Monterey 2011 - will P25 find a McLaren F1?

[bucciali]

Really pleased to read your stories, Erik, and to hear about the various encounters. Just glad that you are finally having a 'good' Monterey weekend with F1 content.
Can't wait to read about today's events.

[Peloton25]

It has been a quiet day from me on AF today because it has been a phenomenal day for me here in Monterey and I haven't even been able to collect my thoughts yet. Great good things everywhere I turn.

>8^)
ER

[svxit]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

BTW: Apologies for these wall-o-text posts....

No need at all. I've been a car fanatic for most of my life and have an extensive collection of car magazines (from 1980 to the present), including many when the F1 was still a concept. This board has given me a fine window into the background of an automobile I've admired for a long, long time. This thread is making the experience that much better.

[basman007]

What an excellent thread this is I'm happy for you that you got to meet so many interesting/kind people and of course the encounter with the F1 and F50 (!!)
I enjoyed your write-ups and I'm looking forward to your pictures

Not likely, but any new information on 014?

[Peloton25]

Sorry to leave you guys hanging - I was traveling today and just returned home. I have a lot of catching up to do but will add the Sunday report later on.

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Just discovered my 8 hours in the McLaren tent on Friday paid off in a visual way as well. Here's three photos that have hit their Facebook page that I happen to be in. Not sure who was in charge of choosing the ones to publish, but THANKS!!!


The back of my head on the left listening to the amazing Dick Glover, Technical Director for McLaren Automotive, speak:



Me again, in the same chair during the F1 discussion, seated by chance next to Antony Sheriff to my left at the edge of the picture. Paul Mackenzie is on the stage with Lynne from McLaren North America and Katie, the Communications director for Gooding & Co who was originally invited to share in the presentation (unlike me). This would have been taken during the Q&A portion where I suddenly and unexpectedly became a guest speaker.



Me in the background behind the sommelier, with camera bag and laptop weighing me down, having a wonderful chat with Dick Glover after he had finished his presentation. I really love this last one because it captures a moment that will remain very special to me.



What a serious thrill it was to see these as I never asked anyone to take photos of me with these folks while I was there.

Please enjoy the rest of the photos from the set here.

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!!

Sunday was a whirlwind - the culmination of (to borrow someone else's description) a truly EPIC trip for me. I literally could not have dreamed all the things that happened to me, for me, and with me over the past 5 days. I can look back at so many very special moments. There are some wonderful people involved in this who were extremely courteous to give their time or to show some interest in me and our crusade here who I never expected to meet or have the pleasure of chatting with. I believe my head is still spinning from all of it and while I do remain quite grounded I could not be a happier young man right now.

As you all know I was informed of an event at Pebble where all the really crazy people get up well before day break and come out to line up to watch the cars come into the Pebble fairway. This affords you the opportunity to see nearly every car that will be displayed moving under its own power (most of the time) rather than stationary. I will forever be thankful that Frank Stephenson insisted upon my attendance and will try to make it a yearly event at this yearly event whenever I am fortunate enough to attend. Who needs sleep anyway?

Due to my late planning for the show I stayed in a hotel about 25 miles from the epicenter of activities. I made a banzai run from there to a hotel where some friends were staying in Monterey and from there the 6 of us took two taxis into Pebble Beach arriving almost exactly at 5am. Compared to the last time I went to Pebble in my own car and waited in a tremendously long line while everyone parked, then waited for a shuttle bus up the hill, then had to walk quite a ways from the drop off point - this years trip took about 10 minutes. Never will I go to Pebble the normal way again.

So with this Dawn Patrol thing they have coffee and donuts and everyone stands around in the dark chatting until the daylight breaks and the cars start to roll in. I was thrilled to meet two people in that first half hour - one came with us in the taxis and the other I met getting his coffee. The first was photographer Peter Singhof from Germany. If you have not seen his photography you definitely need to. Stunning, beautiful stuff. The other was a UK photographer named Tim Scott whose website is here. You'll also find many of his photos being used for online publications like Sportscardigest.com - find his photos from this year's Pebble Beach event here. Peter had not yet been acquainted with me when we met but Tim knew me when I introduced myself and that came as a bit of a surprise. I also found some old friends in the crowd of crazies that arrived early like Frank Filipponio who shoots for AutoBlog.com and other outlets.

Then the hats arrived - I had heard they would be silly hats and didn't know what to expect. Turns out they are baseball caps presented free by an event sponsor and they make a total of 500 of them so they are a hot commodity I guess. I quite rarely wear hats but snagged one as a souvenir. At that point I found the McLaren Boys who'd managed to drag themselves out - it was just Frank and Paul and they were taking their place along the ropes. I intended to simply thank Frank for convincing me this was a good use of my time but ended up standing with them while all the cars rolled in and we had some good banter going. We were also joined by someone Frank new - an Aussie who didn't have a ticket to Pebble that was escorted all the way to Frank by an event marshall while Frank was on the telephone with him making him walk in circles to locate him in the dark. It was hilarious. Paul ran off to get him one of their passes and all was right in the world again. This guy was great and the banter among this small crowd was quite entertaining to be a part of. Really nice people - all of these guys are. After a few minutes Frank's Aussie friend went off to get coffee for a few of the guys and Paul asked Frank who he was and I said well for free entry to Pebble he better be buying a car. Frank looked a bit sheepish and told Paul he was one of his old Ducati buddies. When he returned to the group he was asking if anyone knew where he could get one of these Dawn Patrol hats and Frank told him they were limited and disappear quite quick. I heard him say that if anyone knew how to get one that he'd love to have it. Mine was hanging from my camera strap and I thought in sort of a round about way that giving Frank's friend my hat would be a nice gesture of thanks since I wouldn't have been there to get one without him. The guy was thrilled and it felt great to be able to give something back. Eventually we were joined by Antony Sheriff and Peter Freiberger who is the North American Sales Manager for McLaren Automotive who I had not yet met. With my limited knowledge of the older stuff I was announcing each car that came up the lawn for them. There was one golf cart that I couldn't identify but the rest I got pretty close on.

The cars that came to Pebble this year were all very spectacular as usual but the one gem of the show were 22 Ferrari 250 GTOs that gathered along the shore together. Seeing them all roll by was truly special - there were some that I really loved. I was totally caught off guard by one car though - the Stirling Moss 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR came around from the tent and I almost melted. I'd seen the transporter it is usually attached to in downtown Carmel on my way to see #036 and I love that thing but could not stop as I was already quite late. As it came past at Pebble I was in awe and that turned to shock as the driver proceeded to do a burnout not 30 feet from where we were all standing. It's probably the most valuable car in the world given that Mercedes will never sell it and here it was driving right past me. Holy you know what!

The McLaren Boys split off from me so they could do their thing and I stood until the cars stopped rolling in. Met a guy who has been to the big show in Hershey, PA every year for the past 50 years and he was helping me with some of the obscure stuff. Finally when the cars had all arrived I went in search of Gordon, eventually finding him with Jason Castriota doing their judging work. I wasn't aware of their very tight timeframe for the cars and should not have interrupted but Jason gave me the nod and smile (knowing who I was from a discussion in 2005 with P4/5 and again the previous day with the Tua-Tara before Frank captured me) so I walked over. I'm not sure Gordon has done the Judging at Pebble before and I realized right away that I picked the wrong time to say hello. He was polite and remembered me quickly from our ArtCenter encounter but I could tell his mind was in other places. I never did find him later on to apologize for my poor timing () so I'll have to find another means with which to do that very soon. It was great to see him though and I got a few nice shots of him - one with Jason in the crowd which will be quite special I hope.

Moving on from there I finally found Pieter Melissen of UltimateCarPage and got to say hello. If you don't follow UCP.com you should - one of the best content sites anywhere on the web and Pieter and his son Wouter do excellent reporting from all the events that they attend around the world.

After realizing the error of my very poor timing with Gordon I wasn't about to approach Simon Kidston while he was working his class of cars which happened to be the Preservation Class. It was nice to follow along with him for a while and be the fly on the wall listening to him engage the owners for more info about their cars. This man really knows his stuff through and through. He's also much taller than I expected and should be glad that the same is true of Gordon Murray or else he might not fit inside the F1. The other nice thing about viewing the Presentation class cars is that they are unrestored originals and are the true gems of the automotive world.

I saw a few more folks who I knew and stopped to say hello. I had brought along my laptop because on Saturday Frank Stephenson said he'd be in the McLaren tent all day and I could come by so we could talk F1s. I should have known that he'd have a solid crowd around him almost constantly and that this would be an impossible request to fulfill. At one point I did take a young photographer named Matt from LamboPower who I'd met on multple occasions in the past days into the McLaren tent so he could see the Exclusive 12C. We waited in the line for Frank while he was signing posters and I got another one of those wink & nods from him while he was chatting with someone else. Matt looked at me after that with one of those "Wow" expressions and I just just shook my head and said "Unbelieveable, really..." It was finally our turn and I introduced Matt so he could get a poster. Frank is a character and quick witted too - he takes great care to make everyone he speaks with feel special. A true class act. I wasn't going to get a poster until later even though I badly wanted one as I didn't wish to carry it around the rest of the day since I was already struggling with the laptop on my back. Frank said no - get one now or they will all be gone so he signed one for me. I'll share it later on - it's a sketch of two 12Cs at Silverstone and he left a very appropriate note on mine. I used my McLaren wristband as a rubberband so I could roll it up and hope to keep it nice. I figured with his business card in my camera bag already that I could probably get another one if I had to, but this one is special because he signed it for me while I was there and it didn't just arrive in the post.

Thankfully after I left the tent I bumped into Wouter from UCP and after telling him I was dying with the laptop on my back all morning he suggested that I take it to his locker in the Media Center past the Lodge. This was my saving grace for the rest of the day - my shoulders were dying from the pain - and even better I was able to tuck away my 12C poster from Frank fairly swiftly so it didn't get banged up.

For now I will put an end to this as Chapter 1 on Sunday and will cover the even juicier Chapter 2 this evening.

Thanks for reading and waiting patiently for my pics. Promise to get some more up tonight after work.

>8^)
ER

[tak43]

The stories have been great to read over the last few days,this one place on my wish list to visit at some time. Can't wait to read chapter 2

tak43

[basman007]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!!

For now I will put an end to this as Chapter 1 on Sunday and will cover the even juicier Chapter 2 this evening.

Thanks for reading and waiting patiently for my pics. Promise to get some more up tonight after work.

>8^)
ER

Man, I wish I lived anywhere near you/there. I would have loved to be there as well, especially with you. Not so much because of all the people you've met, I only know a few names you've mentioned, but because of your enthusiasm and kind/generous personality I really like your stories and I'm looking forward to chapter 2

[Sami Aaltonen]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!!


The cars that came to Pebble this year were all very spectacular as usual but the one gem of the show were 22 Ferrari 250 GTOs that gathered along the shore together. Seeing them all roll by was truly special - there were some that I really loved. I was totally caught off guard by one car though - the Stirling Moss 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR came around from the tent and I almost melted.

>8^)
ER

Did you mean 2 or 22 250GTO's?! Same place, same time?!
And then that superb SL Mercedes... You really have there in US very very......much things to look at. UK number 2.
Thanks your report, fantastic to read!

[PatrickT82]

that special edition matt orange MP4 is great

[Peloton25]

Thank you gentlemen for your very kind comments. It certainly means quite a lot to me to hear things like that from this crowd.

Speaking of the word "me", there have been a lot of "I's" & "Me's" in this thread and I want to make it quite clear that I would not have had most of these experiences and the ability to share the stories if it were not for "Us". I have literally hundreds of people around the world to thank for expanding my F1 knowledge over the near decade I have been completely infatuated with the F1. To everyone who has ever made a productive post in this forum (and that even includes you gerd) I want to extend my most sincere "Thank You!". This is the epicenter of McLaren F1 knowledge and every past contribution - be it photos, scans, videos, stories, sightings, or even just banter as we tried solving several F1 mysteries - has allowed me to learn something along the way and has only strengthened my passion for the McLaren F1. I may not have started my journey here but joining this forum launched it forward considerably and it has barely ever slowed down since.

Seriously, thank you to one and all.

>8^)
Erik

[Le Man]

^^^ .......... I,ve taught you well grasshopper.......


You can also pat yourself on the back kind sir, as if it was not for you, as moderator on this forum and your, lets say "excessive passion" for information about the F1, this place would not be the epicenter that it has became, long may it continue .

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by Sami Aaltonen

Did you mean 2 or 22 250GTO's?! Same place, same time?!

Yes, I did mean nearly half a BILLION dollars worth of 250 and 330 GTOs present at Pebble Beach. Twenty two of them all lined up in one row.

Some of those same GTOs (I think 6 or 7) had been at Laguna Seca the previous day being seriously driven, mostly by their current owners. One of those cars was even an unrestored original that has survived the test of time. Amazing!

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

One more comment I should probably have included in the above "Thank You!" post:

I am incapable of predicting the future but will say that all signs seem to point to it looking very bright for "Us".

I was sworn to secrecy for now but more news will surely arrive soon.

>8^)
ER