How indeed does one improve on perfection? For McLaren and the F1 GTR, not just winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans on its debut, but even finishing the epic endurance race 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th overall meant that something rather special had to be done. Not a single true road going supercar since then has managed the same feat of endurance motorsport success.
To commemorate this momentous occasion in their racing history with truly fine style, Gordon Murray, Ron Dennis and the rest of McLaren’s then leadership elected to build the ultimate iteration of the F1, a road-going street-legal version of the race winning 1995 spec GTR to be christened F1 LM; with LM being short for Le Mans. No more than five production LMs would be built, representing the 5 F1 GTRs that triumphantly crossed La Sarthe’s finish line that year, in addition to the factory’s own development prototype XP1 LM. More than just a high-speed road-going trophy car with attitude or a way to sell more F1s, as is so often the case with many of today’s newer special editions, McLaren intended the F1 LM to be a way for non-racing drivers to experience the GTR’s devastating performance on the open road in a more usable form.
Each F1 LM began life as the same revolutionary carbon composite monocoque tub used by the F1’s other variants, but there the similarities ended. Engine, chassis, suspension and aerodynamics were all as identical to the 1995 F1 GTR as possible, and in some distinctive cases even improved beyond what contemporary competition regulations permitted.
The engine was the BMW S70/2 GTR 6064cc V12 engine, originally designed by BMW M’s renowned engineer Paul Rosche and adapted to run without the race car’s mandated intake restrictors for even greater power. With re-mapped ignition, optimized fuel curves and better injection, plus higher-lift camshafts and an increased compression ratio, the improved GTR engine eventually produced a maximum of 680 bhp at 7,800 rpm before reaching its redline at 8,500 rpm. Its optimization also resulted in a peak 520 ib-ft torque output peaking at a tractable 4,500 rpm, a vital characteristic for what was still supposed to be a road car engine with useful drivability. As a result of its unique adaptations, this engine was rechristened the BMW S70/2 GTR LM V12.
To cope with these increased outputs, the LM also received the F1 GTR’s dry-sumped straight-cut gearbox – though equipped with a special set of closer gear ratios for even more scintillating acceleration, coupled with the GTR’s heavy-duty gun-drilled drive shafts and tripod CV joints. “The LM isn’t going to be as fast as the original F1, but it’ll be more fun,” explained Gordon Murray. “It could go faster but I’ve geared it to do about 220 mph in top with a quicker shift and really close ratios to make the most of the extra rev range.”
The LM’s suspension hardware was borrowed from that of the F1 road car that exhibited a highly acclaimed ride-handling balance, but with significantly firmer springs and dampers than standard. Mounting points are also solid rather than rubber-bushed for extra stiffness and control, with solid mounts affixing the engine to the chassis – performance engineering solutions pioneered by McLaren many years before now being adopted by other performance car manufacturers. Rolling stock consisted of bespoke OZ Racing GTR-style 5-spoke magnesium alloy wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Sport SX-MXX3 road-legal semi-slick tyres utilizing a specific rubber compound. As contemporary carbon brake disc technology wasn’t yet fit for road use, the standard road car’s brakes were employed & enhanced with the ‘95 GTR’s brake cooling system. The intention with these solutions was to solve the standard F1’s slight high-speed handling foibles, and bring the LM’s cornering performance envelope closer to that of the GTR whilst retaining sufficient compliance for regular road use.
To reduce weight and improve airflow effectiveness, the LM was shorn of the standard Road Car’s active aerodynamic systems, and was instead equipped with the GTR’s race bred aerodynamics kit with several changes. Two vents in the front bumper that fed cooling air through the central chassis beams through to the GTR’s engine bay were blanked off to reduce aerodynamic drag. The twin bonnet vents were reduced to a single one to feed the LM’s cabin HVAC system. Evocatively flared front wheel-arches accommodated its widened front track, while unique full-length side sills were fitted to smooth airflow down the car’s flanks. At the rear, the LM utilized the GTR’s rear valance with an enlarged integrated diffuser, while a new full-width dual-plane adjustable carbon composite wing unencumbered by racing regulations provided even greater rear downforce.
Although the higher drag induced by these aerodynamic changes pegged the LM’s top speed back to ‘only’ 225 mph (362 km/h) against the standard F1 road car’s record 240.1 mph (386 km/h) that still remains an unbeaten benchmark for naturally aspirated supercars, coupled with the chassis upgrades and new wheels and tyres, they enabled the LM to accelerate and corner in ways that the road car could then only dream of. Remember that this was several years before McLaren Special Operations implemented similar High Downforce Kit upgrades for the rest of the standard F1 family.
On the inside, the LM was endowed with arguably the most evocative interior of any F1, with weight saving being as high a priority as it has always been with any of Murray’s cars. The standard F1’s sound insulation and luxury trimmings were all removed, in lieu of a pared-back GTR-style interior rich in exposed carbon fiber composite finishes, with slightly more room and an additional seat due to the absence of the heavy steel roll-cage, race electronics and wiring looms. The driver got a new ultra-lightweight race-spec bucket seat trimmed in McLaren Historic Papaya Orange suede, plus a lightweight black suede steering wheel with a quick-release boss featuring an equally Papaya hued LM V12 logo. Passengers fortunate enough to ride in the LM ensconced themselves within the carbon fiber chassis-integrated seat housing cavities themselves, with thin suede padding providing an adequate degree of comfort.
The gear shifter and handbrake were gloriously pared back to their bare titanium bones, whilst a unique, thinner gauge alloy instrument cluster was fitted with carbon fiber fronting and LM-specific scripts. Fixed polycarbonate panels replaced the heavier standard electric windows, while an identical optional set with manual sliding center sections provided some practicality. In line with this, the LM also retained the road car’s adjustable mirrors and heated windscreen, with their controls housed in a new carbon fiber panel mounted to the instrument binnacle’s starboard, alongside the LM’s unique ignition & starter system switches. Noise-cancelling headphone mufflers were also provided for the driver and each passenger, linked to a Peltor helicopter-rated intercom system to enable conversation between the car’s occupants, while somewhat protecting their hearing from the race-bred V12’s banshee scream whenever passing 6,000 rpm. Coupled with the lack of sound insulation and straight-cut gearbox whine, any experience in the F1 LM was sure to be searingly imprinted onto their very souls in the most fantastic way imaginable.
As a result of these obsessively detailed measures to slice weight off wherever possible, the F1 LM ended up weighing just 1,062 kg dry, by far the lightest of all road-going McLaren F1s now with an impressive 640 bhp / ton power to weight ratio – yet another world record at the time, just to add to the F1’s already remarkable roster of successes.
To signify its iconic status as the ultimate high performance F1 variant, Gordon & McLaren intended to paint all 5 F1 LMs in an identical McLaren Historic Papaya Orange colour; although this was altered for a certain rather prolific F1 purchaser. All exposed carbon fiber surfaces inside and out including the front splitter and rear wing were mirror-polished to a high degree to show off the technical weave pattern of their construction.
As a perfect finishing touch, McLaren had each car’s chassis plaque, Papaya Orange-painted V12 engine cam covers, and rear wing end-plates embossed with the famous GTR 24 Heures du Mans Winner 1995 Laurels Wreath Logo. Naturally, each F1 LM was built and finished to the same incredibly high quality finishing standards and attention to detail that Woking had already become so renowned for.
The story didn’t end there, however. Just a few years later in 1999, the F1 LM truly proved to the world what it was really capable of. In a CAR Magazine test at RAF Alconbury also attended by selected media including Racing Line, XP1 LM scorched the timing gear to record 0-100 mph in 6.7 seconds with Le Mans veteran Andy Wallace at the wheel, plus an 11.5 second run from rest to 100 mph to 0 again. These were another set of contemporary world performance records for production sports cars, demonstrating the LM’s incredible quickness of response that remains seriously impressive even today by any standard.
XP1 LM – with additional visuals courtesy of Arthomobiles.fr & RDS Automotive Group
The factory’s development prototype and naturally the first F1 LM to be built, it was used by McLaren for all press and promotional photography, before proving its full performance capabilities with 1999’s new performance world records. Still retained by McLaren at the Technology Center in Woking as part of their own F1 collection, it was promised to Lewis Hamilton by Ron Dennis if he brought home three F1 World Championship titles during his career with McLaren. He didn’t quite manage that, and therefore XP1 LM remains fittingly owned by the factory that conceived it in the first place.
LM1 and LM4
Both were sold new to the Brunei Royal Family, and hardly ever seen in public since then. The only 2 F1 LMs not to wear the signature Papaya Orange shade, they are finished instead in the Le Mans winning F1 GTR #01R’s Matte Black and Shadow Grey base livery, contrasted with white, blue & yellow stripe graphics inspired by the Royal Brunei Air Force’s fighter aircraft colours. Reportedly, LM4 has been moved to Malaysia within more recent years.
LM2 – featuring additional visuals courtesy of Jeremy Cliff for Mouse Motors
Sold new to Yoshio Tsuzuki, it was regularly displayed at his ZAZ Automotive Museum in Nagoya, Japan; alongside 58F1GT and his F1 road car. In later years it was acquired by a North American owner, and presently resides in the ownership of an exceedingly private Chicago-based financial investor, being managed by Mouse Motors together with several of his other significant McLarens.
LM3 – with additional visuals courtesy of Gumball 3000, Arthomobiles.fr, the McLaren F1 Registry & Adam Lerner
Sold new to David Morrison in the UK, who was then Chief International Economist and Co-Head of Investment Research at Goldman Sachs, LM3 famously participated in 1999’s Gumball 3000 rally from London to Rimini & back again. In 2003 it was sold on to IT consultant Frank Selldorff in Massachusetts, North America, who occasionally enjoyed driving & displaying it; before being acquired by present owner Ralph Lauren in 2004. Although LM3 had been involved in an unfortunate contact incident during racetrack testing, it was subsequently repaired and restored to full working order by the factory. Ralph usually keeps LM3 at his Colorado ranch along with F1 chassis’ #055 and #074, and enjoys exercising his cars around the area’s beautiful surrounding country roads. On April 28th to August 28th 2011, LM3 was exhibited at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs along with other notable cars from his collection, as part of a special showing entitled The Art of the Automobile: Masterpieces from the Ralph Lauren Collection, curated by Rodolphe Rapetti.
Gordon Murray himself probably best summed up the F1 LM when he enthused, “The F1 LM was born out of this victory. We had at the start of the F1 program promised customers that we would not make any nonsensical variants of the car, such as a convertible, for example, but I was a bit put out that the only other car anywhere near the 1140-kg weight of the F1 was the Ferrari F40, which was, at the time, consistently held up by the press as a competitor for the F1. Unfair, I thought, when the F1 had room for three, a 6.0-liter engine, large luggage compartments, a CD stacker, air conditioning, carpets, even a toolkit! I harbored a secret desire to build our own F40 — a performance version stripped of all the luxury and practical stuff — even lighter and more powerful than the standard F1. The win at Le Mans in 1995 provided me with a very good reason to build this car — we should celebrate the victory with a limited-edition version of the F1.
I hope the F1 will have a place in automotive history, but the LM is even more special for me as it commemorates that wonderful win in 1995 and because it is a pure performance car with no concession to comfort or practicality — absolutely the opposite of the original F1. It is not really a variant of the F1, it is a different car, born for a different purpose. The LM will always remain valuable for another reason — its production volume. Just five cars were made to celebrate the five cars that finished Le Mans.
The final car after its development cycles weighed 2342 lb. — some 84 lb. lighter than the GTR that won Le Mans, so the performance is quite astonishing. The F1 LM remains today the only car I have ever driven that feels quicker on the road than an F1!”
