VIN: the David Morrison - Parabolica Motorsport / Team Lark / James Munroe McLaren F1 GTR chassis 27R
History of chassis 27R
Chassis 27R was the penultimate of ten F1 GTR Long Tails built for the 1997 season.
It was purchased by Scottish banker, David Morrison, who was Chief International Economist and Co-Head of Investment Research for Goldman Sachs. Morrison had joined Goldman in 1986, prior to which he had worked at the Bank of England, Phillips & Drew and Simon & Coates.
In addition to a fleet of Ferraris, Morrison also owned an F1 road car (chassis TBC) and an F1 LM (chassis LM3).
27R was campaigned throughout the 1997 season by Morrison’s team, Parabolica Motorsport, which he had established in 1994, initially to compete in the Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge.
Parabolica Motorsport gave the Long Tail F1 GTR its racing debut at the inaugural round of the 1997 British GT Championship (Silverstone). They had taken delivery of 27R a few days before and given the car a preliminary shakedown at Magny Cours.
Gary Ayles and Chris Goodwin cruised around to an easy victory at Silverstone once the Harrier of Win Percy dropped back after the opening few laps.
For 27R’s next three outings, its colour scheme was switched from Parabolica’s normal yellow and blue livery to the pink and grey of Team Lark McLaren (run by Kazumichi Goh). In this configuration, 27R pre-qualified for Le Mans in 20th position overall and picked up a sixth place finish at the FIA GT Championship race at Silverstone. It then retired from the 24 Hour race at Le Mans when Keiichi Tsuchiya had a shunt at Tertre Rouge on lap 81.
For the rest of the 1997 season, 27R was campaigned exclusively in the FIA GT Championship. Highlights included a brace of sixth place finishes at the Nurburgring and Spa.
David Morrison retained the car until mid 1998, at which point it was sold via McLaren to accountant, James Munroe, of Wokingham, Berkshire.
Munroe worked for the UK division of US publisher, McGraw-Hill. Around the same time, he also acquired an F1 road car (chassis 069) and a variety of other expensive automobiles.
Between March and July of 1999, Munroe campaigned the by now orange 27R in the British GT Championship under the banner of AM Racing. He enlisted Chris Goodwin to co-drive and launched the outfit amid much fanfare in central London.
Unfortunately for Munroe, his employers became suspicious of his activities when he was interviewed by the BBC for the television show, The Car’s the Star. Prior to this, McGraw-Hill were unaware of Munroe’s extra curricular activities; they were surprised to learn an employee on a £51,000 salary had sufficient funds to splash out nearly £1.5m on a pair of McLarens.
An investigation followed and Munroe was found guilty of 17 counts of transferring funds by deception. It transpired that he had billed his employers for bogus work totalling nearly £2.9m over a four year period and was sent to jail.
Chassis 27R was subsequently auctioned by Brooks at the 2000 Goodwood Festival of Speed as McGraw-Hill looked to recoup their losses.
Since then, chassis 27R has been restored to its original Parabolica Motorsport trim.
Notable History
David Morrison, Esher, Surrey (Parabolica Motorsport)
Yellow & Blue livery
06/04/1997 GBR Silverstone (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin) 1st oa, 1st GT1 class (#9)
Pink & Grey livery (Team Lark McLaren)
04/05/1997 IND Le Mans Pre-Qualifying (G. Ayles / A. Nakaya / K. Tsuchiya / K. Kaneishi) 20th oa, 16th GT1 class (#44)
11/05/1997 FIA Silverstone 4 Hours (C. Goodwin / G. Ayles) 6th oa, 6th GT1 class (#27)
15/06/1997 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (G. Ayles K. Tsuchiya / A. Nakaya) DNF crash (#44)
Yellow & Blue livery
29/06/1997 FIA Nurburgring 4 Hours (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin) 6th oa, 6th GT1 class (#27)
20/07/1997 FIA Spa 4 Hours (C. Goodwin / G. Ayles) 6th oa, 6th GT1 class (#27)
03/08/1997 FIA Zeltweg 4 Hours (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin) DNF (#27)
24/08/1997 FIA Suzuka 1000km (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin / S. Johansson) DNF electrical/fuel (#27)
14/09/1997 FIA Donington 4 Hours (C. Goodwin / G. Ayles) 13th oa, 13th GT1 class (#27)
28/09/1997 FIA Mugello 4 Hours (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin) 13th oa, 13th GT1 class (#27)
26/10/1997 FIA Laguna Seca 3 Hours (G. Ayles / C. Goodwin) DNF (#27)
Sold to James Munroe, Wokingham, Berkshire (AM Racing)
Orange livery
28/03/1999 GBR Silverstone (C. Goodwin / J. Munroe) 5th oa, 5th GT1 class (#2)
03/05/1999 GBR Oulton Park (C. Goodwin) 3rd oa, 3rd GT1 class (#2)
31/05/1999 GBR Snetterton (C. Goodwin / J. Munroe) 2nd oa, 2nd GT1 class (#2)
20/06/1999 GBR Brands Hatch (C. Goodwin / J. Munroe) 4th oa, 4th GT1 class (#2)
11/07/1999 GBR Silverstone (C. Goodwin / J. Munroe) 6th oa, 4th GT1 class (#2)
06/2000 sold by Brooks, Goodwood Festival of Speed
Later road registered P109 RCR
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed, Team Goh - https://teamgoh.com/ & Supercar Nostalgia
