You pick your moments with the F1: you have to accept that, except on empty autobahns, there is no way you can sample the F1’s performance potential safely and legally on a public road. So how fast is it? In second gear, the F1 adds 10mph each half-second. You’ll pass 100mph in third in 6.3sec. The second-fastest car we have tested, Jaguar’s XJ220, asked for 7.9sec. And still the McLaren is not into its stride.
It does 0-120mph in 9.3sec, a decent enough 0-60mph time for a hot hatch. It will reach 150mph from rest quicker than a Porsche 911 will reach 100mph. But the statistic to end them all is this: in sixth gear, it will cover 180-200mph in 7.6sec.
A Ferrari 512 TR needs longer to do 50-70mph in fifth. Even at 200mph the F1 accelerates hard. Had we enough tarmac, doubtless it would stop accelerating at its rev-limiter in top, which would be somewhere on the far side of 230mph.
If we tell you that the F1 handles as well as it goes, you’ll have a good idea of the esteem in which we hold this car’s chassis – it displays a level of adhesion we never came close to broaching anywhere but on the track. Although it is firmly sprung, there is body roll through corners but, as you sit in line with the roll-centre, you scarcely feel any of it. The steering is quick and lucid, and the engine makes the finest noise we have heard from a road car.