The Official McLaren F1 Thread
Jan 2, 2013 | 10:06 PM
#1201
McLaren Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,578
From: California, USA
I know it's making the rounds on Facebook today, but that's kind of a repost. There's a whole set of the F1/Veyron shots in the link in my post from 2010:
https://teamspeed.com/forums/mclaren...tml#post645176
>8^)
ER
https://teamspeed.com/forums/mclaren...tml#post645176
>8^)
ER
Jan 12, 2013 | 09:36 AM
#1203
Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 265
The Lost Weekend
The first prototype monocoque chassis / body unit for the first 'real' McLaren F1 - serial 'XP1' - absorbed something like 6,000 man-hours in manufacture at Shalford and was then delivered to Genesis - ready for mechanical completion - early in December, 1992.
Creighton: "Gordon had pledged that the first car would be running by Christmas, come hell or high water, and the team virtually worked themselves to death to make sure it would happen".
"Gordon was booked on a flight to South Africa at 3pm on December 23rd. He was implacably determined to drive the car first, "even if only for a yard or two in the car park... Many of the guys thought they'd escaped from all-nighters when they left Formula 1. They soon realized they hadn't, and they were just fantastic!"
The hectic completion of 'XP1' has since passed into McLaren Cars' mythology as 'The Lost Weekend'. None slept. Mechanic Paul Flood's wife was poised to give birth. In the middle of McLaren's crisis he took a brief hour off for the birth, and rushed back afterwards...
By mid-morning, December 23rd, the Genesis' shop was populated by grey-faced, exhausted ghosts as 'XP1' - unpainted - was lowered onto the workshop floor. With the TAG electronics technicians in attendance, Gordon thumbed the starter-button and the big BMW V12 slammed into life. Clutch out, he clicked it into gear, eased the clutch pedal home... but McLaren F1 'XP1' simply sat defiantly still.
The clutch adamantly refused to engage. Gordon: "We tried adjusting it, but ran out of adjustment range. Still it would not bite. It had to be some assembly fault, the output shaft was too long, preventing the clutch from taking up. I had the boys unbolt the gearbox, edge it back, and re-secure it on spacers allowing the clutch to grip".
Thus jury-rigged, 'XP1' whooped and burbled out of the workshop, mobbed by the total Genesis team elated (if rocking on their feet), amid the popping of Champagne corks. The compact black revolution which stood poised to re-write the world's high-performance motoring standards was then driven the 300 yards or so across "to International", TAG-McLaren's main base on the opposite side of the road, to be weighed on Formula 1 car scales. The result - admittedly lacking some parts and unpainted - was 1,003kg! Gordon caught his plane and, like his team back home, slept happy. They had all earned Christmas Eve off.
The first prototype monocoque chassis / body unit for the first 'real' McLaren F1 - serial 'XP1' - absorbed something like 6,000 man-hours in manufacture at Shalford and was then delivered to Genesis - ready for mechanical completion - early in December, 1992.
Creighton: "Gordon had pledged that the first car would be running by Christmas, come hell or high water, and the team virtually worked themselves to death to make sure it would happen".
"Gordon was booked on a flight to South Africa at 3pm on December 23rd. He was implacably determined to drive the car first, "even if only for a yard or two in the car park... Many of the guys thought they'd escaped from all-nighters when they left Formula 1. They soon realized they hadn't, and they were just fantastic!"
The hectic completion of 'XP1' has since passed into McLaren Cars' mythology as 'The Lost Weekend'. None slept. Mechanic Paul Flood's wife was poised to give birth. In the middle of McLaren's crisis he took a brief hour off for the birth, and rushed back afterwards...
By mid-morning, December 23rd, the Genesis' shop was populated by grey-faced, exhausted ghosts as 'XP1' - unpainted - was lowered onto the workshop floor. With the TAG electronics technicians in attendance, Gordon thumbed the starter-button and the big BMW V12 slammed into life. Clutch out, he clicked it into gear, eased the clutch pedal home... but McLaren F1 'XP1' simply sat defiantly still.
The clutch adamantly refused to engage. Gordon: "We tried adjusting it, but ran out of adjustment range. Still it would not bite. It had to be some assembly fault, the output shaft was too long, preventing the clutch from taking up. I had the boys unbolt the gearbox, edge it back, and re-secure it on spacers allowing the clutch to grip".
Thus jury-rigged, 'XP1' whooped and burbled out of the workshop, mobbed by the total Genesis team elated (if rocking on their feet), amid the popping of Champagne corks. The compact black revolution which stood poised to re-write the world's high-performance motoring standards was then driven the 300 yards or so across "to International", TAG-McLaren's main base on the opposite side of the road, to be weighed on Formula 1 car scales. The result - admittedly lacking some parts and unpainted - was 1,003kg! Gordon caught his plane and, like his team back home, slept happy. They had all earned Christmas Eve off.
Jan 12, 2013 | 06:12 PM
#1204
McLaren Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,578
From: California, USA
That was me who retyped all of that btw.
>8^)
ER
Last edited by Peloton25; Jan 12, 2013 at 06:13 PM.
Jan 13, 2013 | 07:38 AM
#1205
Teamspeed Member
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 155
You should really credit McLaren Automotive's Facebook wall for sharing those photos, and the book "Driving Ambition" for the text.
That was me who retyped all of that btw.
>8^)
ER
That was me who retyped all of that btw.
>8^)
ER
Jan 13, 2013 | 07:46 AM
#1206
Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 265
You should really credit McLaren Automotive's Facebook wall for sharing those photos, and the book "Driving Ambition" for the text.
Feb 1, 2013 | 01:05 PM
#1210
Teamspeed Pro
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 5,943
