McLaren F1, Porsche 911 GT1, Mercedes CLK GTR: The ULTIMATE Group Test Part 1 | Carfection 4K

this feels like a dream you then do it for fear you'll wake up but pinch yourself and you'll find that it is real mclaren f1 porsche 911 gt1 and mercedes clk gtr three absolute titans of the supercar story their history is inexorably intertwined all spellbinding in silver i simply can't imagine a triumvirate more sensational [Music] even among all the tests i've done this is very very special we're at the famous millbrook proving ground and these cars have been brought together with the help of dk engineering and a couple of very generous owners over the course of three films we're going to take you through these incredible cars in chronological order so do please ensure you'll subscribe to the channel to make sure you don't miss out now to set the scene i think we need the briefest of summaries about how these three road cars are all linked through racing specifically how they battle to outdo each other in the gt1 category of the mid-1990s begins with this mclaren f1 which joined the bpr global gt championship in 1995 it also won le mans that year and that really irritated porsche whose series lamar is their own sort of personal fiefdom so they looked to the regulations and decided to sort of interpret them relatively loosely by building this the 911 gt1 which raced in 1996 and did beat the mclaren f1 however it wasn't that successful overall because well it was then kind of beaten its own homologation role-playing game by this the mercedes clk gtr in fact this was so successful that really it killed the gt1 championship stone dead in short this is the story of the lengths that porsche and mercedes went to to beat the mclaren f1 on the racetrack so where better place to start than with the iconic three-seater launched in the early 90s the mclaren was designed to be the ultimate road car for your 600 000 pounds you've got a carbon fiber tub double wishbone suspension all round and the most glorious naturally aspirated 6.1 liter v12 that was designed by paul rusher and built by bmw with 627 brake horsepower it has the most power of the three cars here and combined with a torque output of 479 pounds foot and a kerb weight of just 1137 kilos it's no wonder that its performance figures became the stuff of legend not to 60 miles an hour in just 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 240 miles an hour it's also no wonder that it made a brilliant race car once that is gordon murray had been convinced to let it compete when the f1 gtr joined the bpr global gt championship it really only had f-40s for competition and won the championship at a canter in 95 and 96. at le mans in 95 it got a bit lucky the wet weather playing into its hands and gearboxes barely surviving but the result of the ueno clinic car plus the ones that finished third fourth and fifth sealed the f1 status as a legend looking around one today is still spine tingling the whole car is famed for its meticulous attention to detail and its use of the best possible materials right down to titanium for the spanners in the toolkit and 24 24-karat gold leaf lining the engine bay at just under 4.3 meters long it shortened the average modern hatchback like a runner mcgann and it looks tiny next to the other two and so slippery without any obvious aerodynamic protrusions it's actually arguably much more dramatic when you pop open one of those dihedral doors geeky fact the toyota sierra provided the inspiration for them and get inside wow this really is a marvel of packaging you can't believe when you stand outside that a car this small will have this much room inside the central seating position just feels so right it really does feel like you're wearing the car and that's something that we say a lot about sort of intimate interiors but just the central seating position makes it seem absolutely like it fits from the moment you get in helped by this beautiful bucket seat which is so slim steering wheel just the right size again perfectly placed dials that you can read perfectly with the black on white decals having the fat or seen the t50 gordon murray's latest car you can certainly see the similarities here with the switches falling just neatly to hand here also worth pointing out there are a couple of paddles on the back of the steering wheel not anything to do with gear shifting really obviously but um on this side you can just see the little thing here so it's headlights high beam here and then horn on this side so i suppose it's sort of a an early version of what ferrari would come to do with all of their buttons on the steering wheel down here all we've got all the various things for the window switch down here one on this side as well these are the hvac controls on this side and then this side we've got the kenwood stereo controls famously gordon murray didn't think that radio was any good at the time so you simply got a cd player in this made by kenwood two rear view mirrors up here and of course famously the best place to sit especially to hear the car was in one of the two passenger seats because you were on the side of that amazing central intake so you really got all that fabulous incredible induction noise coming straight to you just to talk through a few more of the controls it's not always immediately intuitive as to what they all do this here with the red arrow on it is to unlock reverse then we've got the little flap on here and that red button is the starter button uh here if you want to open the doors then you've got one each side there just in here e and l engine and luggage just there these are actually on both sides as well because obviously you've got a large compartment both sides and you can open the engine from either side as well fly-off handbrake little wooden handbrake down here and then there's this beautiful stubby perfectly shaped gear lever on the right pedals it's sort of you just want to spend time looking at the pedals down at the end of that footwell and there they are perfectly placed and again you just you sit in absolutely the right position for them knees bent just in the right way and that beautiful titanium throttle pedal made of six different pieces of titanium it remains just the most fabulously laid out interior it's extraordinary the visibility as well obviously you've got the visibility of it being the central driving position but actually all round visibility is amazingly good for a supercar as well right now to get out obviously you have to get in and out always from the left side always worth remembering otherwise you didn't battle with the gear this particular car is chassis number 37 and here's james cottingham of dk engineering to tell you a little more about it so it's had two owners during its whole life and the most recent owners had it for over 20 years and took it to south africa or they bought it in germany from the first owner took it to south africa then back to the uk then to california then back to south africa for a very long stint and then it's come back in 2020 to to the uk and it's it's one of the few f1s that remains its original color combination and actually the original materials is it the only one within alcantara alcantara only one with full alcantara interior from new which it is the original interior and it stood up to the test of time very well the first owner was known to have had towels that he made everyone sit on when they sat in it and then the the second owners they had some fabric sheets made in south africa to sort of fit over the seats which i think we can do a better job of that this time but it's done the job i mean it's just amazing how nice and original the interior is and you have to stroke it every time you get in and out so that all the alcantara sort of goes in the right direction otherwise it does look like a mess and also paint wise it's original we painted the front and rear bumpers because it had a few sort of small stress fractures and things like that but other than that the car is it's you know original paint which today puts it in you know in a bracket of 64 road cars which are super valuable you've got to try and find a differentiation is bit like f-40s that's why mileage is so important for f40s well i think with an f1 today it comes down to originality so that's a really great car so in a very original incredibly valuable f1 here i go [Applause] a few things you notice straight away as soon as you get into here it's just the responsiveness of everything but especially that throttle it's like you are just driving an engine that is the overwhelming initial impression just always feels a little sticky towards the top but you quickly tune into it and then my word you just feel a part of that amazing poor oscar v12 that induction noise it's so alive partly because of course in any ways 11 37 kilos you can feel it just start to move around break going downhill off camber and you feel that v12 behind you really will move all at once it's intimidating because it's unfamiliar but also it just feels also right the steering is so talkative the brakes once you get used to them so much feeling them but you just need to be you want to be careful with them you need to be delicate and aware of how it's moving the weight around because it's got that role in the suspension the movement in the side walls this has got by some way the narrowest front tires it's got tools profile around so 45 profile all-round which gives it some ride quality again makes it a road car but two three five section fronts as opposed to two nine fives on the others which really belies their race car intentions first and foremost as opposed to this you need the narrow frontiers because it's got that unassisted steering it's a car if ever there was a car to really be smooth with it's this because it's so responsive gear shift definitely takes just a little bit of time you just want to give it a pause between shifts or just a making sure you're right slotting because it's so narrow across the gate [Music] just the way it squats under acceleration quite intimidating it does feel odd sitting in the center because you're just so used to being one side or the other but then you do get used to it as well you feel so cocooned and so secure despite the fact you're in the middle you're wedged in by this carbon fiber rails along here as well so it feels once sort of kind of cozy so this is where the whole gt1 thing really started because this was just so good not only as a road car but obviously as a race car suppose it was the best supercar at the time so it sort of made sense it would also make the best race car and obviously it was made by an f1 team wow what a privilege driving in f1 even if it's not down is an intimidating tricky experience it feels all at once so right but also so curious the juxtaposition of the sharp angry engine with a relatively soft gangly suspension and heavy steering is a little unnerving managing your combinations of weight transfer and throttle input is a balancing act like a few others but i love the way it feels this is the third f1 i've been lucky enough to drive but even after covering ground at some speed in them i still feel like there is so much more to learn it's why it must be such a wonderful ownership proposition of course the only trouble is that with just over a hundred road and race cars built it's rather common compared to our next car anyway [Music] thank you once again to the very generous owners and everyone at dk engineering for all their help thank you very much for watching and do please subscribe to the channel not only so you don't miss out on subsequent films but as it really does help us to keep producing this sort of content

Channel: Carfection

Views: 514,114

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Id: AIqANh0vraU

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021