Chassis #043 is a very unique F1 road car. It was originally built for Motokazu Sayama, who owned 'Ueno Clinic' in Japan. That was the title sponsor on the Le Mans winning F1 GTR in 1995. His business was a plastic surgery firm in Japan and it is humorous to note (perhaps TMI?) that one of their primary offerings was penile enlargements. -LOL
Anyway, the story goes that he leased GTR #01R from McLaren and McLaren made arrangements for Lanzante Motorsports to run the team for him. Mr Sayama's goal was to provide a drive at Le Mans for a Japanese driver named Masanori Sekiya, as a Japanese driver had never won Le Mans. With their victory that year he became the first.
McLaren had made an agreement with Mr Sayama that at the completion of the race, so long as GTR #01R did not win, he would be able to purchase this GTR. Of course what happened was exactly the opposite; the car won and McLaren was not willing to give up such an important piece of their history so instead of the GTR, Mr Sayama purchased road car #043 instead, probably at a reduced rate.
The road car is painted exactly like the GTR was - with almost black paint on top and a grey bottom section that cuts through the lower body panels from nose to tail. Interestingly this paint scheme for #01R (and subsequently #043) was chosen to match Mr Sayama's recent purchase of a Mercedes Benz 500SL - remember - this was 1994/1995.
This car has spent most of its life in Japan, very rarely being seen at all. A few months ago it left for the UK and is in the hands of a new owner who very much respects the unique history of the car and suggested to me he plans to keep it 'original'!
