- Racing Car Diecast Museum
- 1F Le Mans 24 Hours
- 1996 McLaren F1 GTR #33 (LM24)
1996 McLaren F1 GTR #33 (LM24)
Mini GT 1/64
Mini GT No. 723
Car: McLaren F1 GTR #33
Series: 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours
Class: LMGT1
Team: Gulf Racing
Drivers: Ray Bellm, JJ Lehto, James Weaver
Result: 9th overall, 7th in LMGT1
This is my 2nd McLaren F1 GTR, the previous one being the 1995 Le Mans winner. Upon opening, I immediately noticed that this was actually a different tooling to the 1995 version which surprised me considering Mini GT isn't really a super expensive brand. I will post pictures of the differences on the Database section of the Forums.
This specific car is the No. 33 Gulf Racing entry that participated in the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans. During the race, the Porsche 911 GT1's and the Joest-entered TWR-Porsche prototypes battled for the lead for most of the race. From what I remember watching the race, it was actually this McLaren that was consistently in the top 5, leading all the other cars. Unfortunately, I believe just a few hours before the end of the race, the car would have some gearbox issues which cost them a lot of time in the pits, dropping them down the order. In the end, they managed to finish 9th overall and 7th in the LMGT1 class.
