Saleen S7-R GT1

The Saleen S7 is a hand-built, high-performance American supercar designed and built by Saleen Automotive. The car was jointly developed between Steve Saleen, who took care of the original concept, and the United Kingdom’s Ray Mallock for the chassis, suspension and aerodynamics. The S7 made its public debut at the Monterey Historic Races event in California on August 19th, 2000.

While Saleen worked on his rapid, mid-engined car, he always had an ambition to turn it into a racing car. A car that could contest the likes of the American Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The S7-R GT1 became that car, powered by a mighty Ford V8.

The S7-R’s production ran from 2000 to 2007. Under close supervision from Saleen’s engineering team, Ray Mallock Ltd (RML) built the first examples in its workshop in the UK. The French company Oreca took over production from 2006. In total, 14 S7-R were built to full racing specification. An additional seven were given chassis numbers, but never completed.

This chassis (S7-1-004R) was built to GTS regulations in the latter stages of 2000 for the Fordahl Motorsport team, which later became Park Place Racing. The car made its debut during the 2001 Homestead 250 Miles driven by Chris Bingham and Ron Johnson. During the car’s active years, the United States featured two separate major endurance racing organisations. Grand-Am, which was run out of Daytona, and the Georgia-based American Le Mans Series. Between 2001 and 2002 the car largely contested the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and won the GTS title in both years. It also ventured into the American Le Mans Series on several occasions, contesting Petit Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Graham Nash Motorsport took the car over for 2003, transferring it to Europe to participate in the FIA GT Championship. In the years that followed, the car changed ownership several times. RML ran it in 2004 as a factory-supported entry in FIA GT, but from 2005 the car began to show its age. Tarres Team acquired the car in 2007 to compete in the French FFSA GT championship. A significant upgrade from Oreca increased the car’s competitiveness and it would continue to compete in France until 2009.

The S7-R GT1 is powered by a 7,0-litre Ford V8. Depending on restrictor size, the car is easily capable of producing over 600 horsepower and 750 newton meters. At just 1100 kilograms of dry weight, the car is fast even by today’s standards. An all-carbon body is coupled with a chassis made of lightweight steel and aluminium honeycomb composite reinforced panels, double wishbone suspension with coilover shock absorbers and adjustable anti-roll bars. A transaxle-mounted Hewland sequential six-speed gearbox and full Brembo racing brakes complete the picture.

The car recently underwent a full cosmetic rebuild and now sits in the colour scheme used when Chris Bingham, Ron Johnson and Oliver Gavin competed at Petit Le Mans in 2001. The car is for sale with an impressive parts range, featuring body parts, wheels, suspension parts, gearbox parts, engine parts and much more. Feel free to contact us for more information.