MCLAREN F1
Gordon Murray designed the iconic McLaren F1 as the ‘ultimate’ road machine and, despite his renowned background in motor sport, never intended for his new baby to have a career in competition. Privateer racers such as Ray Bellm and Thomas Bscher were quick to spot the car’s potential, however, and eventually managed to persuade him to adapt it accordingly and build a number of examples in time for the 1995 season. Such was the quality of the standard road car that remarkably little work was in fact required to create a winning motor sport version.
The interior was stripped and a rollcage installed. Various cooling ducts were added and a sizeable, adjustable wing fitted to the rear, while carbon brakes replaced the standard items. Although homologation limited engine output to around 600bhp (less than that of the road car), the race version was nevertheless faster and nimbler as a result of the reduction in weight. Defining features of the F1 such as its central driving position and dihedral doors were retained, as was even the standard car’s gearbox.
Success came thick and fast. In the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours GTRs finished in first, third, fourth and fifth places and achieved that year’s highest top speed of 281km/h. Buoyed by the initial season, McLaren further developed its winner over the winter, extending the front and rear bodywork, and lightening and strengthening the gearbox. This resulted in a weight saving of 38kg. Due to demand, a further nine chassis were laid down to the new spec, while the 1995 chassis 03R and 06R were uprated to the same level. Although slower over a lap than the 1997 ‘long-tail’ GTRs, the 1996 ‘short-tail’ variant was the fastest of all the GTRs in terms of straight-line speed, once recording no less than 330kph down Mulsanne during the 1996 Le Mans race.
Chassis 15R was built for GTC Motorsport for the ’96 BPR Global GT Series and at Le Mans. It acquitted itself well by finishing sixth in the Team Championship and a credible fifth overall at La Sarthe driven by Lindsay Owen-Jones, Pierre- Henri Raphanel and David Brabham. The ROFGO Collection bought it directly from Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones.