Awesome car sale post: McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail w/ provenance for sale

I actually peeped this fine specimen over on Speedhunters.com a couple weeks back, but I didn't bother re-posting it, well, because I just wasn't in the mood. I've been occupying my scant free time with mad DSLR research, yo, cause a man has to step up his game at some point. So while I was reading reviews over at DP Review, searching various online sites and comparing notes, I just let these awesome pics sit on my desktop. I'm cleaning up said desktop now, so here are the pictures.

The site these were snagged from is also the site selling this fine machine, Bingo Sports. Check out the dream car list here. The price is only on asking, and if ever there is car that proves the old "if you have to ask you can't afford it" adage, this is it. Regular old McLaren F1's go for well over a million to two million buckaroos. The ultra-rare GTR LM (only five sold!) is the street version of this car, which has racing provenance, and is the last of the total run of 28 cars. These were actual real-world GT's and probably what the FIA / ACO had in mind with the GT1 regulations of the mid-90's that lead to the not-at-all real world GT's starting with the Porsche GT1 and culminating with the Toyota GT One.

My buddy Robert used to work for Turner Motorsport, and there was a guy he knew through that who owned not one, not two, but three McLaren F1's, including a GTR. Damn that's awesome. What's more is this guy actually drove his cars. Apparently one was his daily driver, the other was the investment / garage queen, and the GTR was the track toy, which was eventually sold.

I don't know what I would have to do to make that much money, seeing as the whole "being born into it" thing didn't happen, and I hate the whole Wall Street B.S. and the people that work there. Chances are I won't ever own one, but a man can dream. I won't bother getting into the ins and outs of the McLaren F1 and it's derivative, that's what Wikipedia is for, but I figured I'd share these pics. They're not exactly common, and I don't know that many people that go trolling through Japanese websites on a regular basis looking for F1 GTR's.

Anyways, there are some slightly larger versions of these pics over at the Wolfsburg RS Flickr....

_WRS

Video Post: In-car Turner Motorsport footage from Watkin's Glen

I was over on the Eurotuner blog today and saw this video they had linked to from Turner Motorsport. It shows some furiously hectic last-blast end of the race action at the combined class Grand Am / Koni Challenge race at Watkins Glen. You can spot some APR GTI's getting passed, along with most of the other ST field, but the main focus here are the Turner M3's, since all the footage is from inside those cars. Obviously. Anyways, it's makes great use of the fact that almost anyone can afford a decent in-car camera system these days. I think it's amazing, and very cool, that Turner puts the time and effort into releasing this footage to the public for them to watch. does a great job of building the brand and building loyal fans too.

By the way, these cars sounds so bad-ass in this footage it's enough to make me want to buy an E46 M3. Something I never really have thought about before.

_WRS

Finally some VW stuff - My two favorite cars from Dubs at the Beach?

I very rarely get time to go muck about and take pictures of cars at car shows. Pretty ironic considering the fact that I'm typically one of the first people there and last to leave, but that's life, man. I did have a quick chance to go around at Dubs at the Beach and see what was there, and although it was no barn-stormer in terms of attendance, there were some nice cars. I didn't take many pictures, but I did snap a few of the Mk1's.

The first was one of my more favorite cars over the past year or so, this clean, well balanced, and nicely appointed Scirocco...and it has a 1.8t swap. I don't really care if a car like this has a swap or not, in fact if it had a cam'd up 8v I'd probably like it more, but overall this car manages something few Sciroccos do, which is stand up to the best in the more normal GTI and Jetta examples. I'd like to think Scirocco Madness will look this good. How soon? Two years at least, haha. But yeah, the BBS RS wheels, the low-but-not-too-low stance, euro bumpers, small touches and attention to details. Really great stuff.

Scirocco's are one of the only VW's that I think really need dished wheels to look right. Flat-face fitments tend to exaggerate all the wrong aspects of the design, so you can be sure that whatever we decide to fit to our Scirocco, it'll be something with a dish. Probably not expensive or exotic, but well balanced let's say. Moving on: One of my other favorite cars was this old Mk1 Diesel. I would never buy a Diesel like this, but I respect the people that do..it's cool. And clean, and well, what more could you want? Not much.

Anyways, these were two of my favorite cars, there were plenty more with more money, more flash, more whatever, but these are sort of the meat and potatoes of nice old cars for me. Everything you could want, nothing you don't!

_WRS

P.S. - I just noticed that when combined, these two cars are almost the exact same color as the Falken colors. That's totally bizarre, because I did not even think of that when I was making this post, it was unintentional, I simply noticed when I was doing my after-posting proofreading. What's even stranger is I'm 90% sure that diesel is the original color as well. (if not original paint)

Just because: Falken Porsche 911 RSR

Although they've only run one race, I have to say, I think the Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR is the best looking 911 in the ALMS series. I'm not a huge fan of their drift cars, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of the big Mustang and the V8 swapped convertible Nissan Z-cars, but the blue and green really balances well with the shape of the Porsche, and the black wheels give it that street-cred look.

If I had a 911 I'd paint it like this. Actually I wouldn't, because running a car to look like it's sponsored when it isn't is lame. I would drive this car given the chance though, and given than I have no racing license nor experience behind the wheel of any really, really set up racing cars, I won't be doing so anytime soon. A man can dream though. Right now I'm trying to figure out a way that I can go attend the Petit Le Mans this year. I don't see that happening since I have a car show to do that weekend but stranger things have happened.

Falken also has a kick-ass video up on their site right here. They do all their own videos in house by the way. Pretty cool stuff.

_WRS

APR wins again! Sweeney and von Moltke make it two in a row

Once again APR has dominated and come out on top with their second win ever as a team, and second win in a row for the 181 car of Mike Sweeney and Dion von Moltke. Although the top qualifying number 171 of Ian Baas and Josh Hurley lead the majority of the race at Mid-Ohio, electrical problems popped up with only six laps to go, allowing von Moltke to charge ahead and take the win.

The APR Motorsport / BBS team was the one to beat all weekend, and clearly they have really come into their own with the results they've been enjoying. But hard work and commitment are rewarded with results, much as Audi has proved with their Le Mans wins, so it's not really all that surprising. Next up is the home race, or at least home state, for APR, at Barber Motorsports Park on the weekend of July 17th-19th. They're running split classes again for the Koni Challenge...I can't even think about going thanks to Waterfest being that weekend, but if you're down south it would be a great event to attend. Check out the Koni Challenge site for the full run down of the remaining race schedule.

_WRS

Koni Challenge: APR Motorsport locks down the front row at Mid-Ohio

APR Motorsports is on quite the roll. Not only did they just give Volkswagen its first win in over 25 years in a professional road racing series inside the USA, but they've nailed down the pole position at each of the last three races, and locked up the whole front row at the last two. The 171 car of Baas and Hurley sits on pole for this weekend's race at Mid-Ohio, and the 181 of Sweeney and von Moltke are right behind, sitting on the outside of row one. That's got to feel great. I've always said that the only thing lacking from VW's success in the motorsports arena is the lack of commitment and money. Very few teams have had both the money and the commitment to achieve success. It generally tends to be either one or the other. (i.e. all passion and no money, or all money and no follow through)

With APR, VW has found a committed partner in racing. I think it says a lot about APR as a tuning company, compared to a lot of others. Few people are willing to put their company's profits on the line with a motorsports program, but it's also one of the best ways to test and improve your products and knowledge. Racing is expensive business...some may consider the Koni Challenge to be the minor leagues, and compared to the stuff at Le Mans it certainly is, but this is no nickel and dime affair. After an up and down first year you would be excused for thinking that maybe APR would drop out or not fully committee, especially with a faltering economy. Not the case though, and it has payed off. I'm very curious to see if Volkswagen gives APR a little more support next year. Perhaps a few Mk6 GTI bodies in white? That would be very cool, and probably make the conversion from street car to race car a bit easier. After all, the current crop of Mk5 GTi's were just standard Mk5's to start with, so there is a lot of labor involved in stripping them out and making them race ready.

Although the race is this weekend, it won't be broadcast until June 28th at 12:30 on Speed TV. This may mean that results aren't much of a surprise, but hey, it should still be an exciting race either way. It's times like this I really wish I had cable. hehehe. Go APR!

_WRS

Busy weekend - get thee to Mid Ohio!

I don't have a time machine nor an airplane. If I did, I would do one thing, other than the stuff I already have to do this weekend, and that is: Go to the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course. Its is quite the weekend of racing for Volkswagen in the USA. Not only is it the first round in the Koni Challenge since APR won at Watkins Glen, but the Jetta TDI cup is also running as a support series. It should prove to be one hell of a weekend. In TDI cup you'd think I might not have a guy to route for, but you'd be 100% wrong. AJ Nealey is a Maryland local and has been doing pretty well so far, and with past successes at Mid Ohio in NASA, should be able to do quite well. It would be great to see AJ win, and he clearly has some talent behind the wheel given his results from the last year. Check out AJNealeyracing.com for his full bio.

APR is hoping to make it two in a row, and with their cars running strongly in the past at Mid Ohio, there's no reason to think they won't be anything but contenders. With Grand-Am running split classes, same as they did at Lime Rock, it should turn out to be quite a battle without all those pesky Grand Sport class cars getting in the way. Naturally we are pulling for the APR Motorsport guys 100%, and look forward to seeing the 171 or 181 back in the winner's circle this weekend.

For the full run down on the Koni Challenge series, including live timing during practice and the race, check out the Grand-Am site. For Jetta TDI Cup info, go to the SCCA's site, which will give you the info you crave.

I'd have more to say, but I'm late for dinner. More tomorrow!

_WRS