It isn’t often we get a project that has an eighteen-year-long timeline, as staying focused on one project for that long is a significant investment of someone’s lifetime. But when you’re making your own carbon copy Mclaren, you need to be prepared for it to take a while. Unfortunately, there are only 6 of them in the world so for most people if you want one, you need to make your own.
Granted, in those eighteen years, [Brough Built] freely admits there were some gaps. He scrapped most of the earlier work, and today’s current iteration took about three years. This car is made of steel, aluminum, foam, carbon fiber, and sweat. It is a close copy of the F1, and it has all the features you would expect to see on the real thing, like the centered driver’s seat and the gold cladding in the engine bay.
A BMW V12 engine mated to an Audi six-speed gearbox provides the power inside the car. A custom clutch assembly was machined to make it all work. Overall, this is an incredible build with time, and precision just poured into it. Folding and cutting all that metal alone, not to mention all the meticulous welds on everything from the gas tank to the door panels.
Making your own car is a complex and long journey that can be incredibly rewarding. Perhaps not a copy of an existing vehicle but something new; check out this soap shaped hand-made electric car.
It would have taken Tavarish longer.
Wrench every day.
I opened the link, preparing to be a skeptic. But I really am impressed!
In the early part of the video I see a sub-frame back there. What chassis is this project based on?
Not unlike this Ferrari for which the builder crafted the entire engine down to the smallest screws and springs.
https://www.mbandf.com/en/parallel-world/a-working-scale-model-ferrari-the-perfect-present
Or here:
https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Scerri.htm
It IS unlike that, the point of the mclaren seems to have flown over this guy’s head. (I am not him, not thrownling shade, but I personally could not attempt this and have the final product so far from reality. Then again I may be OCD)
The underpinnings and mechanicals are not up to snuff, I would have had some more respect with some things like this addressed: 1 use a Boxter S as the base, similar platform to GT3 for example. Dirt cheap, much better. 2 Use a billet engine adapter plate and steel flyweel adapter. Can take being beat on. 3 The steering /NEEDS/ another joint, that angle is too extreme.
I appreciate the skills, but would have started making a Saleen S7, Lambo, Ferrari or something. Then his finished product would have been probably at least as good as the real one.
Something I do like is dpcars dot net, its his own thing, its not a McLaren, but its very good. Especially the way Dennis Palatov breaks down why he is engineering the chassis as he does. ( He owned an Ariel Atom and re-designed the suspension levers when he discovered the ratio is a /decreasing/ one, meaning the spring rate got softer as it compressed, leading to failed bearings, not to mention sketchy handling)
I do realize I am armchairing and his product sure looks the part. I am afraid I am very much function over form however.
Kudos to him for making
Apologies if I come off sour, but I did just receive my copy of Driving Ambition the inside story of the McLaren F1
I really like the F1 and the ethos behind it. If I was to attempt a Murray car, it would probably be the Light Car Company ‘Rocket’ or his IGM minibug
You very much did come off as sour, and also as missing the point – the dude built a pretty passable F1 replica and documented it. Sure it won’t be as good as a real one, but what replica ever is?
If you want all the aspects of a production car, buy a production car, because none of us have a spare few million in R&D budget to do that level of development.
If you want to go fast for cheap, buy a superbike or Caterham or something like that, with a few tweaks you’ll probably keep up with everything on the Nurburgring up to and including a Veyron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpzz8iQr_7g
These guys get it. And everyone commenting.
And it rings true with most car enthusiasts I know that whilst may not be building F1’s they are certainly doing a lot of custom work like the Binky boys.
How about Burning Wrenches? He’s building a PUBG buggy, Ramp Buggy from GTA 5, and a Quadra V-Tech from Cyberpunk 2077, in addition to various other projects. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdEDP2DTjY92WQl9ufmWBPw
What’s the deal? Homebuilders have been known to take 20 years building an airplane from a KIT
I tell my wife, ‘When I say that I’ll fix something, I will fix it! You don’t have to keep reminding me every 6 months or so!’
I worked with a guy who’d then been bulding a kit car for ~10 years, bumped into him ~20 years later… he still hadn’t finished it.
turbos on what should be a singing NA V12, there must be a law against that
I’d mate the Noble monocoque chassis to the stock V12. Too bad Ralph Lauren has no intention of ever selling his LM.
For years I’ve day dreamt about getting into composite forming and 3D printing molds or cores to “download a car” from a game model or something. Maybe one day.