VIDEO: Unseen Footage of a McLaren F1 reaching Top Speed

The McLaren F1 was the world’s first hypercar. The first road car capable of reaching speeds in excess of 230 mph. Although it was way ahead of its time, it took special courage to go anywhere near its top speed.

Andy Wallace was the man who hit Vmax in McLaren F1 about two decades ago. Now, McLaren has released the never-before-seen footage of the top speed run from Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien Proving Ground. The F1 reached a Vmax of 391 km/hr or 242.9 mph which averaged to 240.14 mph.

As Andy noted, the only issues with the car following the record run were, it was low on fuel and the gearbox temperature had reached 130°C

With that, the bar had been set but it took more than a few years for the record to be broken. That was until the Bugatti Veyron came along in 2005.

Unseen footage of a McLaren F1 reaching top speed:

Just for comparison, checkout Top Gear’s video of the Bugatti Veyron driven at top speed with James May at the wheel.

Bugatti Veyron top speed run at Ehra-Lessein from Top Gear: