Sounds?

[Peloton25]

Assuming that the green car was originally painted green, and knowing that there was only one green F1 road car built before 1996 besides XP5, I would have to guess that is car #023, which was originally delivered in British Racing Green. If it wasn't originally green though, then that info would be wrong.

Steve Balmer and Bill Gates are both 'car guys' so it wouldn't surprise me if they were the "someone from Microsoft" you spoke of. Of course a lot of people have gotten very rich working for that company, so it could of course be anyone. We all know Bill Gates has enough money to buy the entire batch of McLaren's from start to finish though.

On the rumor surrounding the New Hampshire car - doesn't Herb Chambers live in New Hampshire? I know his dealership group is in Massachusetts, but I recall hearing that he sometimes commutes to the office in his F1 "all the way from his home in New Hampshire"... I really should write more of this stuff down instead of relying on my brain to remember, which is growing old and tired.

Oh and lastly.... I did a little more research on the reverse light location -vs- rear fog light location and it seems that while most F1s have them the way that I described, there are still a large number of production F1 road cars that have them reversed. My only guess is maybe they would install the rear fog light on the left or right based on which side of the road the customer would be driving on. That's all I can think of...

>8^)
ER

[faisalkhan]

or possibly a lot of pictures are scanned in and end up getting reversed. i am pretty sure that the light configuration would be standardized, and since they didn't make any US-specific cars, there would be no variation. i remember seeing a lot of the drawings relating to the light arrangement in the Driving Ambition, and they were all of the same light layout.

there's another individual at microsoft who has a world-renowned collection of ferraris. i think he bought the mclaren. it wasn't either gates or ballmer. gates is a porsche guy.


i think it is Herb Chambers' car.

[Peloton25]

The Microsoft/Ferrari guy is Andy Evans - he owns Scandia Racing which used to, and may still be, campaigning the 333SP for Ferrari. He's in pretty good with the Ferrari factory - so good, that you may remember they gave him an F50 for bringing home the series championship in the 333SP one year. He is actually Gates' financial advisor, but he may have also held a specific position at Microsoft as well.

As far as the lights - I'm pretty sure that only the English, Asians and Aussies drive on the wrong side of the road, so that's what I meant by the differing sides. I realize no cars were built to conform to any US specs...

From my library of photos I can tell that Herb Chamber's car has the rear fog on the right. The one photo I have of the back of his car has a person blocking the left side of the car, but I'm certain there is a red light on the right side where the reverse light 'should' be located. The "Tag-Heuer" F1 road car, that I believe lives in Japan, also has the rear fog on the right with the reverse light on the left. Finally the F1 road car in the Park Lane McLaren showroom also has the rear fog on right and reverse light on left. All of the others that I have photos of clearly follow the opposite configuration.

Up until XP4 - none of the prototypes had any lights or reflectors built into the rear cap. Only now that XP4 has been updated to full production spec does it have those extra slats and the lights and reflectors. All of the other cars had a very cleanly designed rear bumper cap that matched that of the Clinic Model. As shown previously - XP5 still has the reversed configuration. There must be a reason for it. You wouldn't think that the wiring would match up unless someone intended to swap them on the cars I have mentioned. You would have a pretty cool 'F.You' light when you hit the rear fog though, if the wiring were reversed.

BTW: Here's a shot of a silver F1 road car that was recently for sale through Taylor & Crawley and was also featured on QV500.com. Notice the "No Parking" sign which would rule out any reversed photo theorys. I'm not trying to start an argument about this silly lighting issue btw - just thought I would provide more evidence to show that there was more than one or two cars with those lights installed in reversed fashion.

>8^)
ER

[maartenvanthek]

i saw that taylor and crawley car, the exact car you see on pics.
since they have to McLarens for sale, and sinc ethe guy of taylor and crawley said they were almost identical, we can ask them.
I will mail them, as soon as they mail me back, i'kk post the email on the forum.
I'll ask him what he knows about the reverse light issue.
grts

maarten

[mini magic]

Originally posted by maartenvanthek
i saw that taylor and crawley car, the exact car you see on pics.
since they have to McLarens for sale, and sinc ethe guy of taylor and crawley said they were almost identical, we can ask them.
I will mail them, as soon as they mail me back, i'kk post the email on the forum.
I'll ask him what he knows about the reverse light issue.
grts

maarten

wehn i go to england in the summer, i'm taking a tour of their warehouse, wether the mclarens will be there or not, i don't know.

[maartenvanthek]

the warehouse doesn't exist.
they have small garages in an expensive neighbourhood in London.
the main garage, 32 wilton row, has an F1, an F1 GTR, an aston martin db4 gt lightweight (ex team endeavour, ex stirling moss) and a ferrari 250 gt swb b sefac hotrod.
quite nice.
but if you're gonna see al the cars, prepare for a long walk, london is huge.