Ex John Watson McLaren chassis M28-2 is for sale.
Of the three McLaren M28 chassis’ built for the 1979 Formula One race season, chassis number 2 is the most desirable. It has the highest finish placing of all the M28’s with a 3rd at the Argentina Grand Prix and 5 top ten finishes. With relatively low time on a recent restoration and a large amount of money invested in this McLaren, this is a rare opportunity to acquire a beautiful historic McLaren Formula One racing car.
The 1979 McLaren M28 was designed by Gordon Coppuck to replace the aging M26. The M28 was McLaren’s first ground effects car. It utilized an aluminum honeycomb monocoque which was built to have the maximum amount of area underneath the car for ground effects.
For the 1979 Formula One season Team McLaren signed John Watson to be the lead driver to Patrick Tambay. McLaren retained its Marlboro sponsorship and turned out a well constructed car in a recognizable livery. Watson spent the winter of 1978 developing the M28 and was ready to pit McLarens newest design against the best offerings of Lotus, Tyrrell, Ligier, Williams, Shadow and Ferrari.
The season started well with a solid 3rd place at the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. Then a 6th place finish by Watson at the Belgian Grand Prix. In order to stay competitive, McLaren continually developed the M28 throughout the 1979 season before superseding it with the M29 design after the British Grand Prix.
Following its active racing life, chassis #2 was used as a Marlboro show car. This M28 was owned by McLaren Racing up to 2009 when it was purchased by the current owner directly from the McLaren Team principal, Ron Dennis.
In 2009 a detailed and comprehensive restoration was performed by ex-McLaren F1 chief mechanic Gary Anderson in England to prepare it for racing. At a recent US Historic Grand Prix event in Mosport it was the outright winner, proving it a very competitive car in current Historic Grand Prix racing.
The car is impeccably presented by United Autosports, has low time use and is a recent race winner in the US Historic Grand Prix series.
United Autosports is also known for running a Grand Am car in last year’s Daytona 24 Hour (4th place), an LMP 2 car in the ALMS series, Audi R8’s in the English GT and FIA GT series and next year will be racing a team of new McLaren MP4-12C cars in the FIA GT series.
The car is currently located in the US and is offered for sale by Grand Prix Classics Inc. of California. For more details, contact them at Tel: +1 858 459 3500, Fax: +1 858 459 3512 or Click here for Email
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