Flemke - Is this your McLaren? (Vol 5)

[GiveItSomeWellie]

flemke said:

Deal price starts with a "2"

No big deal or anything, but my last car sold with a price that began with a 2...

Joking aside that is a remarkable sum, and it's only been for sale publicly for a few days.

[p1stonhead]

vincegail said:

flemke said:

Btw, last night someone told me that terms have been agreed on this car. Deal price starts with a "2".

I'd guess that after the "2" there are seven more digits, and not six?

Staggering isnt it.

[mantis84]

flemke said:

Best ever? Not even close.
I could have bought this one when it was up for auction years ago, or the other standard car with LM upgrade, which was owned by one of my best friends, when he put it up for sale. Neither interested me.

Out of interest (and apologies if you have answered the question before), which F1 would be the 'best ever'?

[p1stonhead]

mantis84 said:

flemke said:

Best ever? Not even close.
I could have bought this one when it was up for auction years ago, or the other standard car with LM upgrade, which was owned by one of my best friends, when he put it up for sale. Neither interested me.

Out of interest (and apologies if you have answered the question before), which F1 would be the 'best ever'?

I would want one with race history personally. A Le Mans car say.

[vincegail]

Best ever would be #01R in that case.

Heard a rumour that Ron Dennis had a replica made of it, which is shown now as the actual Le Mans 1995 winner, but that he had (has?) the real deal somewhere hidden. Nice story, would like to believe it, but I don't.

[CanAm]

flemke said:

Btw, last night someone told me that terms have been agreed on this car. Deal price starts with a "2".

USD I hope! (giving me fractionally higher chance of ever affording one)

[flemke]

vincegail said:

flemke said:

Btw, last night someone told me that terms have been agreed on this car. Deal price starts with a "2".

I'd guess that after the "2" there are seven more digits, and not six?

Good guess!

[flemke]

mantis84 said:

flemke said:

Best ever? Not even close.
I could have bought this one when it was up for auction years ago, or the other standard car with LM upgrade, which was owned by one of my best friends, when he put it up for sale. Neither interested me.

Out of interest (and apologies if you have answered the question before), which F1 would be the 'best ever'?

Depends on what you mean by "best".
Most valuable of all F1s - clearly the Le Mans winner.
Most valuable of the road cars - the LMs, although the hideous GTs are quite valuable as well.
Best driving road car - mine (but I would say that).
Best looking road car - ditto.
Over the years I have had the chance to buy every type of F1 (not every last chassis, but quite a few chassis, and at least one of every type), and I have always preferred mine to the rest.

[hyphen]

p1stonhead said:

I would want one with race history personally. A Le Mans car say.

'Beggars can't be choosers' is the phrase that comes to mind

[flemke]

vincegail said:

Best ever would be #01R in that case.

Heard a rumour that Ron Dennis had a replica made of it, which is shown now as the actual Le Mans 1995 winner, but that he had (has?) the real deal somewhere hidden. Nice story, would like to believe it, but I don't.

Never heard that, and I suspect that I would have done by now if it were true. The actual race winner has for years sat in the exhibition area (I think they call it the "Boulevard") at MTC. The Japanese man (boss of Ueno Clinic) who had hired the car for Le Mans had an F1 road car painted to replicate the livery on the racing car, but I think that was as close as McLaren ever came to copying the original.
For a long time #01, like most Le Mans winners, was left with the race detritus (insects, rubber marks) intact. Despite his fetish for hygiene and order, Ron wanted it kept that way. After some exhibition, an overzealous assistant unwittingly thought he would do McLaren a favour by cleaning it. Oops!

[flemke]

CanAm said:

flemke said:

Btw, last night someone told me that terms have been agreed on this car. Deal price starts with a "2".

USD I hope! (giving me fractionally higher chance of ever affording one)

Correct, USD, although these days not that far off 2-something in £.

[thegreenhell]

flemke said:

vincegail said:

Best ever would be #01R in that case.

Heard a rumour that Ron Dennis had a replica made of it, which is shown now as the actual Le Mans 1995 winner, but that he had (has?) the real deal somewhere hidden. Nice story, would like to believe it, but I don't.

Never heard that, and I suspect that I would have done by now if it were true. The actual race winner has for years sat in the exhibition area (I think they call it the "Boulevard") at MTC. The Japanese man (boss of Ueno Clinic) who had hired the car for Le Mans had an F1 road car painted to replicate the livery on the racing car, but I think that was as close as McLaren ever came to copying the original.
For a long time #01, like most Le Mans winners, was left with the race detritus (insects, rubber marks) intact. Despite his fetish for hygiene and order, Ron wanted it kept that way. After some exhibition, an overzealous assistant unwittingly thought he would do McLaren a favour by cleaning it. Oops!

It is reported that the Brunei collection has a GTR painted in the same livery, as RD wouldn't sell them the actual race winner.

[flemke]

thegreenhell said:

flemke said:

vincegail said:

Best ever would be #01R in that case.

Heard a rumour that Ron Dennis had a replica made of it, which is shown now as the actual Le Mans 1995 winner, but that he had (has?) the real deal somewhere hidden. Nice story, would like to believe it, but I don't.

Never heard that, and I suspect that I would have done by now if it were true. The actual race winner has for years sat in the exhibition area (I think they call it the "Boulevard") at MTC. The Japanese man (boss of Ueno Clinic) who had hired the car for Le Mans had an F1 road car painted to replicate the livery on the racing car, but I think that was as close as McLaren ever came to copying the original.
For a long time #01, like most Le Mans winners, was left with the race detritus (insects, rubber marks) intact. Despite his fetish for hygiene and order, Ron wanted it kept that way. After some exhibition, an overzealous assistant unwittingly thought he would do McLaren a favour by cleaning it. Oops!

It is reported that the Brunei collection has a GTR painted in the same livery, as RD wouldn't sell them the actual race winner.

Ah, you are correct. Those cars are so far off the radar that they are easy to forget. The real one however is definitely on display at MTC.

[p1stonhead]

hyphen said:

p1stonhead said:

I would want one with race history personally. A Le Mans car say.

'Beggars can't be choosers' is the phrase that comes to mind

Hey now could happen!

[CanAm]

p1stonhead said:

I would want one with race history personally. A Le Mans car say.

All you have to do is find a car for sale. Lots of people can sell you a race history.

[GarageQueen]

Flemke,

Do you have any knowledge of how owners in non-european countries go about servicing their cars? Do they ship them back to the uk or do they get Mclaren to come out to them locally?

Cheers

Edited by GarageQueen on Friday 22 June 19:30

[flemke]

GarageQueen said:

Flemke, do you have any knowledge of how owners in countries other than Europe go about servicing their cars? Do they ship them back to the uk or do they get Mclaren to come out to them locally?
Cheers

Until about three years ago, when McLaren and BMW severed their relationship re the F1, there were authorised service centres in California, New Jersey, and near Frankfurt. Those have now ceased operating as service centres.
McLaren now have one authorised service centre, at McLaren Cars of Philadelphia. Beyond that, most F1 owners either send their cars to Woking, or a McLaren technician will travel to them. A couple of days ago the top F1 technician returned to the UK after a two or three week stay in the US, visiting and servicing a number of customers' cars around the country.

[anonymous-user]

Just use Kwik-Fit.

[PAUL500]

I wonder which cars Ron retained as part of his leaving deal.

He was so obsessive about the collection of past racers and MTC itself that despite a no doubt huge settlement figure it must really bug him that he can no longer stride around that place worrying about the colour of replacement floor tiles!

I watched this really good interview recently, I do actually like him and would have loved to work for him for a while, there is an admiration for his vision and determination.

Interesting that he says he does not really like cars themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh2iQSU9DJE

[GarageQueen]

flemke said:

Until about three years ago, when McLaren and BMW severed their relationship re the F1, there were authorised service centres in California, New Jersey, and near Frankfurt. Those have now ceased operating as service centres.
McLaren now have one authorised service centre, at McLaren Cars of Philadelphia. Beyond that, most F1 owners either send their cars to Woking, or a McLaren technician will travel to them. A couple of days ago the top F1 technician returned to the UK after a two or three week stay in the US, visiting and servicing a number of customers' cars around the country.

that’s interesting....but I do wonder how cars get serviced at your home, surely the visiting technician needs access to a lift and tools to do things like oil changes and clutch replacement?