In his masterpiece, The Waste Land , TS Eliot asserted that "April is the cruellest month". Back in 1997 it must have seemed so to those of us anticipating the opening round of the FIA GT Championship to be staged at the HockenheimRing. For the teams there were days without end as they struggled to get their new cars ready for the contest

It happens only rarely but when it does you know, just know, with absolute certainty that a car is right when you first look at it. One such instance was back at the beginning of 1997 when the McLaren F1 GTR "Longtail" appeared. The original McLaren F1 GTR was a thing of beauty and as such normally should have been left alone and not "improved"