Identifications Needed.

[Mcl@ren]

Hey carbuilder, your nic has expired, its 2007 now.....Ha ha ha LOL


Just joking....

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by carbuilder2002

So short a time yet so much information?

Well to clarify - I've had an interest in the F1 since ~1991 when magazines first started talking about the possibility of a McLaren road car. I obviously followed the car's introduction and the heaps of praise it received through the years. I watched the Dec '94 Best Motoring tape on the F1 when it was brand new, as I had a good friend who would rent the new one each month from a shop in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. From 1995 through 1998 or so a group of my friends would always make it a point to watch the BPR and FIA races religiously - shame I wasn't recording them or taking good notes - might make my current job a bit easier. I also attended the Laguna Seca FIA GT Race in 1997 and got to see the longtail GTRs challenging the Mercedes CLK GTRs and Porsche 911 GT1s.

So, it is not as if I didn't know what an F1 was until 2001, which may have been how my statement was received. What I really mean by that is I didn't start focusing on the cars and trying to learn every last detail until mid-2002 or thereabouts. Even then, I was mostly concerned with the cars here in the USA and didn't spend a lot of time chasing down leads outside the country. The expansion of the internet has made learning things that never before would have been possible into a wonderful reality for all of us.

Mcl@ren -
Gulf wearing number 33 was #12R at the 1996 LeMans race.

Gulf wearing number 1 was #02R during the 1995 BPR GT season.

I have all my Fina #33 in folder 018R, Most pics are from some car show.

That doesn't compute - was there a typo in there? #18R's only race experience was in the Hollywood livery at the two Brazil non-championship races in 1996, where as mentioned previously it wore 01. Can't recall a time when a FINA car wore 33 either.

First photos I have of #26R wearing 42 date back to June 2002 when our old friend tvrfreak visited the McLaren factory.

>8^)
ER

[Mcl@ren]

I edited the thread. it is the Fina #39 (short tail)

The Gulf longtail wearing #1, you have listed as 02R is 02R not a short tail ?

I think it should be 02?R but what is the ?

[Peloton25]

Oops - yeah sorry - I totally glazed over 'longtail' in reference to the 1 car.

This was another race number that was shared between two cars - in this case #25R and #28R. Since #25R was burned very badly at LeMans in 1997 they had to replace the car for all the races that followed with #28R. GTR #25R wouldn't race again until 2000 in the Japan GT series after being put back together using spares, so the story goes.

FINA 39 could be either GTR #17R which wore that number at LeMans in 1996 (and still does to this day), or it could be GTR #18R which wears 39 now as well. The easy way to tell present day photos apart is that #17R has the red and white stripes of the American flag on its rear fenders, whereas #18R has the flags of Great Britain and France on it's flanks.

GTR #18R should really be wearing race number 38 to match the livery it wears. That livery with sponsorship from BMW France and BMW Great Britain was originally worn by #16R at LeMans. Not sure who's in the research department at BMW's Mobile Tradition Museum, but they missed the mark a bit on the two GTRs they have managed to hold onto.

>8^)
ER

[Mcl@ren]

Yeah, i saw that difference on the flags. thought it was the same car though.

ill have to go home and sort that folder out.

I have one pic of the Fina with no decals. its sitting on a gravel road, car is painted blue at the bottom and white on top but has no further livery. any ideas ? Pic is from the rear of the car.

[Peloton25]

That's #16R when Ray Bellm owned it and it was converted for road use. There are a few pics floating around of it in this form.

There's also this short tail FINA livery I call the Presentation Livery. It was worn by GTR #08R and was shown at various events/auto shows, but never raced.



It also wore bubble lights at one point with this livery.

>8^)
ER

[Mcl@ren]

Now theres a pic i don't have.

Thanks Peloton

[Peloton25]

Cool - hang onto this one too then - same car.



>8^)
ER

[Mcl@ren]

Thanks Peleton. Much appreciated.