Bonhams will offer the ex-GTC Gulf Team Davidoff 1997 McLaren F1 GTR Longtail FIA GT Endurance Racing Coupe at its 2012 Quail Lodge auction, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, August 16th and 17th at Quail Lodge in Carmel, California.
The McLaren F1 GTR at the 2012 Bonhams Quail Lodge auction, chassis 028R, is the 28th McLaren F1 GTR produced by the British McLaren Cars factory in Woking, Surrey, the last of that final year’s batch of only ten highly developed ‘Longtail’ cars. These competition coupes were the ultimate development of McLaren’s entire Le Mans-winning F1 GTR family. Chassis 028R is painted in Gulf Oil’s legendary pale-blue and orange team livery, similar to the epic Ford GT40 and Porsche 917K of an earlier era.
In 1997 ‘028R’ contested FIA GT Championship 4-hour races at the Nurburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, Austria’s A1-Ring, Donington Park and Mugello, plus the Sebring and Laguna Seca 3-hours events and the Suzuka 1,000 kms. Driven in these races by Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Geoff Lees, Anders Olofsson and John Neilsen, ‘028R’ finished sixth at Suzuka and Laguna Seca, seventh at Donington and tenth at Sebring.
“We are delighted to have been appointed by an international collector to represent this breathtaking piece of competition machinery,” says Mark Osborne, Head of Motoring at Bonhams. “Racing legends like the McLaren F1 GTR rarely if ever appear at auction and Bonhams’ appointment speaks volumes about our leadership in this sector of the market.”
The 2012 Bonhams Monterey Week auction moves to a new, larger venue on the same Quail Lodge grounds in Carmel Valley. This new location – on the lawns at the western end of the property – provides open air viewing against the backdrop of the wooded highlands, in addition to more space for preview and auction days and parking options right at the sale.
For additional information, visit www.bonhams.com/quail.
[Source: Bonhams]
Great offering Bonhams. Any ideas whether the McLaren is race-ready? It sure would be fun.