I met Thomas Bscher last night...

[Peloton25]

Every year for the past 6-7 years I have attended the VIP Preview Night of the LA Auto Show. Tickets were up from the past price of $100 to $125 this year, but most of the cost goes to benefit Homeless Healthcare of Los Angeles, so it's for a good cause. The other benefits are that the crowd is quite thin given the cost compared to a regular show day, and also access to the cars is much better.

Bugatti has a Veyron on display - my first time seeing one - and I was pretty impressed by it. The design isn't "fall-in-love beautiful", even in person, but the fit and finish and detail work is quite good. It's a very classy design for a supercar and it exudes elegance, but at the same time looks quite purposeful.

I was somewhat surprised to spot Mr Bscher in the booth when I got there, but wasn't sure how I was going to be able to speak with him. They were only letting a limited number of people inside the display to get a good look at the car (the "nice watch" crowd ) and when I got there he was talking with a prospective client. I explained my intentions to one of the representatives working in the booth and they were nice enough to allow me in to get a closer look at the Veyron and to talk to him once he had finished.

He was very nice to chat with and we had about a 10 minute discussion on the F1 and Veyron. He said both cars are wonderful but shouldn't really be compared as their intentions are different and development paths were also quite different. He told me that he had been with Gordon on the drive (in Sicily I think) when he tested the Veyron for the CAR Magazine article, but said he hadn't read what Gordon wrote yet. I assured him that it was a great article and that I had a lot more respect for the Veyron once I read it.

Of course I was primarily interested in his involvement with the F1 project - specifically his pressuring of McLaren to build the GTR which I thanked him for doing. He seemed entertained by that comment. He told me that he kept his F1 road car for 10 years and then sold it, confirming that the chassis number was #022. I had suspected that could have been his car along with a few others, but it's great to finally have confirmation. I failed to ask why he chose a green/yellow interior combo on it but did tell him of the changes that had been made to it since. He knew the car was here in the USA now, but wasn't aware that Wyclef had owned it.

We've suspected that he still owned a GTR and it turns out that he actually has two of them. The one we thought he had was GTR #22R - originally a Gulf/Davidoff liveried car, but later it wore the Loctite sponsorship at the 1998 LeMans race. He seemed a bit surprised that I would know he had that car still. I failed to ask what the car looks like today, but I would assume it hasn't changed much until we see otherwise. The other car that he has, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn this, is GTR #03R which originally wore the West/East livery, as well as the Tag Heuer, and Sal Oppenhiem liveries (and at least one more I'm drawing a blank on - maybe short tail Davidoff). He said he kept that car because it won the 1995 BPR Championship with he and John Neilsen. He said he didn't have any plans to sell them and doesn't use them unfortunately.

Two other things he mentioned were that his Veyron will be chassis 22 (must be a special number to him) and that Clifford Meltzer apparently chose not to purchase a Veyron afterall.

Another thing I learned at the show last night is that the entire first year of Veyron production (50 units) has been sold, so they are already off to a good start. He said that Bugatti will not be recouping all of the development costs on the cars, but that the figures have been exagerated in the media. Mr Bscher agreed that not having US approval for the F1 here certainly hurt McLaren's ability to sell more cars than they did as this is a strong market. He also said McLaren didn't have a good marketing/sales plan before the car was unveiled and that hurt them too.

I had a lot more questions I wanted to ask him, but I felt bad taking up his time while he was 'working' so I thanked him for being so kind and wished him the best of luck with the Veyron. It was a good thing that I went last night as one of the girls in the booth told me he will not be there through the rest of the week.


Borrowing someone else's photo...

>8^)
ER

[rr_ww]

Obviously that's not the first time we've heard that McLaren Cars marketting was poor.

Considering how regimented Ron Dennis runs his company its surprising

[mini magic]

Thanks for the story. Its good to have some new info. I told you.

I also had a feeling that was his car. I think i mentioned it to you in a pm as well...

Wierd that a few weeks after we discuss it, we find out about it.

[Thorst13]

Originally Posted by rr_ww

Obviously that's not the first time we've heard that McLaren Cars marketting was poor.

Considering how regimented Ron Dennis runs his company its surprising

Nice rad erik!

And rr_ww, I don't think RD is "too interested" in the roadcar part of the company, he's mainly interested in the F1 part, where they actually make some money.

[ArchangelGTR]

Very nice contribution to our world Erik. I won't be surprised if a decade from now you decide to wite a book. You certainly are tallying up a lot of first hand information with key people in the McLaren legacy. I hope you can maintain contact with all the parties with whom you've spoken.

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

Interesting read, thanks for posting it up here! I'm beginning to wonder if he has both GTRs in the Davidoff liveries.

[F1 monster]

Erik,
I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks!

[MalkaJB]

Originally Posted by F1 monster

Erik,
I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks!

Ditto.

[Thorst13]

Originally Posted by BMW.WilliamsF1Team

Interesting read, thanks for posting it up here! I'm beginning to wonder if he has both GTRs in the Davidoff liveries.

Interesting though there...Erik, Chris any comments on that one?
You nosy McLarenmorons

[Peloton25]

These are the most recent photos of #03R that I have seen, so I would suspect that it looks similar to this still:

http://www.24h-le-mans.dk/index.asp?...ype=1&sprog=dk

>8^)
ER

[Thorst13]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

These are the most recent photos of #03R that I have seen, so I would suspect that it looks similar to this still:

http://www.24h-le-mans.dk/index.asp?...ype=1&sprog=dk

>8^)
ER

Remove some of those ugly decals and the number and we got ourself the legendary WEST tester

Did you read my PM Peloton?

[mini magic]

Stunning car imo

[andybee]

last I heard, Thomas' car was in West livery

[Dodge_SRT-4]

Thanks for sharing. Sweet.