F1 Stories from M Brand Manager

[drewwtms]

It's been awhile but I thought of this forum tonight when I went to a BMW CCA meet with Erik Wensberg (EW), the BMW M Brand Manager during the McLaren F1 era. He shared some great stories of road cars, 1995 and 1996 LeMans. Here is my recollection of them.

Kenwood approached Gordon Murray about the sound system for the F1. They were very excited and proud to be a part of the project and promised Murray, "the smartest sounding rock star anywhere", a first rate sound system with speakers surrounding the driver. Murray asked about the weight of the system and the Japanese engineers proudly replied, 86lbs. Murray turned them on their heels and told them not to come back until it was 16lbs! Three months later the Japanese team returned with a 16lb system. I think this story is in Driving Ambition too.

Wensberg arranged to bring a dozen or so American journalists, and race driver Danny Sullivan, to England in either late 1994 or late 1995. They toured the factory, and had lunch with Murray and Ron Dennis, but when it was time to go to the test track, McLaren reneged and said no drivers were available! EW convinced them to release a couple of F1 prototypes if Danny Sullivan would ride along with the journalists and a threat that if anything happened his head would roll. Sullivan looked at him and said "No way I'm getting in a car with that lot!" Again EW intervened and convinced a young McLaren engineer to ride in the left seat and he would sit in the right seat with the journalist driving. EW told each one, "I've got my hand on the key. If you scare me, it's a twist of the key and you're done." To his relief each driver complied and the cars survived.

The group then went to Silverstone to watch an F1 in an endurance race and enjoy some McLaren hospitality. As they walked in EW observed a green F1 parked outside the hospitality tent with tape covering the license plates and a crowd around it. When he walked in he asked a McLaren guy about the covered license plate and the crowd. The guy pointed at a wiry, long haired man across the tent. It was George Harrison! They were introduced and he said George was one of the nicest and most enthusiastic car guys he's ever met. George was so excited, he wanted to jump in his F1 and mix it up with the cars on the track.

Wensberg told the story about how BMW was involved in the 1996 race and specifically the acquisition of 17R. BMW AG wanted to capitalize on the 1995 success so they told BMW NA, UK, and Italy to put up $1m apiece for three cars (only two were used), AG would run the program through Team Bigazzi, and in the end, each car would be turned over to their respective sponsor. And each could supply one driver from their country, with approval from AG. Danny Sullivan was the North America driver. At the time the cars were selling for $1m so it was a no brainer. The Porsches stomped the F1s in 1996 but it was a strong showing and everyone was happy. The UK/It car was immediately sold to a private collector but 17R showed up at BMW NA headquarters, still with its LeMans stickers. The CEO promptly told EW to sell it. It was a current-spec car afterall so it should be an easy sale. EW had no such plans to sell! Luckily for him, he had built up enough "political capital" that they eventually stopped hassling him. The dealers didn't though and he had to fight off numerous dealer principals who thought they were entitled to 17R and they had the CEO's blessing. EW didn't cave and has the last laugh given current F1 values.

He talked a bit about 1995 and 01R (but not enough IMO). He said the car survived not only the torrential rain but it also fell off the jacks during a pit stop and sat on its belly! Anyone know more about that?

He had loads of other stories about the Brabham F1 car, turbo engine, IMSA GTP, and the PTG E36 M3 period. He gets invited to a lot of events so if you see him, definitely snag a few minutes for some more stories.

[hurstg01]

I'd heard something about the Le Mans winner being on the floor minus its wheels - I'll try to remember to recount it when I have more time

[Peloton25]

Great to see you popping in again Drew - thanks for the stories.

>8^)
ER

[carbuilder2002]

Can only have been a malfunction in the air jack system or operator error releasing it too early?

[drewwtms]

He said there was video of it but I looked through YouTube without any success. Probably on VHS somewhere. He also said JJ Lehto drove like a man possessed in the rain.

[Le Man]

Originally Posted by drewwtms

He said there was video of it but I looked through YouTube without any success. Probably on VHS somewhere. He also said JJ Lehto drove like a man possessed in the rain.

Drew, you need to view McLarens own VHS video "Pursuit of Perfection" covering their 95 Le Mans victory. It is also on DVD, which came with the LTD Le Mans edition of Driving Ambition.

[hurstg01]

In the confusion of the latter stages of the race, #01R came in to the pits and the pit crew didn't know / hadn't been told what tyres to use. In the madness of the pit stop the jack guy dropped the car on 3 of the 4 brake discs....

[carbuilder2002]

Operator/Human error then

[Sami Aaltonen]

drewwtms :

Thanks for that story. Very Interesting.!!!!!
These history issues are always very nice to read, the time when you needed to be professional to catch these moments by camera and so on.....
Brilliant story. Thanks.!