There are a total of 19 F1s and a small number of MP4-12Cs for a few of the additional customers who were unable to bring along their own cars. McLaren are supporting the event with an impressive team of people and have all the items needed to look after the cars.
As scottishxj220 has alluded to, I was extremely honored to receive a very special invitation to this event. The whole experience has been completely amazing. My own photos and any specific info I might be able to share is embargoed until after the event has completed which was a condition of my participation and of course totally understandable. The only reason we are seeing pics from Simon at is point is that he is an owner himself. I can say the public and tourists in Italy right now are a bit overwhelmed when they see a convoy of McLarens coming through. Oh, and I am overwhelmed as well as I am sure you can imagine.
Might take a while but eventually you will see some incredible stuff from the few who are here covering the event. I expect it will not disappoint.
Stoked for you Erik! Gotta be pretty awesome to be over there.
I was talking to an owner a few months ago and he was very excited to be there - first time he was shipping the car overseas just for a relatively brief event.
Here's a preview of some of my content. These images were taken on a 456 kilometer journey on the second day of the event that stretched up into the Dolomites and around the Sella Runde. If they look a bit familar it is because I allowed Simon Kidston to share them on his company's FB page today. I thought that was only fair since he'd done all the driving, paid for gas and covered the tolls. I was left to juggle his phone, my phone, three cameras and the Route Book with our directions. No easy task when there is a string of hairpins on the up and down on the route.
While I don't generally consider myself a photographer, I must say I was really quite pleased with the results of more than a few of these images. Hope you appreciate them as well.
The F1 Owner's Anniversary Event has ended today but my trip here in Italy still has a few more days to play out and I have some more ambitious plans to execute that will involve a lot of traveling so it might be a while before I am able to share much more.
You may want to keep an eye on the "McLaren F1 Owner's Club" thread on AutomotiveForums.com in the dedicated McLaren F1 section as others who were granted access like me may be able to start sharing their stuff a bit sooner than I will. On Sunday I'll be in the air for 12 hours for the return flight and then when I land I'll need to attempt to catch up on some sleep too.
Here's a preview of some of my content. These images were taken on a 456 kilometer journey on the second day of the event that stretched up into the Dolomites and around the Sella Runde. If they look a bit familar it is because I allowed Simon Kidston to share them on his company's FB page today. I thought that was only fair since he'd done all the driving, paid for gas and covered the tolls.
ER
Skipped over this question earlier, but yes - with a small stretch of the arm the driver can reach up over his head and grab the handle molded into the roof section of the door and pull it down to close. Here's the closest thing I think I have to an action shot:
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Bit late in sharing my content here but hopefully it was worth the wait. I am not a photographer - just a car enthusiast who happens to own a camera so please keep that in mind when viewing my photos. This is 88 preview shots taken over the first two days of the Tour.
fab pics and fab cars. Thank God they make the 12c as it would take the rest of my remaining life for me to save up for an F1. It's bad enough waiting 3 months. I couldn't bear it.
"His"? Not sure who you are referring to, but I suspect you would not know the owner of the orange one that was in Italy.
It is also not the same orange GTR that Tiff drove. That was #16R, a 1996-spec GTR, no longer with the same man who had it when it was on 5th Gear.
This orange GTR in my shots is #07R, a 1995-spec GTR that placed 5th at Le Mans that year. It has been with the same collector for more than a decade and he couldn't be more thrilled with the car. He doesn't seem to have much of a public profile though beyond the recognition he receives for displaying some of his cars.
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In related news, just yesterday McLaren shared 15 more of my photos from Italy on their Facebook wall. Click on the image below if you are interested in seeing the rest.