VIN: the John Studholme / Chris Dawes McLaren F1 chassis 017
/ Ben Tyer
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 017
Chassis 017 was the 16th F1 built and one of 26 road cars assembled in 1994.
1994 was the biggest year for F1 production and several were built without a pre-order from a customer.
McLaren painted 017 a unique shade of Calypso Red Pearl. It was road registered M970 GGP in September 1994 and subsequently delivered to its first owner, John Studholme.
Studholme, who hailed from Boston, Lincolnshire, was the co-founder of Dynamic Cassette International which initially manufactured typewrite cassettes and later, compatible inkjet printer cartridges.
In June 1995, chassis 017 was displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This was the weekend after McLaren’s famous Le Mans win. 017 was shown alongside several other F1s and GTRs as part of the victory corral.
The Calypso Red McLaren was later joined by a second F1 in Studholme’s collection when chassis 14R (the ex-Lark GTR from 1996) arrived fresh from a factory rebuild to LM specification.
In April 1998, John Studholme took delivery of a brand new F1 road car (chassis 059) against which he part-exchanged 017.
In February 1999, chassis 017 was purchased from McLaren by Chris Dawes.
Dawes was an Australian ex-pat living in England. Twelve months earlier, Dawes’ company, Micromuse, had floated on the stock market. This provided him with a huge influx of cash; as hired executives now took care of the firm, Dawes checked out and went on a lavish spending spree.
Properties, a jet, a helicopter and up to 60 cars were purchased in a very short time frame. Some weeks, Dawes spent in excess of £10m. However, he quickly descended into a drug-fuelled lifestyle and allegedly started to front the cash for some major narcotic deals.
In the midst of legal problems for drug possession and sexual assault, chassis 017 was one of two McLaren F1s Dawes purchased in February 1999. The other was chassis 068, a delivery mileage example painted Mercedes Brilliant Silver.
068 never made it into Dawes’ rapidly expanding collection as he and two passengers were killed in a fiery road accident on March 21st 1999.
Just after 1pm that day, Dawes had taken 017 out for a drive with his personal assistant and a friend.
Following a heavy downpour, the roads were greasy and Dawes crashed 017 at an accident black spot on the A120 less than half a mile from his Essex mansion.
He left the road at over 100mph and the McLaren hit a tree which split the car in two and ruptured the fuel tank.
The ensuing fire was so intense that even the carbon tub burned ferociously.
Such was the force of impact, the engine was found 50 yards further up the road.
All three occupants were killed instantly and the remains of 017 were crushed.
For the full article on Chris Dawes click here.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Only the F1, the P1 and the Senna have ever had the GTR treatment. Even fewer have been converted to drive on the road, but all three in this film have been through Lanzante’s workshop, meaning they can mingle with regular traffic.
To see off the expected threat from GT1 iterations of the Ferrari F50 and a reverse engineered purpose built racer that Porsche was known to have in development, McLaren created an uprated…
After collaborating with its F1 engine supplier, Mercedes-Benz, to design and build the C199 SLR between 2004 and 2010, McLaren re-launched its road car division with the critically acclaimed…
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of McLaren’s 1995 victory at Le Mans, the first debut win by a manufacturer at la Sarthe since 1949 and the first by a production-based car since 1979, the firm…
Chassis 007 was the seventh F1 production car built and one of 25 examples manufactured in 1994. It was configured with arguably the best exterior colour scheme for an F1: Jet Black (which included…
McLaren’s response to purpose-built GT1 challengers from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz was the F1 GTR 97 which featured an array of radical upgrades, the most obvious of which was its dramatic new…
In 1995, BMW watched from the sidelines as its legendary 6.1-litre Motorsport V12 powered McLaren’s F1 GTR to ten wins from twelve outings in the BPR Global GT Championship plus a historic…
After an enormously successful partnership with TAG Porsche that delivered three Driver and two Constructor titles between 1984 and ‘87, McLaren signed an engine supply deal with Honda for 1988.
It’s hard to argue that the McLaren F1 is not the single best expression of a high performance automobile ever. However, McLaren’s preference to dial down the F1’s visual drama for reasons of…
In total, ten McLaren F1s were delivered to the Brunei Royal Family. Of these, five were standard F1 road cars (chassis 002, 004, 005, 008 and 014), one was an F1 GTR (chassis 09R), three were to F1…
Having swept to the top of international GT racing with a formidable BMW power unit, the McLaren F1 found itself firmly in the crosshairs of ‘Bee-Emm’s domestic rivals: Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
Following the original 12C’s evolution to 650S trim, McLaren released the most exciting iteration of what was dubbed their ‘Super Series’ line when the 675LT was announced in early 2017 (and which…
As a consequence of its unrivalled technical specification and groundbreaking performance, every McLaren F1 is a very special car. However, even among such rarefied company, some stand…
Following on from a batch of special 650S Coupes built to commemorate McLaren’s victory at the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, a run of 50 Spiders was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the…
When the McLaren management team of Ron Dennis, Mansour Ojjeh, Creighton Brown and Gordon Murray decided to forge ahead with their plan to construct the ultimate road car of its era…
Towards the end of 1981 season, McLaren boss Ron Dennis approached Porsche about the possibility of creating a turbocharged engine for his F1 team. With Renault and Ferrari having…
Chassis LM1 was the first of five consecutively numbered F1 LM production cars manufactured after McLaren’s prototype (chassis XP LM). Of the F1 LM quintet sold to customers, one went to…
Despite having been arguably the most consistent supporter of Prototype and GT racing during the second half of the 20th century, no other manufacture simultaneously had such a destructive impact…
Of the little over 3000 cars built as part of the MP4 12C line, perhaps none can boast a more sought after name to have in the log book than chassis ‘000132’. Delivered to seven-time F1…
The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, was already a serious buyer of high end cars while still Crown Prince of the Southeast Asian kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s; during studies at the Royal…
Chassis 022 was the 21st McLaren F1 built and one of 26 completed in 1994. It was ordered by German banker, Thomas Bscher, and was originally painted Genesis Dark Blue. The interior was…
McLaren built nine examples of the first generation F1 GTR from 1995, all of which were raced bar one: chassis 09R. Although demand for the GTR from racing teams was strong, McLaren supplied…
Chassis LM4 was one of six F1s built to LM specification. This figure comprised the prototype (chasiss XP LM) which was retained by McLaren and five customer cars (chassis LM1 to LM5).
Following a successful couple of seasons for the 12C GT3 racing car, McLaren decided to produce a limited batch of GT Sprint variants for those customers that wanted a more focused track-only…
Twelve months after the critically acclaimed 650S had been unveiled as a replacement for the MP4 12C, McLaren presented an even more focused elaboration of the theme at Geneva in March 2015.
In April 1995, McLaren received an approach from Japanese businessman, Motokazu Sayama, who wanted his medical supplies company, Ueno Clinic, to be the title sponsor of an F1 GTR at that…
Although conceived purely for road use, the McLaren F1’s groundbreaking specification meant that, once converted into a top flight GT1 racing car, it had the measure of every other machine on…
Having finished second to Renault in the 2005 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship with Kimi Raikkonen runner up in the Drivers’ standings and team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya fourth, McLaren…
Aside from the prototype F1 Clinic Model, chassis 060 was one of only two F1 production cars to be painted that colour (the other having been chassis 014 which was Titanium Yellow and delivered to
Chassis 21R was one of four 1997 F1 GTRs supplied to BMW Motorsport. In addition to having created the 6.1-litre engine for McLaren’s F1 supercar programme, BMW Motorsport had purchased three…