Sand Hill Road 14
could repair the damaged car. The car’s main body had
survived, but the front and the suspension were damaged.
After the brief detour to the workshop, Elon began using
the McLaren F1 as his daily driver to and home from work.
Another unfortunate McLaren F1 driver was the British
comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson, also known as Mr.
Bean. His black McLaren F1, number 61, has crashed twice.
Luckily he survived the accidents without any major in-
juries, but his insurance company had to pay the most
expensive insurance payout ever recorded in Britain.^6 In
favor of Atkinson’s driving skills, he has driven the car
since 1997, covering a distance of 37 000 miles [60 000 km].
It’s probably a world record among McLaren F1 owners.^7
While Atkinson competes with other sports cars on a
racetrack, Elon never participated in a race with his car.
Elon, however, once tried to see how fast he could drive it
on an airstrip, and he pushed the McLaren F1 to speeds of
215 mph [346 km/h].^4
In 2007, Elon felt he had to sell his beloved McLaren
F1. As the manager of a company manufacturing environ-
mental friendly cars, he wanted to improve his image. “It
was an environmental decision,” he said. “My McLaren F
was a great car. It was a work of art, really, but it’s not
good for the environment and I didn’t want people always
writing that I have a high-performance gasoline sports car,
so I decided to sell it.”^69
Number 67 wasn’t more safe with its new owner.
After six months of winter storage in a garage, the new
owner wanted to take it out for a spin. A passing onlooker