McLaren factory photos you'll think you have seen before...

[Peloton25]

These images came my way from Gary Sargent, who happens to be the gentleman I purchased my Limited Edtn copy of "Driving Ambition" from. He took these on his visit to the factory to collect the book.

Like me, you will probably immediately notice that they bare a striking resemblance to this other set of photos which have been online for nearly a decade and were also taken by a visitor who was there to collect his own Limited Edtn DA. In fact as soon as I saw them I emailed back to ask if the two men knew each other or if it was just a coincidence and he replied to say it was the latter. Strange though - they must have been there within hours or surely days of each other?













Gary has joined the forum under the screenname SGS2011 and I'll be shooting him a link to this thread so be sure to welcome him and say thanks.

He's also shared two more very special high resolution F1 images with me that are in need of a bit of cleanup work to remove some scanning artifacts before I can share them. Unlike the ones above, these two images aren't much like anything we've seen before. If I can take my time and do a nice job the final quality should be superb and I think you will appreciate them just as much as I do.

>8^)
ER

[bucciali]

And thanks to SGS2011 too! I love the 'old' photos.

With the announcement of 'more to come', I'm not so sure if I can sit and wait patiently......

pics of DA Lim. Edition
more of the print session
2 HR never-seen-before photos
......

[Sami Aaltonen]

Erik; Thanks. This is hot stuff. History. Thanks!

[F1GTRUeno]

You've gotta love period photos. Being able to experience what it must've been like at the height of F1 production back in the day is something so very unique so I can only thank you Gary for sharing, and Erik for this thread and the heads up.

The ability on forums like this to share content like this never ceases to amaze me.

[F1 monster]

If you look closely at the spoiler on the F1 GTR, you can see the leaves/logo. It seems the picture was taken before it was gone over in white paint. Or perhaps, there is some dark cellophane wrapping that has not been peeled off yet.

[hurstg01]

Spookily similar!

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by F1 monster

If you look closely at the spoiler on the F1 GTR, you can see the leaves/logo. It seems the picture was taken before it was gone over in white paint. Or perhaps, there is some dark cellophane wrapping that has not been peeled off yet.

That's actually the LM prototype, not a GTR picture there. The wreath logo was never painted, but rather was engraved into the carbon endplate like you see below, exposing a bare section of the carbon without any of the outside glazing:



Click to enlarge...

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

He's also shared two more very special high resolution F1 images with me that are in need of a bit of cleanup work to remove some scanning artifacts before I can share them. Unlike the ones above, these two images aren't much like anything we've seen before. If I can take my time and do a nice job the final quality should be superb and I think you will appreciate them just as much as I do.

Before I forget... I've been putting some time into these two shots I mentioned above. Just wanted to provide a preview of one of them for now.



You'll be pleased to know the original image is in color and when I'm done with it the dimensions will probably be in the 4560x3500 range.

>8^)
ER

[dgi]

Great pics!!!! I sure do wish i could have personally visited the factory to collect my Limited Edition DA book! Others seem to have all the fun haha

The bare carbon interior on that XP1 LM is beautiful! Expecially with the gold anodized parts... did future LMs have similar parts?

[tak43]

Here a couple more from my trip in 2001 to the factory









tak43

[PatrickT82]

damn, at least 10 F1's over there?

[jkbon]

Is the third one 018 ?

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by jkbon

Is the third one 018 ?

If you are asking about the images in tak's most recent post I'd say the first and third photo both show chassis #007. Depending on the timing of that visit, it was probably owned by mr bridger at that point.

>8^)
ER

[GTS 2.4]

never really noticed it before but the yellow mclaren in the lower left corner looks a bit like a Bugatti EB110 from that angle

[tak43]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

If you are asking about the images in tak's most recent post I'd say the first and third photo both show chassis #007. Depending on the timing of that visit, it was probably owned by mr bridger at that point.

>8^)
ER

The visited took place in April 2001

tak43