Chris Harris is All of Us When He Drives This McLaren F1

For a person like Chris Harris, I have to imagine that finding a car you’re excited to drive becomes a harder proposition every year. The man has driven many an amazing machine. So to be handed the keys to something you’re truly excited to experience means the vehicle in question has to be extraordinary.

Enter the McLaren F1.

Harris was on a trip to the States when he was given a chance for a bit of center seat time in a McLaren F1. A kindly owner allowed it and Harris put it on video. His reactions to the car are how I imagine most of us would respond to what is easily one of the most fascinating cars ever built. You have a 6.0-liter V12 sourced from BMW producing north of 600 horsepower placed into a car with a curb weight under 2,800 pounds. And this arrived in the early 90’s at a time when 600 hp was a wild figure assumed to only exist in cars relegated to race car duty.

The top speed? A still eye-opening 240 mph. Your driver’s seat? You sit central in the car, surrounded by that wonderful yet not over-the-top carbon fiber reinforced polymer bodywork. The production run? Just 106 were built in total, counting the prototype models. And this particular silver-hued example set in the Arizona desert serves as a brilliant reminder to Chris Harris that amazing automotive experiences still exist today. He states this car ruins him, and other automakers, when compared to any other cars. It’s a truly special thing.

The normally verbose Harris leaves the car to do most of the talking. There’s no music ruining the noise of that V12, just a person enjoying a machine that’s meant to be enjoyed.

Summing up his thoughts in the back of a self-driving Waymo is one hell of a contrast to the experience shown in the rest of the video.