with what you have said, it's the compact size and lack of thugish looks. Its a surgeons scalpel compared to the sledgehammer of a veyron.

I first saw one at the Motor show when they were launched, other than that only seen at Goodwood.

Chris

[Exploded]

I saw a McLaren F1 only 2 times in my life, on the road. 2 times the same car, at the same place. It was when Historic F1 raced at Spa and one of the drivers (former manager of Genesis and other music bands) drove his McLaren to Spa. His plate is 13 MAC. I helped his mechanic preparing the F1 Williams car, moving it etc. And as a sign of gratitude, the owner allowed me to sit in his car for a few moments. I didn't get a test drive though, but you can imagine how proud I was, just to sit in the middle of the car.

While I am bragging I would like to add, that I also sat in a Bugatti EB110 Super Sports at the same event, also from a competitor, a Swiss, who drove the car all the way to Spa...

While I think about it, it still puts a grin on my face.