Gulf McLaren F1 GTR Longtail Racing Coupe Heading to Bonhams Auction

Dressed in legendary livery, the ultra-modern competition coupe is one of the greatest sports cars ever built. 

One of the genuine icons of the modern-era sports car racing is heading to Bonhams Exceptional Motorcars and Automobilia auction this August.The ex-GTC Gulf Team Davidoff 1997 McLaren F1 GTR 'Longtail' FIA GT Endurance Racing Coupe - to give it its full and proper name - is dressed in Gulf Oil's pale-blue and orange team livery, colors worn by other legendary victors such as the Ford GT40 and Porsche 917K.
Heralded as one of the greatest sports cars ever made, this particular example, chassis '028R,' was the 28th and final McLaren F1 GTR built by the British McLaren Cars factory, and the last of only ten highly developed 'Longtail' cars.These ultra-modern competition coupes represented the pinnacle of McLaren's Le Mans-winning F1 GTR family, identifiable by their stunning Gordon Murray design, unique centerline driving position and sophisticated all-composite structure.The Longtails also featured longer noses and tails to reduce drag and achieve the maximum possible aerodynamic downforce.

In 1997 '028R' raced at the Nurburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, Austria's A1-Ring, Donington Park, Mugello, Sebring and Laguna. The car was driven by Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Geoff Lees, Anders Olofsson and John Neilsen."We are delighted to have been appointed by an international collector to represent this breathtaking piece of competition machinery," says Mark Osborne, Head of Motoring at Bonhams. "Racing legends like the McLaren F1 GTR rarely if ever appear at auction."This is an epic car dressed in a legendary livery, which is why a year ago the same car was being offered for €3m.So when this particular Gulf McLaren F1 GTR Longtail crosses the auction block don't be surprised if bids surpass $4m.The 2012 Bonhams Auction of Exceptional Motorcars will take place Thursday & Friday, August 16 & 17 at Quail Lodge in Carmel, California.

Gulf McLaren F1 GTR Longtail Racing Coupe Heading to Bonhams Auction

Ferrari Joins the GT1 Series

Ferrari will fight McLaren, as well as the three German premium brands for the world championship. 

Ferrari and McLaren are going head-to-head on the racing circuit all around the globe in the next eight months. And it's not only going to be in 20 Formula 1 races, but also in 10 rounds of the GT1 World Championship and six rounds of the GT3 European Championship.The addition of Ferrari joining the GT1 championship was just announced by series organizer Stephane Ratel. The defending champion, the Aston Martin DB9, will not return to defend its title, thereby opening the way for a four-way scramble for victory.

McLaren will have their all-new MP4-12C GT1 racer run by the German Helix team while Ferrari will be entering the 458 Italia GT1, which will be run by a team that has yet to be revealed. Two Ferrari 458 Italia's have been built to accommodate the GT1 regulations.The new cars on the grid will now have to fight against the more tested racing machinery from German competitors Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
"The addition of Ferrari to the 2012 line-up makes for a mouth-watering array of supercars racing in one world championship," Ratel said.
"The Ferrari team brings to five the number of confirmed teams and we are in advanced talks with a number of other teams. For reasons of confidentiality, we are respecting the wishes of those teams to announce their participation in their own time."

Ferrari Joins the GT1 Series

Chevrolet Camaro GT Race Car by Sereni United Revealed

Newborn tuning company has transformed the Camaro pony car into a GT racing thoroughbred. 

Hans Reiter, founder and owner of Reiter Engineering, whose Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3 we reported on just this week, has spun off a new company called Sareni United with the explicit purpose of building a high performance yet cost-effective Chevrolet Camaro GT3 race car.He got the idea when visiting the US in 2010: "I was immediately fascinated by the design. The Camaro is a real men's car, a muscle car, it is designed to be on a race track."
Under the direction of Reiter Engineering, a 12 man team managed to develop the car within one year, and will replace the Reiter Gallardo in the International GT sprint format.A 7.9-liter Katech V8 producing 641hp and 590lb-ft of torque is mated to a newly designed Holinger gear box, with power sent to the rear wheels via a speed shift system that's quick and designed for high torque. Planned overhauls for the engine and gearbox are at 5,000km and other parts at 10,000km.The prototype's initial testing went very well and according to lead developer Franz Russegger:

"The Camaro is fast and the lap times are similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo. We had hoped for this result but there is still a lot of work to do."Safety has been a special focus of the Camaro GT, and in addition to a mandatory roll cage, there's a newly designed fuelling system developed by Krontec that is set to launch this year, and big crush zones in the front and rear. As well as making a race-worthy Camaro the plan was to make one that was also cost efficient."The racing car is an option for a lot of teams because it provides an interesting cost structure."Uwe Geipel's team YACO will use two cars for the ADAC GT Masters races. Perhaps they can also compete in the GT3 European Championship. We also have a lot of serious requests from the GT4 and touring car series. Our idea of attracting new customers instead of taking away teams from other manufacturers has worked so far," said Reiter.Germany's YACO Racing Team will take delivery of their two cars in March in time to race the Camaro GT at the Oschersleben in April. Pricing for the car starts at 195,000 Euros (or just over $250,000).