THE BIG FIVE

McLaren F1

Every great story has a strong beginning, and the McLaren F1 is no different. On 8 March 1990, Gordon Murray addressed the newly recruited McLaren Cars team in the company’s Genesis HQ. The meeting lasted 10 hours. “I went into the detailed targets: maximum weight 1,000kg, maximum width 1.8m, front and rear overhangs the absolute minimum because I wanted to concentrate the mass within the wheelbase to minimise the polar moment of inertia. Aerodynamically we had to maintain the centre of pressure position, something production car manufacturers never addressed and which accounts for high-speed instability. I just listed everything that was inherently bad on mid-engined sports cars and said we intended to avoid it.

“The engine question remained open but