Mclaren F1 GT shakedown - yes, one of the 3 GT's

[hurstg01]

Could this be the 58F1GT from the ZAZ Japanese collection that's been missing for a while?

Vid caps here

[Peloton25]

It certainly could be. opcorn:

>8^)
ER

[mini magic]

How do we know this isn't XPGT?

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by mini magic

How do we know this isn't XPGT?

It could be, but why would they repaint it / roadtest it now? - you can tell it's recent due to the SLR Roadsters - Out of the 3 GT's, it makes more sense for it to be the ex-ZAZ GT

[bucciali]

Looks like American surroundings, not Japanese...

So this is really interesting!

[hurstg01]

I believe it's in the UK, near Woking, possibly Bruntingthorpe - when #014 was refitted it had its shakedown in the UK, still wearing the protective blue tape as in the video above and as far as I can remember the car was transported there in the same looking lorry as the GT

[bucciali]

Hmm...There must be more photographic material of it, there simply has to be. Let's hope it surfaces soon. And in better condition too.

[countachal]

WOW! the GT!!!! i want to see that car soo badly... great find Greg, (as you can tell my mate never came through..Git)

[Le Man]

That vid looks like it was taken at Chobham proving ground.

Just a quick glimse of the control tower and the building to the right convinces me, also McLaren test SLR,s there now.
.................................................. ..............................

Talking of Chobham, read this by Doug Nye.... (paragraph 8)

Taken from here,

http://forums.autosport.com/printthr...threadid=84978

Quote.
Posted by Doug Nye on 19-Jan-06 13:24:


As - at one time - a frequent user of 'the Chobham test track' at Longcross - I would point out that the banked western curve is only very modestly 'super-elevated' as they used to say, with the outer lip barely three to four feet higher than the inner verge. It is - or at least was - part of the FVRDE (Fighting Vehicles Research & Development Establishment) - the main workshops and offices complex for which are sited the other side of the M3 Motorway, connected by overbridge to the test track. One of my cousins was a long-time technical officer at the FVRDE and I believe was deeply involved in development of the celebrated 'Chobham Armour' for AFVs.

Back in the 1970s I remember driving along the M3 under that bridge to be confronted by the sight of a Soviet tank - I think a T72 - rumbling across it above my head. I think it must have come from the Golan Heights, probably ex-Syrian??? It was clearly undergoing some kind of evaluation, in any case at this 'top secret defence establishment' (joke).

One time in a 450S Maserati around the banking I came upon a prototype APC which threw a track link rubber block in my path, bouncing and clattering along the track in my path. I was only running very slowly (naturally) so I stopped and hopped out to pick the darned thing off the track. I grabbed it firmly - sizzle! - yelped and dropped it instantly, it was just below red hot and my fingers and palm blistered instantly. That took some weeks to heal. It had been a well meaning but intensely stupid thing to do.

The winding infield road through the woodland at the eastern end is known as 'The Snake', and the map cannot show its truly amazing change of gradient as it soars and plunges through the birch woods.

A friend of mine had a major accident there in a single-seater when a rear suspension ball-joint sheared, broadsiding him towards a brick-built 4-foot square raised drain cover on the shingle verge. Fortunately the car's tail struck the adjacent bank first, which jacked the front end of the car so high into the air that it swung clean over the brickwork before falling back to earth the other side. Had the car collected that brickwork drain housing broadside it would have fitted between the front and rear wheels against the side of the cockpit and - without any medical presence on site - I shudder to think what the outcome for our driver could have been... That car was very badly damaged in any case and we unzipped the crushed tub that afternoon and had it rebuilt by Mo Gomm at Old Woking over the next few days in a memorable crash (literally) programme.

You could never tell when you might encounter some kind of tracked AFV clattering along anywhere ar
ound any of the blind corners, and it always seemed pretty clear to us that should we hit one, or one should hit us, it would be our fault regardless. I was most aware of this in the Napier-Railton, and also when I was the first journalist to drive Bob Jankel's 6-wheeler Panther, for 'Road & Track'.

McLaren used Chobham to run-in F1 gearboxes and the McLaren F1 road and GTR racing Coupes also did many miles of development and shake-down running there - also promotional filming and photo shoots. Countless action sequences for dreadful British B-movies and TV series like 'The Sweeney' (and worse) were shot at Chobham which was never adequately disguised with white lining and road signs to look at all convincing.

BMW's contemporary head honcho was one who added to his reputation there as a lead-footed driver of extraordinarily little brain when he shunted a McLaren F1 into the trees there, to parallel his celebrated Black Forest somersault in a sister car - both incidents being hushed up/glossed over at the time.

With woodland right to the edge of a track bounded by pebble/shingle verges barely a metre wide, the prudent would always come close to respecting the assigned speed limitations on the course.

But on a motor-cycle journalists' test day there, an unfortunate writer went off on the back stretch onto the officer's club golf course which formed part of the infield, hit a tree and was killed.

The course was also used for a minor club rally event special stage (or perhaps a sprint?) as recaled by RS2000 above in which -if I recall correctly - an awful incident befell a TVR owner with his daughter (who I believe might also have been pregnant?) as navigator/passenger. At the end of the M3-side straight they entered the long semi-banked curve at an impossible speed - I think due to a brake failure - and one or both suffered fatal injuries in the inevitable impacts. The place certainly did not/does not take prisoners and I have always been acutely aware of this when I have driven there. Get the job done...but show the place due respect, and leave a margin.

DCN

Quote.

[PatrickT82]

I saw the XPGT in 1997 at a dutch show. Only took ONE pic! silly me! I also caught it on video then. Got some pics of that too

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by PatrickT82

I saw the XPGT in 1997 at a dutch show. Only took ONE pic! silly me! I also caught it on video then. Got some pics of that too

Even more 'silly you' for not posting it here

[PatrickT82]

I thought I once posted those allready?

pics are bad though, 10 years ago

[Thorst13]

I love the GT's!

[Peloton25]

I knew a thread like this would get Thorst to post again.

>8^)
ER

[Thorst13]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

I knew a thread like this would get Thorst to post again.

>8^)
ER

Of course it will my friend! I'm still madly in love with the GT's!

My favorites by far! XP56GT is all I have to say!