So, i bought INTO THE RED 2nd edition

[hurstg01]

i already had the first edition of INTO THE RED, but as i heard the second edition had Nick Masons F1GTR chassis number 10r, so i had to buy it....

Heres what Nick has to say -

I first met Gordon Murray in the 1980's through Chris Craft, when we were frightening ourselves at Le Mans with the Dome DFL car. I was impressed. Here was a Formula 1 World Championship winning car designer who was also mad about music. Equally impressive was the fact that, at the time in F1 when everyone else was clad in corporate uniforms, Gordon continued to sport a pair of plastic sandals in the pit lane.

Some time later i heard that he was designing a road car for Mclaren. According to Gordon i said to him "if you are going to do a good supercar, you'd better try a good old supercar first". As an outsider, i was very flattered when he took me up on the offer, knowing the rigid veil of secrecy that surrounded the whole project. Given Gordons huge knowledge of auto technology it was a joy to get his feedback on cars like the GTO, f40 and Aston Zagato

I enjoyed feeling that i might be of some use to his project, and at his request jotted down some notes on the cars. In particular Gordon had explained to me he had a pathological hatred of car radios, and so i introduced him to the idea of the (relatively) new cd jukebox
Gordon remember "Nick was bloody useful. i have strong, polarised views on sports cars: the instruments are usually illegible, the feel of the gear change no good, the pedal layout useless. My team was young and relatively inexperienced. They hadnt owned many sports cars. Nick was able to give me some direct, pracitical input. For example, on the f40, he said what is annoying is knocking the spoiler off every time you drive int the garage, because the car is so low to the ground. Against all my better instincts, i made the F1 higher off the ground. And since the cars arent used daily, Nick suggested a remote batery charger that could trickle feed in the garage - something i've since copied on all my cars"

Although i was intensely interested in the gestation of the F1 road car, i didnt put my name down for one of the production models. A million dollars was a frighteningly extravagant amount of money for a new car - ten times more than i'd ever spent before, and i'd also just throw away the deposit on a Jaguar XJ220 that suddelny seemed less than a good idea, so i was feeling more than usually cautios.

I did have a chance to drive an F1 briefly, though, and it was stunning. My first impression was of its size. It lacked the lumbering dimensions of most supercars which required docking rather than parking, and of course its performance was sensational, with a truly rocket ship-style sense of acceleration. However, in the mid 90's, with the devlopment of the GTR as the racing version of the F1, my intesrest was rekindled. I love the link between road and track. And from a practical point of view, race designed cars tend to be mush simpler to look after for the owner, with fewer of the complex electronics that require a degree in computers to fix when they go wrong.
I also realised that i owned a car that i didnt really need, a Mclaren M15 which i had spent years trying to restore. it was also a car that Ron Dennis did not have in his Mclaren collection. So for two or three years, Ron and i feinted and parried, with Gordon as a benign intermediary, while Ron intimated that he didnt really need the M15, and i gave the impression i cuold manage perfectly well without an F1.
Eventually i broke, and the car i now have, chassis 10R, appealed the most of the three lurking in Woking. i liked the fact that despite its lack of actual racing history, there was complete detailed documentation of the testing noting all the aces - including in particular J J Lehto - who had driven it. The link to Le Mans was absolute.

In the end Ron treated me mercifully, and we agreed a deal in which 10R would come to me ready to drive away on the road. This involved an assortment of adjustments, including the addition of reversing lights, catalytic convertors and silencers - and a horn, not normally a requirement for modern day motor racing.
I picked up the car in december 1999. My daughter Holly and i went down together to the Mclaren facility in Woking to pick it up, and then took it back around the M25 to North London. After juddering out of the workshop it felt perfectly tractable on the road. later we made a few extra modifications. The rear vision was still a little lacking, so we added a cockpit screen and mini cameras to aide parking, and to get the depth of blue of the flashing lights struggling to keep up....
Gordon has an interesting take on this particular car. He considers the Ferari GTO to be the last of the great competition cars that can be driven to the circuit. with the Mclaren F1 becoming a racing car, this prototype chassis, converted back to road use, is in his words "the modern 250 GTO. Its Nicks kind of car"

[hurstg01]

PS - if anyone would like to host it for me, the book came with an audible CD of all the cars, and the Mclaren F1's soudtrack is FANTASTIC!!!!

it passes on the hangar straight, then there is in-car audio footage too........

[mini magic]

I was going to get it this weekend. I have a gift certificate from amazon. You are talking about "Into The Red" right?

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by mini magic

I was going to get it this weekend. I have a gift certificate from amazon. You are talking about "Into The Red" right?

thats the one. My text is only a small part of what was written about the F1 GTR owned by Nick Mason. I bought mine from Amazon too, took only a few days to get here!!!!!

PS i wouldnt buy anthing else with that Gift Certificate, the Mclaren piece is worth the price of the book alone

[Mclaren240!]

Err i want thant book but i already have the original one and moony is very tite at the moment so im waiting for the book to arive in the cheep shops did you know he is selling his 935 right now. Anyway could you pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz scan in the photo of the owners watch their donsent seem to be a decent pic of it on the net so far and thats the only place ive seen it i have thumed through the book but cant say what page its on.

[mini magic]

I just realized i read the title of this thread wrong. I didn't realize the name of the book was in the title...

I feel like an idiot....

[cabrio92]

Hello,

thank you very much hurstg01 ; it is an interesting read !

Ciao
Phil

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by Mclaren240!

Err i want thant book but i already have the original one and moony is very tite at the moment so im waiting for the book to arive in the cheep shops did you know he is selling his 935 right now. Anyway could you pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz scan in the photo of the owners watch their donsent seem to be a decent pic of it on the net so far and thats the only place ive seen it i have thumed through the book but cant say what page its on.

i have tried to photo the pic then download it, but my memory card is naff and my computer isnt reading it..........i am not willing to scan it as the picture is near to the binding and may crack the spine....but i will have another look tonight to see if there is any way round it...

watch this space!!!

[Mclaren240!]

Thank you for trying i hope this book turnes up in the discount stores soon. I would shourly like to have it i forgot to say thank for the transcript to its very intresting. Wonder why he droped the 220 order and what that daughter of his is like if you get what im saying......no soory i dinnt mean that. Hehe.

If anybodys intrested there seems to be a pic of his Mclarens door at the bottom here http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/maga...0.asp?id=12288 nice to know it gets used.

And a online review of his enzo and some great pics of it here.
http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/maga...0.asp?id=12282

There is some outher good non f1 stuff here too such as this beutiful Bentily coming to a rapper near you this year or next i presume.
http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/maga...0.asp?id=12294

[hurstg01]

And a online review of his enzo and some great pics of it here.
http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/maga...0.asp?id=12282

i like the bit where it says "Just one of the 27 British owners, I learnt from Tony Willis of Ferrari Maserati UK, uses his as a daily car, notching up 24,000 miles so far. "

good to see one getting used as how it should be....

[hurstg01]

i have some file pictures of that watch, if you can resize them to fit on this website......

[Peloton25]

You can mail the photos to me and I will resize and host them for everyone. I should be able to get it done tonight.

[email protected]

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

You can mail the photos to me and I will resize and host them for everyone. I should be able to get it done tonight.

[email protected]

>8^)
ER

you should have it now, thanks Peloton!!!

[Peloton25]

Here are the photos that hurst sent over from "Into The Red V.2". Each one of the double page spreads is clickable for a larger version.











...and here's a close up on the watch. Note the "F1 V12" logo on the bottom of the watch face.



Thanks man - this has definitely risen to the top of my list for F1 library additions.

= = = = = =

One note - I found it interesting that they label the car a McLaren F1 GTR 1995 considering that it was really the first of the 1996-spec GTRs. Looking at the F1 Chassis History on the poster from Driving Ambition though, it does clearly show that 10R was one of the last cars completed in 1995. Fair enough I guess.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

Here are the photos that hurst sent over from Into The Red. Each one of the double page spreads is clickable for a larger version.











...and here's a close up on the watch. Note the "F1 V12" logo on the bottom of the watch face.



Thanks man - this has definitely risen to the top of my list for F1 library additions.

= = = = = =

One note - I found it interesting that they label the car a McLaren F1 GTR 1995 considering that it was really the first of the 1996-spec GTRs. Looking at the F1 Chassis History on the poster from Driving Ambition though, it does clearly show that 10R was one of the last cars completed in 1995. Fair enough I guess.

>8^)
ER

Cheers Peloton, you are a TOP BLOKE!!!!