JUDGE JAY

Octane columnist Jay Leno bought his McLaren F1 in 1999 and explains why it’s still one of the favourites in his 180-strong collection

IN THE 20 YEARS I've been writing a monthly column for Octane, I've mentioned my McLaren F1 more than anything else. And when Octane celebrated its 100th issue back in 2011, I named it as number one in the top ten of cars that I own.

'It's such a focused car,' I wrote back then.

"There's a real sense of purpose to it. The car doesn't necessarily look dramatic, it looks attractive - then when you hit the door and it opens, it gets dramatic. Then you see that you sit in the middle and that's even more dramatic, and then you put the key in and you flip up the aircraft-type switch and you push a red button and the whole thing has a wonderful sense of theatre to it.

It's a fascinating car. It does feel light at really high speed but I'm not a racer and going for maximum-speed stuff seems stupid; you lose your licence and then you're in jail. With the F1, it's all about what happens between 40 and 110mph. It's funny how we've become used to electronic driver aids, though. I was driving the F1 on the freeway the other day and I nailed it in third and shifted quickly into fourth, and wheeuy, it started to slide sideways. That V12 really is a powerful motor. But it's also very under-stressed in this application, and I reckon it will easily be good for 75,000-100,000 miles.