Ex-BMW Motorsport McLaren F1 GTR

Posted on January 2, 2014 by classiccarweekly

1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail

Offered by Gooding & Company | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 18, 2014

Photo – Gooding & Company

We’ve actually already featured a 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail, so this is kind of awkward. What makes this car different? Well, for one, it is an ex-BMW Motorsport F1 GTR Longtail. Why is that distinction important? Because that was the closest approximation to a factory McLaren F1 race team.

The first F1 GTRs were built for 1995 and 1996 but the rules of racing changed for 1997. There were specialty-built prototype race cars backed by major manufacturers that came into the fold. Instead of building a race car around a road car (which is the case with the McLaren), companies built homologation specials of their race cars in order to make them “road-car-based.” The F1 had a slight handicap.

But it didn’t matter because Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and the like didn’t have Gordon Murray in their corner. The F1 was re-designed with an elongated nose and tail and a huge rear wing. The engine was a BMW Motorsport-sourced 6.0-liter V-12 detuned to make 604 horsepower (the road car made 627 with slightly larger displacement – that’s how incredible it really was).

This was BMW Motorsport car #1 (chassis #021R). It’s competition history includes:

1997 FIA GT Hockenheim – 1st (with JJ Lehto and Steve Soper)
1997 FIA GT British Empire Trophy at Silverstone – 3rd (with Lehto and Soper)
1997 Helsinki 3 Hours – 1st (with Lehto and Soper)
1997 Nürburgring 4 Hours – 3rd (with Lehto and Soper)
1997 3 Hours Laguna Seca – 36th, DNF (with Lehto and Peter Kox)

And that was it for this car. After 1997, the F1 GTR program came to a halt. BMW traded this car to another McLaren team and the new owner loaned it to the Le Mans Museum for a little bit before selling it at the end of 2001. The new American owned had McLaren restore the car in 2002 to its original 1997 FINA racing colors.

In 2006, it was acquired by a German who actually used the car on track for the first time since 1997. Only 10 GTR Longtails were built (all in 1997) and this is as close to a factory race team example as there is. It was also the most successful BMW Motorsport Longtail with an impressive race history. Gooding & Company estimate that this car will bring between $5,000,000-$7,000,000 at auction in a few weeks. Click here for more info and here for more from Gooding in Scottsdale.

Update: Sold $5,280,000.

Callaway C12

Posted on September 7, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1997 Callaway C12

Offered by Mecum | Dallas, Texas | September 8, 2012

If you don’t know, or can’t tell, this car is based around a Chevrolet Corvette. 1997 was the first year for the C5 and the first year for the Callaway C12 – and this is the very first C12 built.

Callaway was founded in Connecticut in 1977 by Reeves Callaway. They began tuning Corvettes in 1987 and have dabbled in aftermarket tuning of other cars over the years, including Range Rovers and Alfa Romeos. But it’s mostly been Corvettes with the occasional Camaro thrown in for good measure. And it was mostly engine and performance modifications. That is, until 1993 when they introduced the Callaway C7, a GT1 racecar produced for the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The C12 was a continuation of that ultimately doomed attempt at building a successful racing car. Reeves Callaway wanted his cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And he got his wish – they scored a pole in the GT2 class in 2001, the final year for C12 production. In order to compete, the company needed to homologate the car for the road and 20 examples were built.

Callaway reworked every part of the Corvette except the roof and greenhouse. Everything else was modified, so it’s essentially its own car. The 5.7-liter V-8 underhood makes 440 horsepower, allowing the car to sprint to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds on its way to a top speed in excess of 190 mph. Originally, these cars were supposed to cost $140,000 – but they were built to an exacting standard for high-profile customers who would have likely paid more if asked. The cars were also built under license in Germany as the IVM C12 from 1998 through 2003 and these were available as a coupe, hardtop or cabriolet.

With only 20 built, getting your hands on one won’t be easy. Here’s a good opportunity. For more information, click here. And for the rest of Mecum’s Dallas lineup, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Gulf McLaren F1 GTR Longtail

Posted on July 31, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 17, 2012

If this doesn’t make you drool all over your keyboard, I don’t know what will. But seriously, if anyone out there would be kind enough to buy this car for me, I would be eternally grateful, as I have been really wanting one of these since I knew what they were. And I’m a sucker for anything painted in Gulf livery.

Where to start? I’m going to leave out the interesting tidbits about the McLaren F1 road car except that I will say that it was the greatest road car ever built (sorry, Volkswagen). Racing versions first appeared for the 1995 season, having to have been detuned from road-car spec to make it legal for certain racing series – including Le Mans, which it won in it’s debut season. Nine race chassis were built for 1995 (the GTR denotes a race chassis – some were converted to street legal versions after their racing lives had concluded and a number of GTR road cars exist today).

For 1996, nine more GTRs were built (with two additional 1995 cars upgraded). They had slightly different bodywork that was a little longer both front and rear to stay competitive. 1997 saw even more improvements and a move to the “Longtail” specification to compete against the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR and Porsche 911 GT1. Ten Longtail cars were built with none of the previous cars being upgraded. This took the total to 28 cars. This was #28, the final GTR built.

Chassis 028R was originally 027R, but 027R was destroyed in a testing crash. When it was rebuilt, it was rebadged as 028R. The competition history of this car includes:

1997 FIA GT Nürburgring 4 Hours – 44th, DNF (with Andrew Gilbert-Scott & Anders Olofsson)
1997 FIA GT Spa 4 Hours – 44th, DNF (with Gilbert-Scott & Olofsson)
1997 FIA GT Zeltweg 4 Hours – 30th, DNF (with Geoff Lees & Gilbert-Scott)
1997 Suzuka 1000km – 6th (with John Nielsen, Lees & Gilbert-Scott)
1997 FIA GT Donington Park 4 Hours – 7th (with Olofsson & Lees)
1997 FIA GT Mugello 4 Hours – 8th (with Olofsson & Lees)
1997 FIA GT Sebring 3 Hours – 10th (with Olofsson & Lees)
1997 FIA GT Laguna Seca 3 Hours – 6th (with Olofsson & Lees)

Since the end of the 1997 season, this car was “preserved” at McLaren before being sold to someone in Japan in 2004 where it remained for two years. The current owner acquired it in 2006 but it hasn’t seen a track day since 1997. The engine, the 6.1-liter BMW V12 (which in this car has a somewhat neutered 600 horsepower) was last run in January – but McLaren has offered to do a full technical inspection free of charge once this sale is complete.

The McLaren F1 was a legend from day one and it continues to grow. These cars will do nothing but appreciate and by the time the kids – who had McLaren F1 posters on their walls in the 1990s – grow up and become financially successful (hopefully) adults in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, these cars will be worth untold fortunes. Road cars started at about $600,000-$900,000 back in the 90s and have sold for upwards of $4 million since 2008. I remember seeing them sitting on used-supercar dealer lots in the early 2000s. Times change fast. Bonhams wasn’t sporting enough to publish an estimate, so we’ll have to wait and see. For more info, click here. And for more from Bonhams in the amazing little town of Carmel, click here.

Update: Not sold.

S/N: 028R

Porsche 911 GT1 Evo

Posted on March 8, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution

Offered by Gooding & Company | Amelia Island, Florida | March 9, 2012

Photo – Gooding & Company

The Drendel Family Collection of Porsches that Gooding & Company are offering at Amelia Island this year is pretty amazing. The number of competition cars alone is staggering. But of all of them – yes, including the 917/30 we featured last week – this is the one that I want most, granted the street version (yes, they built a GT1 road car) would be even more incredible.

The McLaren F1 won overall at the 1995 24 Hours of LeMans. When Porsche saw this, they said, “Why not us?” Thus they built a prototype race car, seen here, and then added a few road car variants (supposedly 25) to make it legal as a GT1 car. In 1996 they won their class, finishing 2nd and 3rd overall.

1997 was even more competitive with new entries from Mercedes-Benz and Panoz. The 911 GT1 was slightly reworked and dubbed the GT1 Evolution. The car being offered here (chassis #993-GT1-004) was entered with drivers Bob Wolleck, Hans Stuck, and Thierry Bousten. A few hours past halfway, Wolleck spun and crashed and the car was out of the race. The sister car later retired with three hours to go. While this car never won an outright race during its competition history, it was still a serious competitor, placing 3rd at Laguna Seca in its final factory-backed race.

Underneath the rear body work sits a 3.2 liter twin-turbo Flat-6 making around 600 horsepower. On the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans it was capable of about 205 mph.

There were some great sports-prototype race cars campaigned in the late 1990s. This is one of them. And while I wait for a “Straßenversion” to come up for sale, I guess I will have to settle for this race version with a pre-sale estimate of $900,000-$1,200,000.