A BMW M5 Wagon Was Used To Test The McLaren F1's V12

The E34 M5 Touring is already one of the biggest M Division heroes in BMW’s history, but it turns out there’s an ultimate version of this ultimate hot wagon.

Here’s the background blurb. When Gordon Murray started working on the legendary and record-breaking McLaren F1 (below) he turned to BMW for help, with engineering boffin Paul Rosche, answering the Brit’s call.

BMW were to supply an engine dubbed S70/2 to Murray and his team. As you probably know, it was a 6.1-litre V12 good for 618bhp and 479lb ft of torque.

Of course, turning an idea into a working day model requires test mules, which is where the E34 BMW M5 Touring model - and McLaren’s road car director, David Clark - enter the equation.

At least one test vehicle, which is unlikely to ever see the light of day, is still under BMW’s guardianship, according to Clark, who recently told motoring hack and BBC Top Gear presenter Chris Harris on the Collecting Cars podcast that he had sampled the V12 Beemer from the driver’s seat.

Clark described the car as “an outrageous thing” which, going by the raw stats, we couldn’t have summarised better ourselves.

Source: Collecting Cars via Motor Authority