VIN: the BMW Motorsport McLaren F1 GTR chassis 23R
History of chassis 23R
Along with 21R, 24R and 26R, chassis 23R was one of the four long tailed F1 GTRs sold to BMW Motorsport for the 1997 season.
Having purchased three cars the previous year (to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours and a handful of late season events in Brazil), BMW (who supplied engines for all iterations of the F1) expanded their operation in 1997 to include an attack on the FIA GT Championship (which took over from the BPR Global Endurance series that had been held between 1994 and 1996).
Whereas BMW’s 1996 cars were prepared and raced by the Italian Bigazzi squad, Schnitzer would be responsible for this latest campaign.
23R was the car allocated to Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia for the majority of the 1997 FIA GT Championship.
Having retired from the season-opener at Hockenheim (owing to a gearbox failure), Kox and Ravaglia took victory in round two at Silverstone; they were at the head of the field when the race was stopped shortly after the three hour mark as a result of torrential conditions.
It also looked like Kox and Ravaglia would take the win at the next round in Helsinki, however, more transmission woes forced them out just 20 minutes from the end.
Thereafter, best results for the car were second in the penultimate race of the year at Sebring and a brace of fourth place finishes at the Nurburgring and Spa.
Unfortunately, although the McLarens took the championship fight to the season finale at Laguna Seca (where JJ Lehto joined Kox in 23R and Ravaglia shared 21R with the team’s other title hopeful, Steve Soper), Mercedes’ next generation CLK GTR ultimately proved too fast.
Chassis 23R was retired from competition duty at the end of 1997.
McLaren subsequently played no further part in the FIA GT series.
23R has been retained by BMW ever since.
Notable History
BMW Motorsport / Schnitzer
13/04/1997 FIA Hockenheim 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) DNF (#9)
11/05/1997 FIA Silverstone 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 1st oa, 1st GT1 class (#9)
25/05/1997 FIA Helsinki 3 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 13th oa, 10th GT1 class (#9)
29/06/1997 FIA Nurburgring 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 4th oa, 4th GT1 class (#9)
20/07/1997 FIA Spa 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 4th oa, 4th GT1 class (#9)
03/08/1997 FIA Zeltweg 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) DNF (#9)
24/08/1997 FIA Suzuka 1000km (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 8th oa, 8th GT1 class (#9)
14/09/1997 FIA Donington 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 5th oa, 5th GT1 class (#9)
28/09/1997 FIA Mugello 4 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 5th oa, 5th GT1 class (#9)
18/10/1997 FIA Sebring 3 Hours (P. Kox / R. Ravaglia) 2nd oa, 2nd GT1 class (#9)
26/10/1997 FIA Laguna Seca 3 Hours (P. Kox / J.J. Lehto) DNF (#9)
Retained by BMW
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: BMW - https://www.bmw.com
