In the early 1990s, McLaren built the last great analog supercar. It wasn't supposed to be a race car, but they took it to Le Mans and won anyway. Why do we care?

Sam and Ross have each driven a McLaren F1 on track. The same one, in fact—a factory-backed GTR that finished eighth at Le Mans in 1996. They loved it, but who wouldn't? Why does a machine like that make such a dent on people?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this week's approach "It *is* the Car." Which is totally the opposite of what our logo says, but hey, surprises are fun.

Related Trivia: Ross got into that GTR because he was once a BMW factory driver. (The McLaren was powered by a BMW V-12.) Sam had the car melt his face off during a Road & Track test. The engine sound you hear—and the helmet cam in the YouTube version of this episode—is him at the wheel.

Jeff is still buried in Daytona prep and had to sit this one out. We miss his dulcet tones!

APOLOGIES: Tech gremlins had Sam's mic popping a little for the first 12 minutes. The problem is fixed and won't happen again.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

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Where to find us:

instagram.com/j.v.braun

instagram.com/rossbentley

instagram.com/thatsamsmith

instagram.com/intcpod/

facebook.com/INTCPod/

rossbentley.substack.com/

speedsecrets.com/

facebook.com/Drivercoach/

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Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

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