Interesting Stories about Mclaren and UT’s GTR F1 LM
The following is written by Stig3 of Singapore diecasters (SGDC), I found they are very informative and useful, especially some inside stories about UT’s Mclaren GTR F1 LM.
Haha.. This is a very tough question dude.. Everyone has different opinions and information. Even myself, I gathered information based on what I read e.t.c..
This is gonna be very confusing but read slowly and you just might understand 
I took an hour to type this out… I might copy this into my Mclaren Info thread..
Some common misconceptions:
Mclaren first made XP1 (different from XP1 LM) to XP5. Based on these the main road car Mclaren F1s were built. These XP1-5 are the ones with side view mirrors mounted on the upper part of the door.
Then they tuned these and made the GTRs for racing.
The F1 GTR was never made for the roads, it was purely for racing in Le Mans and other racing series. However after the races were over, they were eventually modified and made street legal. So those who own F1 GTRs will be laughing at those who own just F1s As they are more rare and “powerful”.
There is no such car as the Mclaren F1 GTR LM or Mclaren F1 GTR XP1 LM but there is Mclaren F1 LM and the Mclaren F1 XP1 LM. 5 F1 LMs were made to honor the GTRs which placed 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th in 1995 Le Mans race (Can u believe thaT?!). Oh and all my labeling wrong too. I used to call GTR XP1 LM all along but there is no such thing
The tag LM in the name does not mean it was raced in Le Mans. First they made XP1 LM and then the 5 LMs which were meant for road use. Ironic & confusing eh?
Then later on came the final variant which are the GTs, in 1997. These models are hard to find. You can recognise them becoz they are essentially longtails without any spoilers:
Anyway about the UT Models part. The best thing is UT Models more or less named everything wrong!! All their models have the label XP1 LM on them, but behind on the box its stated “Mclaren F1 GTR Le Mans Roadcar”. That label means it was the GTR car which had raced in LeMans but now has been made street legal. XP1 LM is clearly not that! There was only 1 XP1 LM ever. Another wrong move is XP1 LM was made to be a street car, but the UT models do not have the 2 passenger seats. Instead they have the fire extinguisher and roll cage like GTR cars. That XP1 LM label on the side and the F1 LM label on the front windscreen are just wrong!
As for split wing and antenna, I am not too sure as well
The very first ones should be the blue edition boxes with XP1 LM having split wings. Among these they had some with the antenna. Which doesn’t make sense as XP1 LM for sure did not have antenna. Again another wrong detail.
Then the GTR came into picture. Single wing, normal UT boxes, no antenna.
I have no idea how the antenna got there on the XP1 LM By right, the GTR is supposed to have antenna for racing reasons (radio contact). You can also see that on all the other F1 GTRs.
The most rare is the split wing with antenna.
So far I have seen one. Mine. Did anyone of you have another one? Or seen being sold on Ebay before? I am very curious as I see all the papayas but never saw one with antenna except this.
Do forgive me for doing so, but I see there are a few inaccuracies in this post that I feel the need to correct for the benefit of all.
None of the XP McLaren F1 Prototypes are fitted with high mirrors. The first F1 to have them was the non-running F1 Clinic Model that was used to launch the F1 at the Monaco Sporting Club in 1992, and also to establish the production tooling required to manufacture the body panels. The F1’s designer and Technical Director Gordon Murray originally wanted the mirrors to be placed in the high A-pillar positions because that’s where they worked best. However, automotive laws and legislation at that time prevented this, and therefore the production F1 Road Cars had to have the mirrors mounted in the conventional wing positions.
F1 Clinic Model
XP1 was the first F1 prototype made, and at the end of its’ life-span it was being used by the BMW Motorsport engineers to conduct hot-weather testing in Namibia, Africa. However the test driver lost control when the wheels on one side hit a gravel-filled ditch, and subsequently it rolled a couple of times. The car was a total write-off, but the driver escaped unharmed apart from a few cuts and bruises, and this proved the durability and crash-worthiness of the carbon fiber passenger cabin safety cell. A little while later, leaking oil from the engine was ignited by the hot exhaust catalyzers, and this sparked off a fire that consumed the entire car. By the time the McLaren Cars support team arrived, there was almost nothing left. It was never fitted with high mirrors.
XP1
XP2 was the second prototype F1 produced, and it was the car used by McLaren for crash testing in the UK as required by legislation for all production road cars. It too was never fitted with high mirrors.
XP2 is on the left, and XP3 is on the right
XP3 is the third prototype F1, painted Silver and initially used by McLaren for performance and durability testing and finalization of the suspension and braking systems. This culminated in a few days’ worth of high-speed hot-weather testing at the Nardo high speed track in Italy. Although they weren’t planning to attempt a maximum top speed test run just yet, after the test sessions were complete, Project 1’s chief test and development driver Jonathan Palmer decided to take XP3 out for one last run and see just what she could do. He eventually managed to hit a telemetry-verified speed of 231Mph. Therefore XP3 became the first F1 Road Car to establish the McLaren F1 as the Fastest Production Road Car in the world, beating out the Jaguar XJ220’s previous best of 220Mph. And this was done when XP3 was still fitted with an early-spec BMW S70/2 V12 engine producing only 580Bhp, instead of the full 627Bhp of the final production-spec cars. It is then perhaps no surprise that XP5 would go on to do what it did with the full 627Bhp. When Gordon Murray first started work with McLaren Cars Limited, he included a clause in his contract which stipulated that McLaren would award him one F1 Road Car at the end of production as part of his reward package. XP3 is completely standard apart from the fitment of the suspension from the F1 LM. It is still owned and exercised regularly by Gordon until this very day. Again, it doesn’t have high mirrors, neither did it ever have them.
XP3
XP4 was the fourth F1 prototype made, and it was used mainly for testing and development of the gearbox and suspension systems. When McLaren was finished with it, it was initially sold to a New Zealand collector by the name of Sir Roger Bhatnagar, who owned it for a couple of years, but ended up hardly ever driving it. Therefore, he sold it on to an ex-NASA American guy named Larry Blair, who still retains ownership of XP4 in San Jose, California until today. No high mirrors on this F1 either.
XP4
Finally, XP5 is of course the last F1 prototype made, in Dark British Racing Green. It’s also probably one of the most popular and most-seen F1s of all, for a very good reason. It is XP5 that gave the McLaren F1 the final title of the World’s Fastest Production Car in 1995, when it hit 386.7Km/h or 240.1Mph at the VW Ehra-Lessien Test Facility in Germany, after XP3 first wrestled the record into McLaren’s hands when Jonathan Palmer drove it to 231Mph during high-speed hot-weather testing in Nardo, Italy.. Apart from raising the engine rev-limiter, removing the front single wiper, and taping over the front indicators and other gaps in the frontal bodywork, it was an otherwise completely standard F1 Road Car at that time. After the top speed record was achieved, McLaren retained ownership of the car and displayed it alongside XP1LM, GTR #01R, GTR Longtail #024R, and 56XPGT in the McLaren Technology Center. However, there are some who say that XP5 has now been sold on to an unknown party, as it has not been seen at the MTC for quite some time. Once more, XP5 never had high mirrors.
XP5
The very first production-spec F1 Road Car to be fitted with the High Mirrors Option (as it is known) was #040, currently owned by a guy named Flemke who lives in the UK and Germany. Its’ first owner before Flemke was a German guy whose initials are HS, apparently. HS was the first known F1 owner to have looked at the high mirrors on the Clinic Model and then told McLaren that he wanted them on #040.
It wasn’t a case of simply bolting on the mirrors in that position. The story goes that McLaren had to make new stronger carbon fiber doors and reinforce the whole door structure and door aperture surround, in order to endure the added structural strain that would be caused by the additional aerodynamic drag of the high mirrors. This whole process reputedly cost HS the far side of 300,000 Pounds Sterling at that time. #040 still retains its’ High Mirrors until today, as Flemke says they’re much easier to read in the high position than in the standard wing position.
#040
After the High Mirrors effect was seen on #040, 2 other F1 owners told McLaren that they wanted it done for their cars as well. One of them is Ralph Lauren, who owns F1 LM chassis # LM3 as well as 2 F1 Road Cars, #055 and #074. Both of his F1 Road Cars are silver. #055 was refitted with high mirrors at some point in its’ life, while #074 was built at a later date and had the High Mirrors Option fitted while it was in build.
#055
#074
The other customer F1 Road Car that has the high mirrors is #071, currently located in Germany. It is also the only F1 Road Car in the world that wears the McLaren Historic Papaya Orange paint. Little else is known about this F1, its’ owner, or when it had the high mirrors fitted.
#071
Last but certainly not least, F1 Road Car #050 also has the high mirrors, and it is owned by current McLaren Automotive and McLaren Group CEO Ron Dennis, who was also one of the original driving people behind the F1 road car project, internally known as Project 1. The story goes that the first F1 made for Ron was painted an unusual metallic shade of dark brown. He didn’t think it was a great color, so so it was sold on and #050 was built for him instead. It was likely fitted with the high mirrors while in build, and to quote Ron Dennis, “I thought it was a more elegant solution. I wanted the car as it was originally conceived.”
#050
I hope this will be informative and beneficial for all who read it. Thanks.
Also thanks to my friend Peloton25 for hosting these pics, and for all the knowledge about the McLaren F1 he has imparted upon me.
Hi,
I am a big fan of the UT McLaren F1, especially the short tail models that have been driven at Le Mans and BPR.
I just wanted to say that I have a collection of UT McLarens and I also have a McLaren in papaya colour with a split wing and an antenna, but they are indeed very hard to find, haven’t seen one before.
Just wanted to let you know that they are indeed rare. Sorry if I have destroyed your dream that you might had the only one.
Kind regards,
Olivier
Hi!
Also a big fan of the Mclaren UT, I have all 3 versions of the papaya color and also the silver and dark blue GTR.
The silver and the dark blue are very rare, took me a few years to find them! In the road Mclaren F1 cars I also have all the colors, plus the AutoArt version and Minichamps in 1:12 !
Very big fan !!
Best Regards
RMC
Very interesting article. I am aware this is an old thread, but I wanted to share something cool with you. I noticed how you have the F1 LM with the antenna, and one sold last December on eBay.
This is the link, but the photos may be deleted shortly because it sold more than 2 months ago.
I have saved the photos in case if you want to see them.
Best regards,
Nick
Thanks for sharing! Yes, it’s among the rarest UT XP1 LM and I do not own this one, the above article is from a collector based in Singapore.
Scale18 shows all the three XP1 LM versions, and previously I’ve also listed all the differences in detail between those 3 versions here.
Hi As being a ex McLaren Cars employee who assembled all transmissions from the prototype era to the winning team at Le Mans in 1995, there is something you have missed regarding models.
Have you seen any models with the high mirrors and spotlights fitted in the front bumper as was fitted to XP1 prior to its crash at Namibia. I have one of these as they were manufactured by a company in Spain but were told to stop immediately or be sued by McLaren for copying rights.
I was told that there were only 10 of these made, mine was given to me when I was at BMW doing dev work one weekend. Some info for you I thought you would like to share.
Kind Regards,
Phill Evans