11/5/10

McLaren F1 GTR

Cars Mania Blog
Auto Car | McLaren F1 GTR | This McLaren F1 GTR, which just so happens to be the last one built by the super car manufacturer. The McLaren F1’s production run only ran for 100 units, 28 of which were built for private customers to compete in FIA GT and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That would be impressive, except that chassis number 28R is one of only 10 long tail endurance racers. The extreme bodywork allowed the F1 to be stable at over 200 MPH while flying down the Mulsanne Straight. This particular long tail McLaren F1 belonged to the “Gulf Team Davidoff” team. The racecar features radical aerodynamic enhancements that included an extended nose and lengthened tail, as well as a wider rear wing for increased down force. For 1997, the F1 also received an enhanced version of the 600 HP BMW Motorsport V12 engine and a sequential transmission as well as a weight reduction of 75 kg over the 1996 model. This resulted in a curb weight of just 915 kg or 2,017 pounds.

Specifications:
600bhp (air restrictor controlled), 5,990 cc, four overhead camshaft, 48-valve V12 engine, six-speed X-trac sequential transmission, four-wheel independent suspension via double wishbones with light alloy dampers, co-axial coil springs, four wheel disc brakes. Wheelbase: 107” (2,718 mm).

The McLaren F1 was conceived by Ron Dennis, Creighton Brown, Gordon Murray and Mansour Ojjeh while waiting to board a flight after the 1988 Italian Grand Prix. Legend has it that Gordon Murray drew a sketch of a sleek car with the driver sitting in the centre as in a Formula 1 racing car. The seeds were sown of what was to become an automotive legend.

For more than a decade the McLaren F1 was hailed as the fastest production car in the world. In 1993 Jonathan Palmer took the prototype to a record breaking 231 mph. With the rev limiter removed Andy Wallace went faster still – 244.5 mph in 1998. The F1 was never intended to set records, or win races; McLaren had merely set out to build the ultimate road-going driver’s car.

Gordon Murray, designer of the F1 explained the whole story. “There can’t be many times in automotive history when one engineer has had the finance and the freedom to create a factory, a team and a car from a completely clean sheet of paper. Being put in that position by the foresight of Ron Dennis and Mansour Ojjeh was indeed a dream come true for me, but what heightened the experience was the fact that I had long harboured a desire to design a sports car with a focus and purity that exorcised all my pet hates in performance cars, and to push supercar design to a new level. A central driving position removed all these and in addition reinforced the fact that this car was to be the ultimate driver’s car. Other benefits were perfect weight distribution and, of course, room for two passengers.

…I had stated right from day one that this should be a road car only and that if I began thinking race car I would compromise areas of the vehicle design and end up with a sports car that did both jobs badly. What I didn’t realise is that because of my racing background, I subconsciously built all the good racing stuff into the design – such as low polar moment of inertia, low centre of gravity, uncompromised pure suspension geometry, rigid chassis etc – so when we were bullied into turning our road car into a racing car by two very determined customers, we actually had very little to do.

To create the GTR I had only one day in the wind tunnel to sort the aero and body kit. We added a rollover bar, racing instrumentation, a fire extinguisher and we went racing. Beating the prototypes to win Le Mans in 1995 with a road car, synchromesh gearbox and all, remains one of my best memories – winning that race first time out is, in my opinion, more difficult than winning back-to-back Formula 1 Championships.

McLaren F1 GTR, chassis number 27R was built for David Morrison, owner of Parabolica Motorsport at the end of 1996 for the 1997 FIA GT Series. It was the last customer car sold of six for the 1997 season, three Gulf cars, two Schnitzer cars and 27R, the Parabolica car. The team planned to compete in the British GT Championship in 1997 and at the first round at Silverstone the team was totally dominant. Drivers Chris Goodwin and Gary Ayles destroyed the whole field, winning by over a lap. McLaren F1 GTR, chassis 27R becoming the first long tail car to win a race in history.

Parabolica’s victory was so easy that the team changed its plans immediately and entered the FIA GT Championship instead. The first race was again at Silverstone and again Goodwin and Ayles were dominant in 27R. At half distance the pair were leading the race but luck was not on their side. Just after their last pitstop with other front runners still out, the race was red flagged, dropping 27R to sixth place and robbing them of a certain podium and probable victory. 27R was the only privateer car to lead a race during the 1997 season. Chris Goodwin considers McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail, chassis 27R to be the most striking liveried F1s of all time - in all its guises. The black and pink colours that Team Lark ran the car in at the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, the yellow and blue Warsteiner colours it ran in that year’s FIA GT Championship and finally, and most strikingly the livery in which it remains to this day – the Verve Cliquot, McLaren Papaya Orange.

McLaren F1 GTR 27R is ready to be entered in some of the most important events around the world. The car has been a regular at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and would make an important addition to any collection. The car would be a race winner in the right hands in the GT 90 Championship. McLaren F1 GTR 27R comes complete with a comprehensive spares package which includes assorted bodywork, various gear ratios and transmission parts, driveshafts, axles and other drive train spares. Dampers, wishbones, springs, rockers, struts and anti roll bars. Brake callipers, discs, mounting bells and pads, and various engine spares including cam cover, flywheel damper and con rods. To this day there is nothing to match the sophistication of the McLaren F1 – It is the ultimate modern supercar. Just one hundred cars were built and of these only twenty-eight were F1 GTRs.

When ‘Octane’ magazine asked 50 ‘players’ in the historic car world what was their all time favourite car, the McLaren F1 was practically the default choice. Octane’s January 2009 edition has the headline on the cover, “£2.5 million McLaren F1 Is this the new 250 GTO?” Their editorial states, “…it was left to the showroom-fresh McLaren F1 to astonish everyone by doubling its pre-sale estimate with a final bid of £2,530,000. ‘The new Ferrari GTO’ was the buzz around the room.”

A McLaren F1 is a very rare car to come to market – the few owners lucky enough to have one of these iconic supercars cherish them too much. Recent market trends prove that McLaren F1, 27R is not only an important and historically significant racing car, being the first Long Tail GTR to win a race, but that it is also a blue chip investment.
Chris Goodwin, McLaren Automotive’s Chief Test Driver said of this car. “I have driven most of McLaren’s Formula 1 cars and all the road cars and 27R still ranks alongside Senna’s 93 F1 car as the best car I have ever driven.”

Race History

27R

1997 British GT Championship
Silverstone 1st (Ayles/Goodwin).

Parabolica, 14 races, 1 second place FIA GT Championship
1997 Le Mans 24 Hours: DNF (Ayles/Nakaya/Tsuchiya for Team Lark).

1997 FIA GT Championship:
Silverstone 6th (Ayles/Goodwin),
Nurburgring 6th (Ayles/Goodwin),
Spa 6th (Ayles/Goodwin),

A1-Ring DNF (Ayles/Goodwin),
Suzuka 1000km DNF (Ayles/Goodwin/Johansson),
Donington 13th (Ayles/Goodwin),
Mugello 13th (Ayles/Goodwin),
Laguna Seca DNF (Ayles/Goodwin).

Sold to AM Racing.
1999 British GT Championship:
Silverstone 5th (Goodwin/Munroe),

Oulton Park 3rd (Goodwin/Munroe),
Snetterton 2nd (Goodwin/Munroe),
Brands Hatch 4th (Goodwin/Munroe),
Silverstone 6th (Goodwin/Munroe).

Source : www.racecar.com

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