VIN: the Gulf Racing McLaren F1 GTR chassis 08R
History of chassis 08R
Chassis 08R was the second 1995-spec. GTR sold to L’Oreal Chairman and CEO, Lindsay Owen-Jones.
It replaced his first example (04R) that was heavily damaged in its fourth outing of 1995, the Jarama 4 Hours.
Run as part of the two-car Gulf Racing operation handled by GTC Motorsport, 08R’s best results that season were second at Donington, third at Anderstorp and fourth at the Nurburgring.
Lindsay Owen-Jones was always co-driven by Pierre-Henri Raphanel. For the longer races at Le Mans and Suzuka, Philippe Alliot and Hideo Fukuyama were drafted in.
1996 saw GTC Motorsport order two new GTRs to the latest specification. As part of the deal, 08R (along with its sister car (02R) were returned to McLaren.
However, only one of the new variants was ready for the opening race of the season at Paul Ricard, so McLaren loaned 08R back to Lindsay Owen-Jones for what would be its final race.
After the 1996 Paul Ricard event (where it ran a plain white Gulf livery) 08R was dispatched to McLaren where it was equipped with white, blue and red Fina bodywork to publicise BMW’s 1996 Le Mans campaign.
08R then came out of retirement as part of a promotional tie up with McLaren’s new Formula 1 sponsor, West cigarettes. Re-liveried grey, black, white and red to mimic the team’s Formula 1 cars, 08R travelled extensively around Europe between 1997 and 2001, often with McLaren’s tandem-seat MP4-98T.
After its promotional duties were over, McLaren sold 08R to Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the second son of the King of Bahrain. It was subsequently refinished in Historic Orange.
Through the Mumtalakat Holding Company, the Kingdom of Bahrain went on to acquire 30% of the McLaren Group in January 2007.
Notable History
Sold to Lindsay Owen-Jones
Gulf Racing / GTC Motorsport
Blue, silver & orange Gulf livery
23/04/1995 BPR Nurburgring 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 4th oa, 4th GT1 class (#16)
30/04/1995 IND Le Mans Pre-Qualifying (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 9th oa, 4th GT1 class (#25)
08/05/1995 BPR Donington 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 2nd oa, 2nd GT1 class (#16)
18/06/1995 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones / P. Alliot) DNF (#25)
02/07/1995 BPR Anderstorp 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 3rd oa, 3rd GT1 class (#16)
27/08/1995 BPR Suzuka 1000km (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones / H. Fukuyama) DNF (#16)
17/09/1995 BPR Silverstone 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 8th oa, 5th GT1 class (#16)
08/10/1995 BPR Nogaro 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) 4th oa, 4th GT1 class (#16)
Returned to McLaren in exchange for 1996-spec. GTR
Re-liveried BMW Motorsport / Fina colours
Loaned to Lindsay Owen-Jones as his 1996-spec. GTR was not ready for the first race of the season
White Gulf livery
03/03/1996 BPR Paul Ricard 4 Hours (P.H. Raphanel / L. Owen-Jones) DNF (#6)
Returned to McLaren Cars
Re-liveried in West colours and used for promotional duty
Sold to Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain
Re-liveried Historic Orange
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com
