The amazing McLaren F1 replica made by a Top Gear fan for £20,000

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A Top Gear fan has completed the ultimate motor challenge - building a £5 million supercar using scrap and spare parts. Amateur mechanic Jacek Mazur, 48, made his own replica McLaren F1 for just £20,000 - 250 times cheaper than the real thing.

He even paid tribute to his favourite TV show by building a tiny rear seat for Top Gear co-host Richard Hammond.

He said: "I named it the Hamonda in his honour. It is the same size as for a child but I'm sure Richard could be a fit."

Mr Mazur's incredible car has taken eight years to complete and can now hit speeds of up to 200mph.

His previous projects have included building his own Lamborghini Countach and a Porsche 911 - but the British-designed McLaren F1 has been his 'ultimate' success.

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Just 106 of the supercars are thought to exist and they are usually found in the garages of super-wealthy celebrities such as talk show host Jay Leno and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson. They can fetch unbelievable sums and in August this year one sold for a staggering £5.1million at classic car auction Gooding & Company.

Mazur, a health-and-safety advisor, said "As soon as I saw the McLaren F1 for the first time, I knew I had to have one. I couldn't afford it so I knew I would have to build one myself.

"Now when I am in my car people just stop and start taking pictures. It is like being on a date with Angelina Jolie or Sandra Bullock in the centre of New York."

He added: "In some ways it is actually better having a replica. The real thing is so expensive I would be afraid to take it anywhere for fear of getting it dirty."

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The incredible McLaren F1 has been built with the help of more than 30 of his friends and family. Mazur used the engine from an Audi and the brakes from a Mercedes.

The father-of-two also spent hours online researching photographs of the car and on blogs so that he could build his own parts and the streamlined shell of the vehicle. And despite spending thousands of hours in his garage he has managed to keep the support of his wife, Gosia.

She said: "This is his passion. Ever since I have known him he has loved cars. He does spend a lot of time with them but it is better than him just sitting in the pub or doing something useless and boring."

However, Mazur, of Zabrze, Poland, is not about to put his toolkit down anytime soon and hopes to start work on a new supercar replica in the next few years.

The McLaren F1 was designed by British engineer Gordon Murray and first built in 1991. In 1998 it set the record for he world's fastest production car in the world with a speed of 231mph.

On Bing: see more photos of the real McLaren F1
Buy a second-hand McLaren road car on Auto Trader

By John Balson, Barcroft Media