+1 I live in hope to see that one day, but the ACO that regulates the endurance championship works to a strange calendar.
More hair splitting from you? - The McLaren what won Le Mans was a factory car on loan to a private team lead by Gentilozzi and sponsored by the Uneo Clinic in Japan. So yes, if McLaren reappears at Le Mans, it will be very much a return. In fact, without the participation of the factory, there would have been no McLaren in endurance: the LM cars had long tails specially designed by Gordon Murray. - Apparently some power units combine both; ICE and electric motor. I am sure that you could find which ones if you do some research. - "Prototype" is the name used for a category of endurance racing cars. A constructor may very well produce several prototypes of the same car; "prototype" doesn't mean a unique vehicle. Some prototypes end up for sale to private teams from selected dealers or importers.
Splitting hairs? No; 'prefer accuracy in communication. Also curious about Team McLaren ever at Le Mans. I don't remember that happening. I know all about the GTRs, but am curious about Team McL actually having entries itself. I did not know about Gentilozzi's involvement with the GTR . (That I do need more info on. Another Google mission, fer sure) I sha'n't search for something I don't think (or see how) exists. Two systems in one vehicle, yes. I know Audi and Peugeot shared duties with teams (Champion Porsche/Audi, one of my "neighbors"; and Pescarolo) to be able to enter add'l cars. I didn't know of any teams "selling" prototypes. No, I don't consider what IMSA called GT Prototypes (the 962s and Marches for example) true protoypes when they were "mass" produced and sold for a dime a dozen. If "protoype" doesn't mean a unique vehicle, what does it mean? Never mind, right here: pro·to·type /ˈprōdəˌtīp/ noun a first, typical or preliminary model of something, especially a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied 'Always willing to learn. (edit: 'Googled and I see you got Paul right at le Mans...just the wrong one. Try Paul Lazante. E for effort. and thanks anyway.)
No, prototype doesn't mean "unique ". When studying a new vehicle, it's not unusual for a manufacturer to built several prototypes of the same car to submit them to different tests, or in different locations, for example. Anyway, the FIA has given the name "prototype" to the category of special vehicles that are not mass-marketed, but produced (and sometimes sold) in very limited quantity to compete in endurance racing.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about it: "The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya entered in the GT1 category. This was the first Le Mans win for a driver from Finland and for a driver from Japan.[1] It was also McLaren's first win, at its first attempt. Such was the marque's dominance that its cars filled four of the first five places - Ferrari did it with its two cars in 1949, but other manufacturers like Jaguar, Porsche, Ford or Audi achieved their Le Mans fame only after 2, 3 or more years attempting their first win.[2] The car was already well known for dominating the BPR Global GT Series with customer teams, but the car that won was actually the initial GTR prototype. This was on loan to Lanzante Motorsport, and prepared by McLaren's Unit 12 and overseen by McLaren's Chief Engineer James Robinson to run it on behalf of Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. Mario Andretti's Courage finished second, having been the sentimental favourite of many in the run-up to the race. However the reliability of the production-based McLaren helped it defeat the much faster Le Mans prototypes, although in an interview 20 years [3] later Graham Humphrys (former Spice technical director[4]), who engineered the race winning car, attributed the win to the rain which fell on the circuit overnight, which eased the stress on the car's relatively fragile transmission, and which also saw a remarkable performance by Lehto, who was as much as 30 seconds a lap faster than his rivals at times. Humphrys also managed to identify the source of the gear selection problems which the Kokusai car and the other McLarens in the race suffered from, working out that the exposed gear linkage mechanism was filling with water and dirt from the wet conditions, and solved the problem by filling the affected area with WD-40 at every pit stop.[1]" As an aside, the Gulf Team of Ray Bellm considered itself to be the quasi works team for McLaren, entering 2 cars in the endurance championship with some success. When contacted by the Uneo Clinic (a fertility hospital in Japan) with an offer of sponsorship, without telling anyone, Ron Dennis decided to lend a factory GTR to be run by a private team. Ray Bellm's Gulf Team had mostly wealthy gentlemen drivers, but Lanzante Motorsport who ran the winning car had access to 3 professional drivers. Ray Bellm learnt about it quite late in the day and was justifiably quite furious about it.
Oh. I cut and pasted that definition from a dictionary. What do I know....? :shrug: Yes, limited number I'll give you. Produced and sold? Which were those? 'Again, 'don't recollect FIA letting them be sold for FIA endurance racing. (Yes, over here, IMSA allowed it) Regarding Gentilozzi; maybe your F1 GTR wires were crossed with his (very) feeble, short lived, effort with the Jaguar XKR in IMSA...?
Well, several Ferrari P were sold to private teams; for example NART, Maranello Concessionaires, David Piper, Ecurie Francorchamps, Ecurie Bear, Team Mecom, Scuderia Filipinetti, and before to John Edgar, Tony Paravano, etc... Le Mans 1965 was won by a private Ferrari prototype!! Porsche sold many protos 906, 907, 910, alter 936. Renhold Joest won Le Mans twice with a private Porsche proto. Maserati sold protos to Briggs Cunningham, CAMORADI, Johnny Simone, etc... You really have to brush up on this !!!
LMP1 teams have struggled badly to attract top sponsors with teams having to shoulder most of the financial burdens themselves as a result. Its a series you spend a fortune to compete in and then another fortune to tell people you have won it because nobody cares enough. The costs will have to come down in LMP1 but Mclaren still won't be able to afford it and there will be no sponsor sugar daddy to help them pay for it anytime soon either. It a pipe dream and nothing more.
Toyota open to Alonso discussions for Le Mans 2018 https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/alonso-toyota-le-mans-2018-talks-953943/ … via @motorsport