One to Buy: ex-BMW Motorsport (Team Bigazzi) 1996 McLaren F1 GTR
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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 debut victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
For 1996, the Bavarian giant decided to get in on the action and purchased three of the latest specification GTRs for a campaign that centred around an attack on that year’s Le Mans. Two of the McLarens would serve as race entries with the third kept in reserve.
To manage the programme, the renowned Bigazzi operation in Italy was brought on board. Team Bigazzi of course handled certain aspects of BMW’s contemporary Super Touring programme.
Ahead of the 24 Hours, both BMW’s race chassis appeared at Le Mans Pre-Qualifying and the Silverstone 4 Hours. As a consequence of its fast, flat layout, Silverstone was considered ideal preparation for a run at la Sarthe.
After Le Mans, BMW retained two of its F1 GTRs (chassis 17R and 18R, the latter of which had been the spare which contested three end-of-season events in South America). Meanwhile, chassis 16R was sold off. Today, that car is currently on offer at the Joe Macari showroom in central London.
16R’s competition record saw it post 19th fastest time at Le Mans Pre-Qualifying (seventh in the GT1 class), eleventh overall at the Silverstone 4 Hours (tenth in GT1) and eleventh overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours (ninth in GT1). During those three outings it was driven by the likes of Johnny Cecotto, Jacques Laffite, Marc Duez and Steve Soper.
In recent years the car has been looked after by both Lanzante and McLaren, the former of which converted it for road use. Chassis 16R is presented in immaculate order throughout wearing its handsome BMW Motorsport / Fina livery from Le Mans 1996.
