McLaren F1 in New Zealand?

Hello!
I am new to these forums.
Does anyone know if there is a (or many) McLaren F1(s) - in New Zealand?
As much info/pics as possible please! lol:biggrin:
Thanks
DBSF1

For sure there is one, at least in May there was as photos of it were taken there.

Refer to this post:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=5729646&postcount=70

Then a later post in the same thread offers more detail:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=5764233&postcount=86

And then there is this post with a link to an ad for the car - all the photos from the ad were taken in Singapore:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=4970205&postcount=27

You also see mention there of a "silver F1 that Whittikers owned" in one of those posts. That would actually be "Whittakers" of Chocolate fame (http://www.whittakers.co.nz/) in NZ. The car has been referred to as belonging to one of the family members that owns that company, but I have never seen photos of it that I am aware of, and not much more detail exists unfortunately. In fact a search of this forum turns up very few additional comments:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=4989409#post4989409

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1719128&postcount=29

Here's a thread linked to from FerrariChat (http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171558) with a bit more detail. I'll copy those comments into this thread so we have them handy:

"Doesn't someone from the Whitaker family (Whitaker's Peanut Slabs) have one too?"

"Whittaker chocolate does have one. not sure where its kept though. Maybe their place in Porirua?"

"yup mr whittaker has one. it is here in porirua. only seen it twice and he bought it ages ago. only takes it out when it needs a new warrant but other than that it just sits in the garage with all the other exotics. grey with the license plate "mcl f1""

That's about it unless you want to talk about XP4, which was there in NZ for several years but has been with a new owner in the USA since 2000.

>8^)
ER

Thankyou so much for your help.
What number is the car? Are there any reports of a black one in NZ - possibly a change of color? And is this a genuine LM, or a standard with a downforce kit?
And any more photos or info would be sweet! Any new sightings post here!
lol haha
Thanks again
DBSF1

The dark grey F1 with the downforce kit is chassis #018.

It was originally built as a standard road car finished in dark blue/grey and I believe went first to a Japanese customer who has had several F1s over the years. This is a shot of the exact same car taken February 5th, 1995 in Nagoya, Japan:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20E/1995-02-05_NagoyaPerfCarShow_010461.jpg

The car went to Sweden for a short time arond 1999 before heading to a new owner in Germany. It was the German owner that I believe had the original refit done to the car, to respray it this color, change the interior to what you see today and add the High Downforce Kit. I believe the car was later sent back to the factory to have the LM-spec engine added and a few other changes as well. It remains a standard road car and not an "LM" even with all it's tweaks, but it is a very special road car indeed, with only one other configured exactly like it anywhere in the world that we know of.

There are a lot of photos of #018 from various times in its life. The two shots in the original post we linked you two are the only ones I have seen so far of it that claim to have actually been taken in NZ.

As for the Whittaker car - no clue on the chassis number or anything more than what you see referenced above. If anyone else has something to share on it, that would likely be new info for me as well.

>8^)
ER

I think Erik has covered everything :)

Sorry for bringing up an old thread.

Yeah the Mclaren in Porirua. I was the one that posted on Ferrarichat.

Well I found out where Mr whittaker lived and was contemplating weither or not to stroll up there and kindly ask if I could take a look at the car.
He still owns it as I saw him down at our local supermarket. Friendly guy soo I'm guessing he would let me take a look haha.

What do you guys think? should i go for it?

Well don't scale any fences, but if you think he is approachable then sure, take the chance. As long as you are polite about it I would think that in most cases you might be surprised by the result.

If possible I would love a photo or two of the car and determining the chassis number would be priceless. :)

Do you know where to find the chassis plate if you did happen to see the car? So many people tend to overlook it.

>8^)
ER

Well don't scale any fences, but if you think he is approachable then sure, take the chance. As long as you are polite about it I would think that in most cases you might be surprised by the result.

If possible I would love a photo or two of the car and determining the chassis number would be priceless. :)

Do you know where to find the chassis plate if you did happen to see the car? So many people tend to overlook it.

>8^)
ER

hahaha funny thing is that it is by far my favorite supercar so climbing fences wouldn't be out of the question. haha kidding.

Yeah I think I will give it a go. Ofcourse i'll get photos! it'll be a waste not to.

Don't know where to find the chassis plate sorry. Let me know where to locate it and I'll see what I can do.

Here's my favorite trio of shots to lead your eye to the right place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/th_mf1_r_interior_l.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/?action=view&current=mf1_r_interior_l.jpg) --> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/th_21385477-lL.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/?action=view&current=21385477-lL.jpg) --> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/th_21385481-lL.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20B/?action=view&current=21385481-lL.jpg)

If the car isn't open you can still read the number through the side window or the windshield too.

Best of luck - hopefully you'll get a chance to at least see the car. I've seen a few - it's always a great experience!

>8^)
ER

Some info on #018 in New Zealand here (http://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=mclf1&search=Check)

#018 HDF is now on show at the Skycity supercar show in Auckland.

Check this link.

http://www.classiccar.co.nz/news/7900/mclaren-f1-on-display-at-supercar-show

:thumbsup: Good find

This must be the car that 'numbers' from Supercars.net was expecting to see. He promised lots of photos. :cool:

Shame that the news article refers to the car as an F1 LM. I hate misinformation. :shakehead

That center taillamp is an odd addition. Must be some kind of law there that requires it. :dunno:

>8^)
ER

...and numbers pics are in too:

http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223asmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223a.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223bsmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223b.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223csmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223c.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223dsmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223d.jpg)

http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223esmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223e.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223fsmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223f.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223gsmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223g.jpg) http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223hsmall.jpg (http://www.supercars.net/pitlane/pics/1634223h.jpg)

>8^)
ER

Le Man - Thankyou so much!!! ThankyouThankyouThankyou you don't know how thankful I am for this info.
Peloton25 - I believe that in NZ by law you are required to have a centre taillight as shown.
It is sad it is listed as an LM, but I guess for the general public it may as well be as it looks (kinda) like one (more so than standard road car), and it has the up-specced engine.
Thankyou guys sooo much!

wow thats 018.

It really travels the world:rofl:

Le Man - Thankyou so much!!! ThankyouThankyouThankyou you don't know how thankful I am for this info.
Peloton25 - I believe that in NZ by law you are required to have a centre taillight as shown.
It is sad it is listed as an LM, but I guess for the general public it may as well be as it looks (kinda) like one (more so than standard road car), and it has the up-specced engine.
Thankyou guys sooo much!

No problem, :smile:

So, you will be off to the show then, :grinyes:

Enjoy the experience. (do not forget, this is a very rare sighting in your part of the globe)

PS. please take a camera!! Thankyou.

haha hopefully - yes! :)
@ Peloton: from Wikipedia - "In North America since 1986, in Australia and New Zealand since 1990, and in Europe since 1998, a central brake lamp, mounted higher than the vehicle's left and right brake lamps and called a Centre High Mount Stop Lamp (CHMSL), is also required" therefore funny not to have seen it on other examples of the F1 Worldwide?
thankyou again so much.
this site has been sooo helpful and informative and i really appreciate it.
thanks guys :D

@ Peloton: from Wikipedia - "In North America since 1986, in Australia and New Zealand since 1990, and in Europe since 1998, a central brake lamp, mounted higher than the vehicle's left and right brake lamps and called a Centre High Mount Stop Lamp (CHMSL), is also required" therefore funny not to have seen it on other examples of the F1 Worldwide?

Well, some McLaren's were built in 1998, so for the Euro reg perhaps they just looked the other way on them since there were so few. In North America, or the United States specifically, the cars are entering the country under a special provision put together by our DOT (Department of Transportation) called "Show or Display" and that approval allows the vehicle to side step conforming to any of our FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) regardless of the year of manufacture. My guess is that New Zealand must have some requirement for a new car that is imported after the law changed to be converted to conform. I believe this is the only F1 I've ever seen with one. Hopefully it is held on with double-sided tape.

Thanks for the info. I hope you do get to see the car! :thumbsup:

>8^)
ER

http://img209.imagevenue.com/loc186/th_85360_1787817_122_186lo.JPG (http://img209.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85360_1787817_122_186lo.JPG) http://img131.imagevenue.com/loc755/th_85368_1881_122_755lo.JPG (http://img131.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85368_1881_122_755lo.JPG) http://img136.imagevenue.com/loc622/th_85373_1871781_122_622lo.JPG (http://img136.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85373_1871781_122_622lo.JPG) http://img41.imagevenue.com/loc625/th_85375_180_122_625lo.JPG (http://img41.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85375_180_122_625lo.JPG)
http://img226.imagevenue.com/loc568/th_85381_181080_122_568lo.JPG (http://img226.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85381_181080_122_568lo.JPG) http://img199.imagevenue.com/loc961/th_85383_118086_122_961lo.JPG (http://img199.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85383_118086_122_961lo.JPG) http://img153.imagevenue.com/loc410/th_85389_14717_122_410lo.JPG (http://img153.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=85389_14717_122_410lo.JPG)

http://img109.imagevenue.com/loc985/th_29568_3216832593_5bf780c9f7_o_122_985lo.jpg (http://img109.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=29568_3216832593_5bf780c9f7_o_122_98 5lo.jpg) http://img14.imagevenue.com/loc1021/th_29589_3216853577_b14f9f9eb9_o_122_1021lo.jpg (http://img14.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=29589_3216853577_b14f9f9eb9_o_122_10 21lo.jpg) http://img40.imagevenue.com/loc149/th_29616_3216830655_09d683d841_o_122_149lo.jpg (http://img40.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=29616_3216830655_09d683d841_o_122_14 9lo.jpg)

Here in NZ, all vehicles (except light commercial), either manufactured or first registered after 01/01/1991, must have a high stop lamp fitted by law. In this case, #018 falls into both catagories. And I hate to say it, but I suspect there will be three holes in that panel - a screw at each end of the lamp unit and a third hole for the wiring...

Also intriguing, those carbon fibre registration plates are illegal here, too. In 1988, NZ's rego plates were changed from black with silver digits, to reflective white with black digits. A few years ago, blue and red digits were also allowed. Anything else, including modifcations or anything not produced by the official plate makers, is illegal. A lot of exotic car owners do not fit a front plate, but use a sticker instead (rather than drilling holes in the front panel of their brand new Ferrari...), and often get fined by anal cops, for not having a plate fitted. They have really clamped down on this issue in recent times, because speed cameras often cannot pick up stickers as clearly as correctly fitted official plates - resulting in a potential loss of revenue...

What surpises me most of all, however, is that a McLaren F1 has been successully registered here at all. There was an F1 here about 10 years ago (at the moment, I cannot remember who owned it), and it was unable to be registered because the ridiculous NZ law would not make any allowances for a central driving position. Apparently, it was one of the reasons it was sold again.

those number plates are beautiful tho. they couldnt dare put standard nz ones one. it would ruin it. i have noticed a number of vehicles running about like 599 GTBs with sticker front number plates...
silly nz transport people. well... at least they're letting it get registered here :) which is nice of them lol
dbsf1

What surpises me most of all, however, is that a McLaren F1 has been successully registered here at all. There was an F1 here about 10 years ago (at the moment, I cannot remember who owned it), and it was unable to be registered because the ridiculous NZ law would not make any allowances for a central driving position. Apparently, it was one of the reasons it was sold again.

XP4 was the F1 in NZ previously. At the time it was Electric Blue with a dark brown interior. Its owner was Sir Roger Bhatnagar. I believe the vehicle was registered as there were claims of it being driven on occasion. I have these four photos of it during its time there wearing the license plate "XP4".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/th_xp4.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/xp4.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/th_xp4_2.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/xp4_2.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/th_xp4_3.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/xp4_3.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/th_1f1siderear.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v482/Peloton25/McLaren%20F1%20G/1f1siderear.jpg)

Here's an article one of us was able to salvage in reference to the sale of the car from the Otago Daily Times of NZ:

Happier in a Beetle
Auckland: Sir Roger Bhatnagar may have plenty of money, but he would rather drive a yellow Volkswagen than the world's fastest production car.

The millionaire businessman has sold his McLaren F1 for $US800,000 ($NZ1.9 million), breaking the New Zealand record for a used road car sale.

Sir Roger, who made his fortune through the Noel Leeming appliance stores, owned the English supercar for "six years and 10 days" before selling it to a Californian billionaire this month.

"I never used it - the insurance was $25,000 a year," said Sir Roger, who bought the car for $2 million.

"I'm a little bit sad to see it go because there is nothing better than this car and it is a McLaren."

The F1 is one of the world's most expensive cars, and the fastest.

Powered by a 6.1-litre V12 BMW engine, it is capable of 370 kmh and can cover the standing kilometre in less than 20 seconds.

The driver sits in the middle, with his passengers slightly behind and on either side.

Production of the F1 ended in May 1998 after 100 cars had been made.

Sixty-four of them were similar to Sir Roger's but a number were modified for racing.

The businessman often appeared at charity events with the midnight blue car, although he rarely drove it on the road.

He has no plans to buy another supercar and is content to drive his bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

"You can't take money with you. You may as well enjoy it." - NZPA

Additionally I have this message from someone who went for a ride in it while in NZ, though I am drawing a blank on its source at the moment:

The McLaren F1 I went for a ride in was XP4, which was owned by a Indian Businessman here in NZ..Sir Roger Bhatnagar. I had a bit of trouble sitting in the left hand side passenger seat, but it was well worth it. Unfortunatly we only went around the block and got up too about 50mph 80kph, but it was one of the better rides that I have had. The colour was dark blue, and it was used in various testing before the full production model....It was fully rebuilt when Sir R brought it. It has been sold to a US businessman in Los Angeles. So we only have one McLaren F1 in NZ now....

I would have been a lot more excited about the fact if I was able to drive XP4. The fact of the matter is that I didn't drive it, and I'll have to save up for my own one before I can probably get the chance again. I must say, I was happy to have been for a ride in it though.
The car was owned by the Bhatnagars since about 1994, when it was air freighted from England. I only got one or two opportunities to actually see the car out of it's cover. The owner couldn't drive a manual car, so his son was the person who always drove it. He sold it for about $900,000 U.S about 6 or 7 months ago, maybe longer. It is a truly great car.
It sounded good too........Praise BMW Motorsport.

>8^)
ER

Roger Bhatnagar - that's the name! All I could remember was that he was a very successful Indian businessman and that he was a cricket fanatic, with quite an amazing collection of cricket memorabillia (assuming he still has it).

I see from your picture of the windscreen that it was indeed registered (long-ish white tag in the bottom left of the windscreen), and had a "warrant of fitness" (small white sticker at the top right of the 'screen, just below what is most probably an service interval sticker), both required by law before a vehicle is allowed on public roads. However, I am fairly sure I remember him having legal difficulties getting the car to a charity event once, so perhaps the XP4's registration was a limited one (a cheaper rego option for vehicles that do less than a very small number of kilometers per year), or else there were insurance problems. I am afraid that back then I simply latched onto the fact that there is a "McLaren F1 in NZ!", and subsisted on dreams of seeing it on the road somewhere one day, without ever absorbing more details...

Thanks for that info (and the pics), though, it fills a wee gap in my teenage memories :)

Yes that central light is screwed in etc etc.

Its rego'd and warranted.

I had a look at it this weekend and in fact had dinner and drinks in its presence last night as part of our post race party thing with 26000 vodka.

Didnt get in it or go for a ride but maybe sometime hopefully, but it truly is a awesome machine, that was more of a highlight than being in the A1 pits and seeing the cars etc etc.

There were mechanics from the teams piling onto golf carts and coming down to have a look all evening.

I have a couple photos but nothing really good, just taken on my phone, got the chassis plate somewhat through the windscreen, but we had to go off and move the Porsches.

Any word on who the current owner might be? Someone related to the A1 GP perhaps?

>8^)
ER

Any word on who the current owner might be? Someone related to the A1 GP perhaps?

>8^)
ER

PM Sent

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/samzbob_2/DSC00123.jpg

:thumbsup: