Restoring my own McLaren F1 photo albums via Flickr...

[Peloton25]

Well for many of you who've been following along here for a while, the images I share in this thread won't ncessarily be new...

I had hosted all of the shots previously in albums on Sony's Imagestation.com photo sharing site around the time they were taken, and was more than disappointed when it was retired a few years back.

You'll note on more than one occasion around here I have openly expressed my frustration that there must be thousands and thousands of great McLaren F1 images taken during the days of film that are either tucked in a drawer or in an old shoebox, or maybe in a photo album on a shelf somewhere that deserve to be shared. For me to complain about that, and then not find a way to continue sharing these sets of images which have effectively been relegated to the 'desk drawer' with the loss of IS.com seemed more than a little hypocritical of me.

I finally purchased a Flickr Pro account the other day so this content could be shared once again for anyone who wasn't around that far back. Hopefully their website has a business model that will allow them to last just a little longer than Imagestation did.

I have started with the album for chassis #068 taken in Monterey, CA on August 20th, 2005. It was a very special day for me and an experience not ever to be forgotten.

I used this text as the Album caption below and then littered other comments onto some of the photos where I saw an item of greater interest or reason to say something.

I was invited to meet this car's owner and a friend at the Monterey Historics, and also go for a ride in the F1 which was an awesome treat.

The car had been purchased just a few weeks earlier for $1.8M and up to that point had never been registered and was only showing delivery and service mileage on the odometer at that time. When I first got in it, it had just barely over 400 total miles.

You'll note the car has some strange lugnuts - these are designed to be used as tie-downs when transporting. The car had arrived in Monterey without the larger FACOM tool chest, and so the standard "F1" wheel nuts were not able to be swapped over.

The Focus in some of the shots is mine in case anyone wonders why it did more than just sneak into some of the shots.

I wrote a story of my experience that day which was published here on the web if you'd like to read more than just my captions:

http://www.thecarlounge.net/news/pub...inter_60.shtml

Enjoy!

Thanks once again to both Scott and Richard for the awesome opportunity!

LINK: McLaren F1 #068 - Monterey, CA - August 20th, 2005

I'll add some additional albums over the next few days as time allows. All the images should be uploaded at 1024x768, but if there are some you'd want a larger copy of, go ahead and ask.

>8^)
ER

[astonmartindbs001]

Beautiful pics, mate! Thanks a lot for this one.

[hurstg01]

cool

[Peloton25]

^^^ Man of many words, and sometimes Capital Letters.

>8^)
ER

[Sami Aaltonen]

Well there is one F1 roadcar, which every part has been photografed.
Thanks forthe pics!

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

^^^ Man of many words, and sometimes Capital Letters.

>8^)
ER

nOt alL thE TiMe

[Le Man]

Nice idea

Thinking out loud, would this be a better place to share my XP1LM pics?

[Peloton25]

It could be, but you don't get too far with them before they make you need to pay for a Pro account.

I uploaded 438 photos from a local car show into a different set, which was initially what I planned to use it for, and they told me they'd only display my last 200 photos without a Pro account. At that point I was going to relocate them to Google's Picasa website, but decided that I could use Flickr to do what I'm doing here - so I 'Paid the Man'.

Picasa might be a good option for the LM pics - I am pretty sure it is free but check the terms before you commit.

>8^)
ER

[Sami Aaltonen]

Originally Posted by Le Man

Nice idea

Thinking out loud, would this be a better place to share my XP1LM pics?

I don't have to say this I think, but would be great to see them!

[webslinger283]

Thanks!!! I love seeing pictures from angles not normally taken and detail shots (i.e. hinge shots and chassis plate shots)

[Peloton25]

Okay - shots of XP4 from the same day are back. I have a few more photos I need to add detailed captions too, but that will have to wait a little bit.



LINK: McLaren F1 'XP4' - Monterey, CA - August 20th, 2005

As always, please enjoy!

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Added one more album with only two more to go now, at least until I get to see another F1.

These are my photos of Jay Leno's chassis #015 taken July 17th, 2005 at the Art Center Car Classic in Pasadena, CA. This was a special day because I got to meet our old friend tvrfreak, another old friend sdf1, and then some guy named Gordon Murray too.



LINK: McLaren F1 #015 - Art Center Car Classic - July 17th, 2005

Enjoy the pics (again).

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

Nice work again Erik! Are you gonna try to get a VIN plate shot next time (is it soon you go???)?

[Peloton25]

Yes - unfortunately when I saw all of these cars that VIN plate yet wasn't common knowledge, so I didn't know to look for it. From now on, that will always be one of my goals when seeing an F1. Especially given that their 'Year of Manufacture' identified in the 8th to last position on the VIN doesn't always line up with the year each car was completed. That shouldn't be an issue with Leno's #015, but it's something that all of us should keep in mind.

As for when I will get a chance to see Leno's F1 again - I don't really know. I have started attending a weekly car show every Sunday morning about 30 minutes from my house where anyone can just show up and bring whatever cool car they want. Two weeks worth of photos are also hosted on Flickr. Leno is a frequent attendee to this show and arrived late on the first week it had moved to its new location and (of course) I wasn't there. Doh!

Instead of the F1, or any of the fantastic cars in his own collection, he was driving the white Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport he'd borrowed from Bugatti for a segment on his JayLenosGarage.com website. In the past, he's brought the F1 out to that show at least 2 times, so I'll just have to get lucky and hope to be out there the next time he brings it. He has somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 cars in his collection and close to as many motorcycles, so it might be a while before the F1 falls into the rotation again.

In lieu of him actually bringing the F1 though, I do hope to get the chance to ask him about his car's history a little sooner.

>8^)
ER

[Peloton25]

Another addition of old photos...

I've added a set of almost 200 photos that I took of chassis #014 from the 2006 RM Auction in Monterey, CA. I've only given it a brief description so far, but will add more detail later, as well as captions on some of the other photos when I get the chance. Click the image below to launch the gallery.



Strangely, I didn't even snap a chassis plate photo that day, but I guess there were already a few references available for this car by the time the auction came along.

>8^)
ER