#073 at Celebration, FL Pictures

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

I got back from the car show around 5:15 PM and I got there around 9:15 AM. I took a lot of pics with the F1 (about 160 in total). The guys there were really cool and opened up the rear bonnet to let me take some pictures. They even took a picture for me of the chassis plaque, but they didn't focus it right and I didn't want to ask again.

It was a good thing I didn't ask for a retake because if the door stayed open for 2 more seconds, bird sh!t would've gone right in! Some bird pooped on the F1's door, as well as the CLK-GTR's, and this guy I know with an F40. Unfortunately, the F40's window was cracked open an inch and the bird poop hit his seat, real unlucky.

I talked to one of the guys in Don's collection for a little bit. He started working for them 3 months ago so he wasn't too fond of the cars. He said that Don own only 10% of Lazy Dayz RVs after selling his share earlier. He has many businesses, one of which is a metal workshop kind of place (think iron gates and such). He said Don Wallace pretty much only cruises in his Rolls Royce Phantom and now his Veyron. His wife doesn't like the Veyron so their 2nd Veyron coming this May will replace his first one. He orginally ordered the first 5 US Veyrons, but cancelled the last 3.

The MC12 is also for sale and he has gotten an offer for $2mm on the F1, but didn't want to sell. Strangely, he doesn't even drive the F1 that much and neither do his workers. The guy I talked to is really the only one that does and he's the only one that really likes the car. The F1's battery kept dying today and they couldn't take it off the truck right (so I was told, I wasn't there early enough to see it). They charged the battery for a while and started it up. It sounded pretty nice, but I think the Carerra GT sounds a little better imo.

I was also told the cars are kept at their building that is connected to another business. There are around 15+ cars in his collection and they're started up their website in a few months. They handed out a little card with pictures of their collection on it. I'll try to get it scanned sometime. I was also told Don likes to have the first or last cars made. Hence, he has the first Veyron, first CLK-GTR (chassis plaque 01), FXX (although I heard somewhere else he doesn't), last Enzo, one of last street F1s. Below are the thumbnail pics of the F1 followed by random shots of other cars in Don's collection and other ones. Sorry about the picture quality. It's a really old digital Sony. I also suck at taking pictures in general. It didn't help that his cars were roped off so closely so I had to work around not getting ropes in as many pictures as possible. There were also A LOT of people at his booth, which was definitely expected. Since I took so many pics of the F1, a lot of them are repeated so sorry about pictures that look to be the same even though they're off by an inch or two. My favorite F1 pics are the ones that I took from nearly ground level. They show how flat the underside of the F1 is.

It was kind of funny hearing people talk about the F1. Some thought it was a Lamborghini others a Ferrari. I didn't really care to inform them, but for one lady I did. She asked if that was one of those Mercedes McLaren and that a friend of hers (who knows Don Wallace a little) said she was crazy, hahah. I explained what McLaren is and the BMW powerplant and that McLaren Mercedes is real so she's not crazy. I explained about its upgraded engine, chassis #, etc. She asked how I knew so much and I said that I like to talk on a forum about the F1 because it's my favorite.



That's all the pics I'll put in this post for now. I'll get to work on another post. Just wanted to get the thread started. Also, I can't tell what the signature in the F1 is, I should've asked. I would guess it's Gordon Murray's. I also got a close up of the tire size in case anyone wants it. It's 345/35ZR18 in that pic for the rear.

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

More pics:



Here are some pictures from the clock tower:



I'll post the bird poop on the F1 in the next post with some other car pics.

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

This set of pics has the some pictures of the bird poop on the car. It got on the top of the right door and also all over the front including the headlights. Within a minute of this another one went on the CLK-GTR. The F40 has his hit around the same time.



Here are some other pics. First one is the CLK-GTR getting the bird poop cleaned off.



Here are some pics before the show. I had the chance to meet up with a fellow Fchatter and he brought along his 1990 F40!!! We met at a Walgreens and my car is the orange 350Z in the background. Interesting fact: The 350Z and McLaren F1 have the same width and length, but my car is 7" taller.



The F40's clutch is really heavy and gives a good workout, lol! I have a lot of pics of cars other than the F1 (I posted every F1 pic I have, but there are some indirect shots of it in others I didn't post). If anyone wants pics of the FXX, MC12, Lambos, etc...let me know and I'll post it.

[BMW V12]

wow, thanks for these great shots and thanks for posting them...

do you have any information on the car's history???

pics of the MC12 would be nice if you don't mind....

thanks

^_^

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

Sure, no problem.



Those are all the pics I have of the MC12, sorry. As you could tell in my first couple posts, the majority of my interest was elsewhere

[F1 monster]

Wow, thanks so much. No need to apologize for your picture-taking ability, we appreciate all the pics, and yours are certainly not bad! If you want to learn how to take better pictures, there's lots of help on the web. I basically try to stick to a few basic rules:

1. The rule of nines (divide your pic into 3 X 3 square grid and put the main subject at any crossing line.

2. Use diagonal lines to create interest and to lead the eyes to the subject.

3. Use interesting angles--low, high, along the side of something, etc. If you think of a fighter jet flying along, it's pretty boring. But if it peels away, it's much more interesting. How do you do that for a car that's sitting still? By angling the camera away slightly, as if the car is turning away, and then by tilting the camera, as if the car is tilting.

4. Compose the picture. What elements do you want, not want? Can you frame it? You can always apply frames and so on with photoshop later on, but it gets tedious for 160 pics, so I try to do as much as possible when the pic is being taken. You can also use photoshop or other software to fix the lighting, and crop things out. Ropes in the middle of the picture are always very tough, so thanks for your efforts to minimize their appearance in your pics.

I am no expert. Your best bet is to look for tips online. The pics are great, many thanks!

[caneman8]

BMW, I think I saw you there, you were decked out in Gaytor apparel right?(I'm a Canes fan) I was in a brown quicksilver shirt, cargo shorts and sandals. I was shooting with a digital slr and was right by you when the bird crapped on the mclaren. I was wondering how you knew it was chassis #73, I figured you weren't a casual car guy. I'm uploading my pics now and I'll post them in a lil while.

[Peloton25]

Hey Al-
Awesome pictures and an awesome effort. Time to go ice your index finger from all that clicking.

It's strange, but I think my favorite shot of the entire set is the close up you got of the louvers over the front wheels. I never knew they were backed up with mesh, but I guess that makes sense. I don't see a problem with any of the other shots - they aren't studio quality, but in that kind of environment it's hard to take great photos regardless of how talented someone might be with a camera. In the end, you really captured every angle there was to get and I definitely appreciate it.

Just so you know, I edited your posts to add a space between each photo. That way they won't cause the page to side-scroll to infinity like it was doing. Also, Imageshack seems to have dropped the file "dsc018857" as it's showing up as a Red-X, so if it's an interesting shot you may want to re-host it.

Thanks again man - you rock!!!

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Using some super-secret photo editing techniques developed by the FBI and NSA, I managed to clean up your shot of the chassis plaque that came out a bit blurry.

Kids, don't try this at home.



>8^)
ER

[BMW.WilliamsF1Team]

Caneman8, I think I saw you there with one of your friends! You should've said something. I think you were standing behind me when I was near the FXX asking the guy a lot of questions. I thought it was somoene who was curious about the cars and wanted to hear the convo. I was wearing all my Gator clothes and I talked to a few Gator alumni. The lady that I spoke to a lot about the F1 (McLaren Mercedes lady) was also a Gator alumni.

Erik, you've got some nice editing skills. The number is actually somewhat visible. Sorry about the side scrolling, my computer didn't do that for whatever reason. Its width just stopped where the text stopped.

Here's the rehost of 1885, the last digit (7) was added by imageshack.



Edit: About the the mesh on the fender, I didn't notice it til you said it. I looks just like 1 big piece under all the louvers instead of small individual ones for each opening. I can't really tell.

Edit #2: I noticed this black piece along the bottom of the side of the F1. I know you guys talked about it in a previous thread either on a different F1 or #073. It didn't look like paint. It was kind of thick and reminded me of those spray-on bed liners for pickups. You can see it on the side sills in this picture: http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018567eb.jpg

You can also see it on the door in this picture. It actually goes up the side of the front of the door since it's actually part of the wheel well and stuff can kick up there. http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018277sw.jpg

I just looked over some other F1 plaque pictures I have. The picture you took of #015 is a little different than #073 (also #014 and #028 are different than 073). You can actually see it in the touchup photo you did of #073. There's a little dot between the key ignition and the 073 etching. That was actually an LED that was blinking orange. It might have been the alarm.

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by BMW.WilliamsF1Team

Edit #2: I noticed this black piece along the bottom of the side of the F1. I know you guys talked about it in a previous thread either on a different F1 or #073. It didn't look like paint. It was kind of thick and reminded me of those spray-on bed liners for pickups. You can see it on the side sills in this picture: http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018567eb.jpg

You can also see it on the door in this picture. It actually goes up the side of the front of the door since it's actually part of the wheel well and stuff can kick up there. http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc018277sw.jpg

I don't know what's on the beds of pickups.

The material along the F1's underside and wheel arch edges is a spray-on soft rubber. As suggested, its function is to soften the impact of flying stones and road debris.
Apart from its ability to soften impacts, it is rather delicate; you can peel it away with your fingers.

[hurstg01]

BMW.WilliamsF1Team - Great job, Great Pics, Great Thread, just GREAT!!!

: : : : : : :


PS for some reason my 'right click save as' is worn out

[Samurai75007]

MMmmmm so nice...

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by BMW.WilliamsF1Team

I just looked over some other F1 plaque pictures I have. The picture you took of #015 is a little different than #073 (also #014 and #028 are different than 073). You can actually see it in the touchup photo you did of #073. There's a little dot between the key ignition and the 073 etching. That was actually an LED that was blinking orange. It might have been the alarm.

Yes - I think your right about it relating to some kind of alarm. You'll also find it on #011, #038, #044, #049? (MAC 1P), #059? (R66 MCL), #064 possibly, #068, #069 & #072 possibly. I don't have clear shots of all those chassis plaques, but from certain angles on the interior photos I have you can just pick out the LED.

>8^)
ER

[ArchangelGTR]

It's very hard to get people to move or give you the distance needed especially since the cars' backsides were exposed to the public as well. When this occurs, you just zoom in and capture as much about the car as possible.. more or less visually documenting the car. Given the location and the amount of admirers, you did a great job of capturing a lot of the details of the car.

Thank you very much for sharing those. That definitely was a treat.