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Everyone is trying to tap our newfound fountain of information 
Peloton should take it as a compliment. Besides it is rare to meet someone so knowledgeable on such a interesting yet rare topic, I think we can safely assume we have met the single human being that knows the most about the McL F1. An impressive feat 
skazzy:
Can you confirm if there is a Mclaren F1 in South Africa? I have heard through several sources that there is one but no one has ever managed to snap a pic of it. All heresay...
You'll probably be pleased to learn that there are currently two F1s in South Africa. 
The first is chassis #023 and is owned by Johann Rupert. The car is displayed in the Franschhoek Motor Museum just outside Cape Town along with many other fine automobiles. A nice set of photos of the F1 can be found here on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yiwenchen/sets/72157623964686052/with/4569322244/
Read the comment I left on the closeup photo of the car's wheel nut to learn a bit more about this car.
Here's one final shot I quite like that was taken during the FMM Concours & Time Trial Event held on the grounds of the museum this past February. Click to enlarge:
The other car in South Africa is #037 owned by Peter Manelis and lives somewhere near Johannesburg. This car is not seen very often, but did have a recent outing at Kyalami Circuit during a BMW/Porsche trackday. There are several shots of the car here in this Photobucket gallery:
Here's a video with the car making a couple of fast passes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Yxa_FDA-Y
You might notice there is a California license plate placed over the GP number plate. Peter purchased it from its original German owner in 1999 bringing it home to South Africa. Then brought the car to the USA when he relocated in 2001. He lived in CA with it for about 3 years, then moved to Arizona before returning back to South Africa again in early 2005. Here's a pair of shots from its time in CA taken May 2003:
jcparki:
Hi Peloton
Can you also confirm if there is still a McLaren F1 in Australia. At one stage (about 10 years ago) there was one owned by the CEO of CocaCola Amtil and was often seen driving around Sydney. However, when he got it serviced, the guy giving it a shakedown from the service centre wrapped it into a pole. It was then shipped back to Mclaren to be fixed and reportedly cost $1m!!!
He then sold the car to someone in Melbourne....and it has only been seen a couple of time (i saw it in the CBD once).
Thanks Peloton.
The F1 in Australia - chassis #009 - is still there as far as I know. Dean Wills is the owner you mentioned who owned it since new in 1994 and at the time of its accident in 1999. The car was first painted silver, but returned from its repairs in a dark silver paint with matching wheels. At the end of 2004 Wills sold the car to Tony Raftis, the owner of Maranello Motorsport in Melbourne. Tony had the wheels refinished in standard silver and kept the car a little more than a year before selling it to Barry Fitzgerald who I believe still has it today. It used to be spotted fairly frequently parked in all sorts of random places but the last images I have of it were taken in March 2009.
These two images from the Top 125 set both show #009 - one with the dark silver wheels which I really liked and a later image taken inside the Duttons showroom at where Mr Fitzgerald left it on display briefly.
The car has also been displayed a couple of times during the Melbourne Grand Prix and long ago made two appearances at the Sydney Motorshow.
For a short period of time Maranello Motorsport also had GTRs #13R and #16R but neither car remained in Australia for very long at all. Both are now in the UK with their second owners since leaving.
>8^)
ER
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