Hello from the USA and thanks very much for the photos of the McLaren F1. :thumbsup:
Pardon me for butting in with some slightly Off Topic commentary, but it seemed there was some interest in the details on the McLaren. This F1 at Kyalami is chassis #037 and was built in the beginning of 1995. It was originally owned by a German man from Cologne who was quite fanatical about the car. According to a friend of the car's current owner:
Mclaren 037 was purchased from a German who used to ship it to the UK for service, wouldnt let his girlfriend even sit in it. When he went to purchase the car the guy put on special slippers and doctors coat, totally nuts this guy.
Shipping it to the UK for service is kind of a big deal because McLaren had an Official F1 Service Center established in Idstein, Germany which would have been much more convenient and far less costly for him. The rest of that story is just nuts of course! :thinking:
I'm not exactly sure when the current owner 'rescued' the car from him, but it first spent some time in South Africa and then he eventually brought the car to the USA in November 2001, keeping it here until he relocated back to South Africa again in early 2005. Here are a couple of decent shots of the car taken in Newport Beach, California back in May 2003. (
all thumbnails are clickable)
Here are some additional photos taken while changing planes at Schipol Airport in the Netherlands during transit back home to Johannesburg. You don't normally get to see photos of this nature so I think they are kind of cool.
Unlike a lot of F1s which have been resprayed or retrimmed by a subsequent owner, this particular car appears to still be in the exact original condition from when it left the McLaren factory in 1995. Even the 'McLaren F1' windsheild banner has been around since the earliest photos I have of this car.
The interior that was spec'd out by the 'fanatic' is a very unique combination of three shades of alcantara covering nearly every surface inside except the steering wheel. I've been following these cars all over the world for about 8 years now and have seen photos of nearly every F1 produced, but have yet to see another interior finished this way. Most will have some combinaton of mostly leather and bits of alcantara instead.
= = =
The second F1 mentioned as being in SA is kept at the Franschhoek Motor Museum in the collection of Johann Rupert - a name that is probably familiar to some. His F1 is chassis #023 built at the end of 1994 and was the only McLaren F1 ever painted "British Racing Green". It started out its life somewhere in Japan. It's second owner was Liam Howlett of Prodigy fame who purchased the car in 1997 and kept it for about two years. During that time he first had the McLaren factory respray the car in Silver and then later sent it back again to have McLaren fit some of the components of their 'High Downforce Kit' which gives the car a similar look to an F1 LM or F1 GTR.
Liam sold the car in 1999 and it ended up with motor racing legend, Sir Jackie Stewart's son, Paul. During Paul's ownership only some small changes were made to the car with the addition of the Stewart family tartan on the wheel centers, steering wheel hub and top of the gear lever and those details are still in place today.
Someone else in the UK may have owned the car in between Stewart and Rupert but I can't confirm that info. I do know the car arrived in SA at the beginning of 2009 and has been a part of the display of cars in the museum since ~October of last year.
Clicking on the image below will launch a Flickr gallery with several excellent photos of the car taken inside the museum. :thumbsup:
Here's one final shot I quite like that was taken during the FMM Concours & Time Trial Event held on the grounds of the museum this past February.
Thanks for allowing me the diversion here. Hopefully it wasn't too bothersome as I'm a bit of an anorak when it comes to the cars. If anyone has additional questions about the McLaren F1 (this pair or others) I'll be checking back a few times and am happy to share what I can or you can drop me a PM as well.
>8^)
ER
