Mr. Bean’s McLaren F1 Is Up For Sale! Low Miles, Recently Repaired…


Mr. Bean’s McLaren F1 Is Up For Sale! Low Miles, Recently Repaired…

Before the words “Bugatti Veyron” existed, the pinnacle four-wheeled tour de force was the McLaren F1. The three-seat rocket put the driver in the center of the 2,300 lb. car, a naturally aspirated BMW V12 provided the entertainment, and the looks dropped jaws (and maybe more) wherever it went. This was an exotic car, quite literally: the engine bay is lined with gold foil, which acts as a heat reflector. With the rev limiter in place, the F1 will smack 231 mph, and with it removed it could hit 243. When Top Gear did a one-mile drag race with a Bugatti Veyron in Dubai in 2009, the McLaren led the Veyron for half of the mile until the Bugatti’s power advantage came into play.

f1 vs veyron

Arguably the most famous McLaren street car is Rowan Atkinson’s F1. The dark burgundy F1 has been on loan to Top Gear several times (it is, indeed, the F1 used in the Dubai drag race) and has been owned by the actor, famous for his role as Mr. Bean, since new. Except now, after seventeen years of ownership, he has chosen to part ways with the super car. He bought the car brand-new in 1997 for £640,000 and proceeded to rack up over 41,000 miles on the odometer. He also managed to rack up two crashes in the car: in 1999 he rear-ended a car in traffic, and in 2011 he lost control and put the car into the trees, which resulted in a £910,000 insurance payout. OUCH. Repairs for each accident were done by McLaren themselves.

atkinson f1 1

It’s a well-known fact that Atkinson loves this car. In an interview with telegraph.co.uk, he says, “Look at a modern supercar of comparable performance and it will be vast, heavy and offer little or no space for your luggage. By comparison the F1 is tiny, yet it will seat three, store enough for you all to go on holiday and still finds space for a proper, normally aspirated 6.1-litre V12 engine. And it weighs the same as a shopping car. Nothing has ever been designed before or since with such imagination and clarity of thought.” As to why he’s decided to sell the McLaren, he has admitted that he doesn’t use the car as much as he used to and that “the time feels right.” Call it a hunch, but we bet that the next owner won’t drive it nearly as much as Atkinson did.

London’s Taylor and Crawley will handle the sale of the McLaren, which is listed for £8 million.

 


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8 thoughts on “Mr. Bean’s McLaren F1 Is Up For Sale! Low Miles, Recently Repaired…

    1. mooseface

      He’s actually a really good driver, and has posted some impressive lap times. He held the top spot in TG’s “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” for a year or two.
      Both of Rowan’s accidents were caused by factors beyond his control if I recall correctly.

    2. max Winter

      What a stupid post. Why would you even “contribute” something so disparaging and obvious? Small weenie?

  1. TJ Martin

    Well he wasn’t the first to use his F1 extensively and hard as a daily driver . That honor goes to Thomas Bscher who to this day holds the record [ according to McLaren’s data ] for the fastest mph commute on public roads in an F1 as well as any other road car .

    But . With prices what they are today ? No doubt Rowan Atkinson will be the very last to use his F1 as a daily driver ever again

    FYI ; Rowan is one hell of a damn good driver ! As is Herr Bscher

    1. mooseface

      Meh. He spun out an a wet road.
      If anyone here hasn’t done that to some degree or the next, then they’re not real car people.

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