McLaren F1s do Italy: best road trip ever?

McLaren F1s do Italy: best road trip ever?
6 June, 2014 | by topgear

http://www.topgear.co.za/galleries/mclar...supercars/


Only 107 McLaren F1s were ever made. These totalled 69 road cars (including prototypes), 28 F1 GTRs, six F1 LMs, three F1 GTs and one spare chassis.

So you can count yourself mighty lucky if you’ve ever seen one of the legendary 390kph monsters with your actual eyes.

Imagine, then, the epic levels of hysteria that erupted in Tuscany when a conga line of F1s – and their modern offspring – were seen snaking through the beautiful scenery around Siena, Italy.

The reason? A McLaren owners’ private tour, which to the rest of the world looks rather like a high-end Red Letter day on steroids. We’re told the tour was a relaxed affair: an opportunity for the old Maccas to stretch out their pistons in the sun as the owners meandered their way through Italy’s wine region. Sounds terrible.

The pack comprised 12 McLaren F1s, six McLaren F1 GTRs, two McLaren P1s as well as a selection of 12C and 650S models used as support vehicles. Yes, support vehicles. Consider our tour of 13 Paganis in the same region upstaged.

The ‘boggo’ version of the McLaren F1 boasted a 6.1-litre BMW V12 engine developing 461kW. That’s enough to catapult its centrally mounted driver from 0-100kph in just 3.2 seconds and – where legal, naturally – onto a top speed of 390kph. The F1 GTRs you see in the pictures above saw the original Big Mac turned up to 11, thanks to the addition of monster aero appendages.

Luckily, for those of us who don’t live in Tuscany, Martin Vincent and Emanuele Collo managed to capture the magical McLaren mystery tour with some brilliant photos.

So click/drool your way through the gallery above and tell us which one’s your favourite.