This doesn’t happen that often. There was a McLaren F1 GTR standing in front of us, and the chap who owns it just handed over the keys, and left. Tough decisions needed to be made.
I had plenty of fun in a McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail back in March at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, but soon after that, I got even closer to a ‘96 short tail Gulf car.
The Goodwood folks had this brilliant idea to take great photos of the best of the best while these priceless cars are already there. That’s the Goodwood Great series, make sure to get lost in it.
After they were done with the Long Tail, it was obvious that a Gulf short tail has to make it into the collection as well, and luckily, one from the Rofgo Collection was available for a quick snap. What’s more, I was allowed to jump in for a ride to the studio tent at three miles an hour.
Still, with a BMW M V12 idling right behind your head, life felts good again.
After inhaling that race car smell and discussing what a steal it was to buy a GTR just three years ago, the owner of 15R parked the car and took off, leaving the keys to us to set her up on the stage.
At this point, Goodwood’s Andy Craig and I were thinking whether if it was worth it to just throw away the barriers and drive the car through the grass, leaving the premises via the airfield. That would have been the only way to do it.
Since neither of us have been banned from Goodwood so far, I guess we made the right choice, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take as many pictures of the car as I could in those five minutes. This car might have finished Le Mans ‘96 at fifth position before being raced at the BPR series, but from the looks of it, you wouldn’t be able to tell. It’s in mint condition:
And now that you saw my amateur shots, have a peek at what Anthony Fraser did with his kit.
Just another great day at Goodwood.
Photo credit: Andy Craig and Máté Petrány/Jalopnik
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.