McLaren’s Le Mans heritage to be showcased at Goodwood Festival of Speed
As teams and drivers prepare for this weekend’s running of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, McLaren has confirmed that the 1995 race-winning McLaren F1 GTR will take to the Goodwood Hill at this summer’s Festival of Speed.
The all-conquering chassis F1/01R will be joined by the one-off prototype of the McLaren F1 LM, famously built to honour the victory and five finishing cars at the French endurance event, and also the Gulf-liveried McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ which claimed second place at Le Mans in 1997.
2013 marks the 50th anniversary since Bruce McLaren established the team which still bears his name, and has become arguably the most successful team in motorsport history.
This announcement is 18 years to the day since the number 59 McLaren F1 GTR, piloted by Yannick Dalmas, J.J. Lehto and Masanori Sekiya crossed the finish line at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans to claim victory. With the result, McLaren became the only racing team ever to have won the Formula 1, Indy 500, Can-Am and Le Mans championships.
The McLaren F1 was born from the success of the GTR in 1995, and the lightweight, unrestricted limited edition was built in honour of the McLaren F1 GTRs that finished the race.
Finished in the famous McLaren heritage ‘Papaya Orange’ of Bruce McLaren’s early Formula 1 and Can-Am racers, the one-off prototype, codenamed F1/XP1LM will take its place on the McLaren stand alongside a selection of other key models from the brand’s history.
Completing the Le Mans-inspired line-up will be the McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’, chassis F1/20R, finished in the famous blue and orange Gulf livery. The F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ was built for the 1997 season, and takes its name from the revised bodywork which provided further levels of downforce, and reduced drag, over the previous generation models.
The new model claimed further notable race victories throughout the season and chassis F1/20R, driven by Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Jean-Marc Gounon and Anders Olofsson, claimed class victory and another podium finish overall for McLaren at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a hard-fought second place.
The addition of these three iconic models from the McLaren collection follows the announcement that the McLaren P1 will also make its global dynamic debut at the Festival.
The full line-up for the 50th anniversary celebrations for McLaren at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed will be announced in the coming weeks.
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