The McLaren F1 is regarded as one of the best supercars ever made, and it still holds the top speed record for a naturally aspirated (no turbo) engine. It’s hard to believe that the car is already 20 years old, until you see the laptop that McLaren use to service each F1.
It’s a 90s Compaq laptop called the LTE 5280, and it’s the only model that can be used to perform maintenance on the car. That’s because McLaren designed their DOS-based software to only run if a certain ‘Conditional Access’ card is present on the computer… and that card can only be used on this particular model of laptop. These laptops aren’t being made any more, so it’s only a matter of time before the last available 5820 fails and McLaren are unable to maintain their fleet of F1 supercars.
McLaren have continued to source new laptops to stave off this eventuality, but with a limited number of laptops in circulation it’s only a temporary solution to the problem. Of course, the British company has foreseen this, and they’re working on a new interface which will be compatible with modern laptops, ending their dependence on the old 5820.
It’s a nice little wrinkle on the McLaren F1 story, which is already deeply fascinating for motoring enthusiasts. You can read more about the laptop and McLaren itself in Jalopnik‘s original story, and The Verge have also done a great photo walkthrough of the company’s headquarters.