McLaren F1 restored

One year after McLaren presented the factory restoration and certification programme ‘F1 Certification’ at the Hampton Court Palace Concours of Elegance in London with the racing car #25R, the recently restored McLaren F1 with chassis number 063 will be shown next weekend at the same location. This program is a task of McLaren Special Operations (MSO), where spare parts for the only 106 built vehicles of the legendary supercar are manufactured to this day. Thus the cars are kept drivable worldwide. The restoration of #063 took 18 months to guarantee the best possible quality standards. It all began with a complete disassembly of the car, with all body parts and drive components being removed from the monocoque.

For the interior, the first owner had once ordered a special semi-aniline leather trim in bright ‘Woking Grey’. Rumor has it that he was inspired by the typical British sky over the production site in Woking near London. A total of ten finest cow skins now create a new atmosphere. The two passenger seats, the upper edges of the door panels and the dashboard also feature light grey Alcantara, the driver’s seat red Alcantara, with perforated center panels on the seats. The carpets are also dyed in ‘Woking Grey’ and have leather piping. From MSO’s inventory, a new steering wheel was added to the car, while the original part was retained by the vehicle owner for historical reference.

The exterior of the F1 #063 was repainted in the original ‘Magnesium Silver metallic’ color, which, including all polished, took around 900 working hours. Meanwhile, the 6.1-liter V12 engine was sent to BMW for overhauling. During final test runs on a dyno, the engine continued to deliver its once promised 618 hp as peak performance, which theoretically allows the car to reach a topspeed of 391 kph (243 mph). The suspension components were also thoroughly overhauled by the suppliers of the time of F1 production, in case of the shock absorbers for example at Bilstein in Germany.

After a total of around 3,000 working hours, the newly certified F1 was returned to its owner. In addition to the keys and the car, he also received the ‘F1 Certification’ and an extensive, leather-bound illustrated book with photographs from the production of his McLaren F1 and from the restoration work carried out. He is also allowed to place a ‘Genesis Speed Form’ sculpture on his desk. This is a special metal sculpture created with the data from a 3D laser scan of an F1.

Images: McLaren