McLaren premieres fully restored F1 at Hampton Court

McLaren Special Operations (MSO) has premiered its recently restored McLaren F1 #063 at the Hampton Court Concours d'Elegance.

Chassis 63 has undergone a painstaking restoration over a period of 18 months. The body and drivetrain were stripped from the car and the interior was re-trimmed in the original Semi Aniline leather, which was a one-off for this car.

It is finished in Woking Grey - a colour reportedly inspired by the often slate-coloured English sky above McLaren's then premises on Albert Drive, close to the current location of MSO - using 10 hand-selected hides to meet MSO's stringent quality standards.

Woking Grey Alcantara was used on the dashboard and the perforated passenger seats. The driver's seat was re-trimmed in Woking Grey leather with a red perforated Alcantara centre panel. The Woking Grey carpets were all renewed and the over mats were finished with grey leather piping. Finally, the steering wheel was replaced from MSO's stock of original parts, with the original retained by the owner for historical reference.

Once the interior was re-trimmed, the exterior body panels were re-fitted to chassis 63, repainted in the original Magnesium Silver paint to a meticulously high standard - a process that took nearly 900 hours to complete.

Whilst the body and interior were being restored, the car's 6.1-litre naturally aspirated engine was also completely rebuilt. Once finished, the engine was dyno tested to ensure that it generated the impressive 618bhp capable of powering the McLaren F1 to 391km/h, before being re-installed in the car.

F1 #063's dampers were sent back to Bilstein for refurbishment and the driveshafts and hubs were also sent back to the original supplier for a rebuild. The final work was completed to provide the F1 Certification for the car to catalogue its provenance.

The restoration was completed in June following almost 3,000 hours of work including final road and track testing. Once work on chassis 63 was completed, it was handed over to the owner at the McLaren Technology Centre.