Last update: February 1, 2025.
Gulf sponsored the JWA team in the end of the sixties and early seventies, these can be found in separate collections. After 1976 Gulf stopped sponsoring for almost 20 years. In 1994 the Kremer K8 appeared at Le Mans in a slightly different color scheme. Since then, Gulf is back on the international race tracks. In this collection I present some fine Gulf liveried prototypes and even some formula 1.
Le Mans
1994 Le Mans 24h, Kremer K8. Group C came to an end and Kremer built a LMP car with Porsche 962 technology. The Kremer K8 was fast, qualifying second in front of the Dauers and Toyota. In the end they finished 6th. This was the first K8 built, which was originally the 962 CK6-07 with lots of adjustments to fit the new regulations. The car is now part of the legendary ROFGO Collection. It was Derek Bell’s last Le Mans 24h race with Porsche.
#5 Derek Bell (GB) / Jürgen Lässig (D) / Robin Donovan (GB) – 6th / 3rd LMP1
Kremer K8 – 3.0 liter Porsche 935/76 flat-6 twin turbo, approx. 550 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 950 kg. Aluminium honeycomb and carbon monocoque, chassisnr. 07SP (Thompson)
- SPARK Kremer Collection S0329 (resin)
this model has been posted before in #074 Kremer prototypes
2001 Le Mans 24h, Johansson Audi R8. Joest Audi entered two cars for the 2001 Le Mans race and offered two year one year old cars to selected teams. One of them is Stefan Johansson‘s in the famous Gulf Livery, who raced the entire European Le Mans Series with it with technical support from Arena Racing. At Le Mans, the car retired after electric problems.
#4 Stefan Johansson (S) / Tom Coronel (NL) / Patrick Lemarie (F) – DNF
Arena Audi R8 (2000) – 3.6 liter Audi V8 twin turbo, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. Audi / Dallara #403
- IXO Modern Le Mans & GT Cars LMM004 (diecast)
this model has been posted before in #018 Audi customer teams
2001 Petit Le Mans, Johansson Audi R8. The Johansson / Arena Motorsport Audi also competed in the Petit Le Mans. They finished in 2nd place, 3 laps down on the Joest Audi.
#18 Stefan Johansson (S) / Patrick Lemarie (F) – 2nd
Arena Audi R8 (2000) – 3.6 liter Audi V8 twin turbo, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. Audi / Dallara #403
- MINICHAMPS MC400 010918 limited to 1440 pcs (diecast)
his model has been posted before in #018 Audi customer teams
2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage C65 – Ford. Paul Belmondo Racing entered 2 Gulf sponsored Courages this year. They use the Mecachrome built (badged Ford) V8 engine. But none of them finished, the #37 car had a heavy crash because of a blown tire, the #36’s gearbox failed. The LMP2’s still are very fragile cars.
#36 Claude-Yves Gosselin (F) / Pierre Ragues (
F) / Karim Ojjeh (UAE) – DNF / gearbox
Belmondo Courage C65 – 3.4 liter Mecachrome V8 90º, approx. 500 hp. Pirelli tires. Weight 765 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. C65 #007
- SPARK S0147 (resin)
his model has been posted before in #049 Courage
2007 Le Mans 24h, Zytek 07S. Zytek became a producer of sportscars after they bought the remainders of the Reynard factory. Among it was the design of the Reynard 02S which became the Zytek 04S. This Gulf sponsored 07S is the third model under the Zytek name. The Barazi Epsilon entry failed to finish after a crash.
#32 Michael Vergers (NL) / Juan Barazi (DK) / Karim Ojjea (UAE) – DNF / crash
Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S – 3.4 liter Zytek ZG348 V8, approx. 500 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 765 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. #01
- SPARK S1422 (resin)
2009 Le Mans 24h, Aston Martin DBR 1-2. After the success of last year’s Charouz Lola, Aston Martin entered LMP1 with a complete factory team. However the car was somewhat different from the 2008 version, the ACO refused to homologate it as an Aston Martin, so it officially remained a Lola. They had no chance against the diesels from Peugeot and Audi, but the best AM finished 4th, best of the rest. The car with the fastest line up (Verstappen, Davidson and Turner) only finished ninth. They had to drive an updated 2008 chassis because Verstappen destroyed the 2009 one during testing. The scalemodel of the #009 is the slightly different presentation version.
#008 Jos Verstappen (NL) / Anthony Davidson (GB) / Darren Turner (GB) – 9th
#009 Peter Kox (NL) / Harold Primat (CH) / Stuart Hall (GB) – 4th
Lola Aston Martin DBR 1-2 – 6.0 liter Astin Martin V12 60º approx. 650 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnrs. DBR1-2/4 (Lola B08/60 HU04) and DBR1-2/2 (Lola B08/60 HU02).
- SPARK S1457 & Aston Martin Gulf Presentation, #1650 / 4000 pcs (resin)
2011 Le Mans 24h, Aston Martin AMR-One. Aston Martin raced their beautiful V12 LMP for the last few years. A great car but it stood no chance against the diesels from Audi and Peugeot. With the new 2011 rules, Aston Martin asked Prodrive to develop a new sports car with a 2 liter 6 cylinder direct injection turbo engine. The car was okay but the engine a complete failure. It caused so much trouble that the car hardly drove at test days and races were cancelled. At Le Mans, one car only managed two laps in the race, the #007 did double that after a 4 hour pit stop … Aston Martin finished the season with the reliable V12.
#007 Darren Turner (GB) / Stefan Mücke (D) / Christian Klien (A) – DNF
#009 Harold Primat (CH) / Adrian Fernandez (MEX) / Andrew Meyrick (GB) – DNF
Aston Martin AMR-One – 2.0 liter straight-6 turbo, approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnrs. #1 & #2 (Prodrive)
- IXO LMM 208 (diecast) & SPARK S 2537 (resin)
2012 Le Mans 24h, Morgan LMP2. In the new LMP2 class, cars use production based engines, mostly from Nissan, Honda-HPD and Judd-BMW. Chassis are affordable and LMP2 has become a very attractive category in only two years time. This Morgan is no Morgan at all, it’s a French built Pescarolo that is managed by also French Oak Racing. The Gulf liveried car is among the fastest LMP2’s but fails to finish because of an oil pressure problem in the Judd engine.
#24 Jacques Nicolet (F) / Mathieu Lahaye (F) / Olivier Pla (F) – DNF
Oak Racing Morgan LMP2 – 3.6 liter Judd-BMW V8, approx. 450 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 900 kg. Dunlop tires. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. Oak-Pescarolo #01-14
- SPARK S2548 (resin)
2012 Le Mans 24h, Lola B12/80. Another LMP2 car was present in 2012: This beautiful Lola from Gulf Racing Middle East was the slowest of the LMP2’s and the first to retire.
#29 Jean-Denis Deletraz (CH) / Keiko Ihara (J) / Marc Rostan (F) – DNF
Lola B12/80 – 4.5 liter Nissan VK45DE – V8 90º, approx. 460 hp. Dunlop tires. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. Lola #HU-02
- SPARK S3718 (resin)
2019 Le Mans 24h, BR Engineering BR1. Italian specialists Dallara developed a new LMP1 car. It is dubbed the BR1 in reference to the first customer, Boris Rotenberg’s BR Engineering. While BR Engineering backed the initial development, Dallara does offer the car to other customers as well. DragonSpeed is one of those and races at Le Mans in the famous Gulf livery. The chase design is also the basis for the Dallara P219 and IMSA Cadillacs.
#10 Renger van der Zande (NL) / Ben Hanley (GB) / Henrik Hedman (S) – DNF
DragonSpeed BR Engineering BR1 – 4.5 liter Gibson GL458 V8 90º, approx. 700 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 900 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. Dallara #BR 07
- SPARK S7905 (resin)
Formula 1
1976 Monza, Tyrrell 007. Italian Scuderia Rondini entered a Tyrrell 007 for privateer Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi on four occasions in 1976; Nürburgring, Austria, Zandvoort and Monza. It would be the last Gulf sponsored formula 1 car for a very, very long time.
#37 Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi (I) – 18th
Rondini Tyrrell 007 – 3.0 liter Ford Cosworth DFV V8 90º, approx. 500 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 625 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. #007/4
- MINICHAMPS MC400 760037 #982 / 1008 pcs (diecast)
2021 Monaco, McLaren MCL35M. McLaren F1 struggled some years, first with Honda power and later on with the Renault engine. Now they have access to the powerful Mercedes power unit, the team is competitive again. For the Monaco Grand Prix the cars wore the famous blue and orange Gulf livery. Norris finished third on that occasion.
#4 Lando Norris (GB) – 3rd
McLaren MCL35M – 1.6 liter Mercedes M12E – V6 60º turbo hybrid, approx. 1000 hp. Pirelli tires. Weight 752 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. unknown.
- SPARK S 7679 (resin)
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