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1990 McLaren 4/5b Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021
Simon Bertram·
Motorsport & RacingGoodwood Festival of SpeedNewsMcLaren Race Cars
·1 min read

McLaren MP4/5B Tackles The Goodwood Festival of Speed Course

And, just for kicks, Daniel Ricciardo was the one driving!

Every once in a while, McLaren likes to open up their vaults, pack up a few of their historic Formula 1 cars, and ship them down to the Goodwood Festival of Speed so that their engines can roar and scream once again.

For 2021, it was both a surprise gift to Daniel Ricciardo and a great gift to the many fans that made it out to the festival to see the 1990 McLaren 4/5B driven by Ayrton Senna once again roar to life in the paddock area.

The Honda RA100E engine in that beast was a technical masterpiece. 72 degree V, 3.5L, naturally aspirated, revved to just about 15,000 RPM, and developed 670 to 690 HP. Utterly insane numbers when you consider, including the engine, the entire car weighed just a hair over 1,100 lbs, thanks to McLaren’s pioneering use of full carbon fiber monocoque construction.

However, as good as it sounds revving in the paddock, there is nothing quite like hearing a Formula 1 engine howling in anger, and for the Goodwood run, McLaren slapped a GoPro and a microphone on the rear wing upright, to give the best sound of the car getting to do what it does best: go fast.

The car made multiple runs during the day, and one of them was a rain run. However, because he got to drive it, Mr Ricciardo had absolutely no problem lending a hand in giving it a little elbow grease to keep it looking as beautiful as the day it leapt from the mind of Gordon Murray and pencil of Steve Nichols and onto the racetrack.

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