McLaren F1 sighting

[AutoMX]

2 days ago, on the I10 in Santa Monica i saw a blue McLaren F1 zoom by, at 7 am
It was way too quick to take a photo if i even had a cam with me

I tried to find the chassis number by the color and gave up when I found otu McLaren had something like 12 variations of blue, so all I know is that it was candy marine blue. Really wish I had my cam

[KryptonZone]

You need a nice mobile with a camera. Thats how I got to snap all the cars I've snapped... It really is useful...

[bassheadjazzVR6]

I know Ralph Lauren has two of them, as well as one really rich Texas guy...Could be one of theirs..Ralph drives his all the time...

[AutoMX]

Jay Leno has one but i think his is orange (just popped in my mind, no idea if it is) and one rapper has one on the east coast. theres something like 5 or 6 road ones in the US and Canada

[patrick10]

thats nuts

[AutoMX]

Turns out the McLaren at the Art Center show was black, and that Jay Leno brought his McLaren F1 there, so his is black not blue. I might have seen Ralphy boy

[p0w3r]

^^thats one of his


any btw...he doesnt own 2...he owns THREE

[GTI WR6]

Originally Posted by p0w3r

^^thats one of his


any btw...he doesnt own 2...he owns THREE

he owns 2 F1 road cars, never owned 3. and i believe both of them have high rear view mirrors.

[GTI WR6]

btw, this is the car that youprobably saw. it resides in Fremont, CA. It is the Mclaren F1 XP4 (Experimental Prototype 4). Was owned by a New Zealander before.

Here is a pic of the XP4 a Crystal Cove 8-13-05:

[AutoMX]

yes i blelieve it was, paint looks darker in the photos but considering theres 10 mclaren road cars in north america at the moment, and we already ruled out 3 of them, i seriously doubt the odds of seeing yet another different one

[GTI WR6]

Originally Posted by AutoMX

yes i blelieve it was, paint looks darker in the photos but considering theres 10 mclaren road cars in north america at the moment, and we already ruled out 3 of them, i seriously doubt the odds of seeing yet another different one

The only people with the best knowledge of Mclaren F1 cars (all kinds) live in the Mclaren section of automotiveforums.com. Its not even funny how much they know about these cars. I'd recommend you go to Poleton25 (F1 god!) or mini_magic to know about more details of this car. I have more pics and details, but they are in my other laptop.

if anyone's interested, this car had 2 lights in the rear instead of the 4 it has now.

[jasonchiu]

what are the pros of buying a MP4 apart from rarity? i mean concepts are less realible as they are testers or samples right? is the mp4 faster or more powerful?

[p0w3r]

Originally Posted by GTI WR6

he owns 2 F1 road cars, never owned 3. and i believe both of them have high rear view mirrors.

From its debut, the F1 went to the top of most "best exotic car" lists. Ralph Lauren must agree. He owns three.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....&page_number=6

[GTI WR6]

not convinced power. but i'll ask the guys at automotiveforums and let you know.

[p0w3r]

Originally Posted by GTI WR6

not convinced power. but i'll ask the guys at automotiveforums and let you know.

hey go and find out...i only know becuase i read about it in Road & Track a few weeks back

[GTI WR6]

pow3r. you are right. I apologize for trying to correct you. I'm copy pasting Peloton25's reply.

"Well the bad news for you is that Road&Track is correct. Ralph Lauren does now own three McLaren F1s.

He has two road cars - chassis #055 and #074. The #055 car was the one that was displayed at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston this year. I have never seen photos of #074, but I have solid confirmation that he owns that car as well. Both of those were part of the original seven F1s that entered the USA as Ameritech F1s. He's had both these cars here in the USA since 1997.

Ralph's 3rd McLaren is an F1 LM - LM3 in fact. He purchased it from Frank Selldorff in December of last year who was the Boston area owner that had showed the car several times. It's been well covered here on the forum and I'm sure you've seen pics of it online.

A sad story (kind of) about the LM, is that once RL had purchased it he sent it to the McLaren service center in New Jersey to have a complete service done. They may have replaced the brakes during that service, and afterwards they reportedly took the car to Englishtown Raceway to perform some road testing as part of the service process. The story goes that as the driver (a McLaren service employee) was accelerating down the track, the back end of the car got loose and it hit the wall in the rear. It wasn't a bad crash, but the car did receive damage and needed to be sent back to the factory in England for repairs. I'm sure that made RL's day since he supposedly paid something in the neighborhood of 4 Million dollars for the privilege of LM ownership. :22yikes:

>8^)
Erik"

[Tobias]

If I saw a McLaren on the street, I think I'd pass out.

[GTI WR6]

I saw one in their park lane showroom and was allowed to touch it!

[p0w3r]

np GTI WR6

etown raceway? what a funny place to test a McLaren F1....since they have no road course, just a karting track, a motobike track, and lots of drag strips. They do have a road course that is in the works, but im pretty positive that is has just been completed late this year but it is not opened yet. How do i know? etown is pretty much my home kart track.

[GTI WR6]

hey pow3r, Peloton25 also asked me to tell you this:

'Tell p0w3r that out here at McLaren's West coast service facility they actually utilize an old section of runway at the Camarillo Airport that has been closed for quite some time to do the McLaren road testing. I was very surprised to learn that. Occasionally some of the US car magazines will rent that section of runway for their own performance tests.

>8^)
Erik'