Remember when: McLaren F1

The McLaren F1 is, arguably, the greatest car ever built. 

Often described as ahead of its time, the road racer was the first modern car to properly incorporate technology from Formula One racing into a production car. 

Conceived by the legendary Formula One designer, Gordon Murray, with the aim of creating the most uncompromising driver focused vehicle ever built for the road with production beginning in 1992. 

Nothing was off limits, bespoke elements were everywhere you looked: the chassis, engine and tyres along with extreme aerodynamic elements incorporated into the design. 

An advanced carbon fibre monocoque comprised the entire chassis and body while most structural panels were stiffened with aluminium honeycomb. Material thickness and fibre orientation were even analysed using a computer system to best determine maximum strength and stiffness but also safety. 

McLaren was the first brand to utilise a carbon fibre chassis in a production road going car after the F1 team had first started using the carbon composite in 1981. The carbon fibre tub helped drop the weight of the F1 road car significantly to 1018kg. 

Using a mid-mounted bespoke 6.1-litre V12 naturally-aspirated engine built by BMW Motorsport which produced 404kW and 600Nm. Gordon Murray insisted that the F1 feature a naturally-aspirated engine as he believed turbochargers and superchargers created a disconnect with the driver and lowered the reliability of the engine. 

McLaren's six-speed gearbox was specifically designed for the F1 with an intent focus of minimising size by adding the final drive gear offset alongside its clutch. A close five-speed cluster for the gearbox is used at speeds up to 257km/h with a sixth speed gear for speeds up to 321km/h. 

The McLaren's 17-inch wheels are wrapped with custom Goodyear F1 tyres, while four-piston aluminium calipers provide the stopping power. An interesting feature of the brakes are the brake-cooling ducts open automatically only when the drier applies the brakes vigorously in an attempt to reduce the little bit of drag that the open ducts would make.

Speaking of aerodynamics, the F1 was at an advantage over all the road going cars of the time in that it was able to use the moving ground wind tunnels that the McLaren F1 team used to perfect aerodynamics.  

The McLaren was also the first production car to use what is called 'ground effect' aerodynamics, which effectively moves airflow underneath the vehicle which is compressed against the roadway and then exits via the rear diffuser which helps increase downforce. 

Another standout design feature of the F1 was its odd 1+2 seating layout, with the driver sitting in the centre of the car with the two passengers at either side slightly behind. This layout not only gave more seating positions than regular supercars but also entitled the centrally-positioned driver to a far superior seating and viewing position than any other vehicle on the road. 

And just to show it was not only a race bred track weapon the F1 came with a five-speaker Kenwood stereo with a very opulent 10-CD stacker. Also worth noting is McLaren claim the F1 offered up 227-litre of cargo space, which is slightly smaller than the boot in a modern day Mazda2 or far bigger than the 145-litre offered in a Porsche 911.

Only 106 of the McLaren F1s were ever made, which has helped drive the value of the road racer to stratospheric levels. 

McLaren has also revealed plans for its F1 Successor which is codenamed the BP23. The new McLaren hyper GT car will feature the same 1+2 seating layout as the F1 and is set to eclipse the F1's top speed of 391km/h. 

Drive understands the benchmark goal for the car will not be a lap time, suggesting it could set new top speed records of more than 400km/h, or chase the Mercedes-AMG Project One into 5.0-second territory for the 0-200km/h dash.  

The new BT23 is expected to cost about $4m in Australia after luxury tax and other costs, and again only 106 will be built. 

The new 'Hyper-GT' will break cover later this year, possibly at the 2018 Paris motor show.  

1992 time capsule 

Average price of unleaded petrol - 66.76 cents  

Highest grossing movie – Aladdin 

Top of the charts - "Achy Breaky Heart", Billy Ray Cyrus 

NRL premiers – Brisbane Broncos 

AFL premiers – West Coast Eagles