In 2007, Lewis Hamilton joined the McLaren F1 team, something that he had been destined for since he was 10 years old. And when he joined the team, he told Ron Dennis, who was still in charge at the time, that he wanted one car: F1 LM XP1, the bright orange prototype for the F1 LM road car. Only five F1 LMs were built along with the one prototype.
If you aren't aware, the F1 LM is the ultimate roadgoing McLaren F1. Essentially, it's the short tail McLaren F1 GTR but without the engine restrictions. That means it makes 680 horsepower, even more than the 627 produced by the "standard" F1 road car.
This particular F1 LM sits on the floor at the McLaren Technology Centre and is worth an absurd amount of money, at least $10 million and likely way more. According to people inside McLaren, Lewis asked Ron what he had to do to get the car. Lewis was apparently willing to do anything to get it, he coveted it. Ron's response was simple: If Hamilton won the 2008 F1 World Championship and the team claimed the constructor's title, it's yours. A tall order, but not undoable. Hamilton and Dennis agreed, and Lewis set out to win both championships. (It has also been said that Dennis promised the car after three title wins at McLaren, but that also didn't happen for Hamilton)
Hamilton was allegedly not convinced that he'd get XP1 if he won and might be given a lesser F1 converted to LM spec. So, in order to know that he was given the correct car, legend within McLaren says that Hamilton put a small mark somewhere on LM XP1 that he could find and then identity it as the right car. Of course, nobody at McLaren has found the mark, though that may be because Hamilton hid it very, very well. Presumably, he also put that mark on it to make sure that if he ever got an opportunity to purchase the car in the future, he was sure he was getting the right one.
Unfortunately for Hamilton, while he won the WDC in 2008, the team didn't. That meant that XP1 LM would stay on the floor at the MTC in Woking, and not in Hamilton's garage. He seems to have done ok without it.
This story has been updated to correct the year and a few minor details.
