Thirty years ago, the prototype of the McLaren F1 was unveiled at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix. Since then, the McLaren F1 has become the ultimate icon of modern supercar design and engineering. Between 1992 and 1998, just 106 cars were built, making the F1 the ultimate unicorn supercar and holy grail of collector cars. Recently, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this certified legend, Classic Driver and Kiklo Spaces gathered together a once in a lifetime line-up of over a dozen highly significant McLaren F1 road and race cars for an private event they called ‘Uncovered at Thirty’.

Held at Kiklo Spaces, a new space for car culture in Hampshire, UK, the line-up of McLaren F1s included some of the most remarkable road cars, as well as a stunning selection of iconic, short- and long-tailed GTR race cars. There was, for instance, chassis 043, one of the most original F1 road cars in existence, in a unique colour that matches the livery of chassis 01R, the overall winner of the 24hrs of LeMans in 1995. Chassis 02R, the most prolific winner of all F1 race cars was also present, as was 19R, the very first of the “long tail” F1 GTR race cars from 1997.

Among the guests and panelists sharing their most memorable F1 moments and unheard anecdotes was Peter Stevens, the F1’s designer, as well as David Clark, the commercial director of McLaren when the F1 was new, Paul Lanzante, the team lead of Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing, overall winners of the 24 hours of LeMans with the F1 GTR chassis 01R, and Andrew Frankel, the automotive journalist that drove and wrote about the F1 first.

McLaren F1 at 30