{"id":410363,"date":"2026-01-15T06:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410363\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T06:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:53:16","slug":"someone-was-once-ballsy-enough-to-steal-the-shift-knob-from-bmws-20-million-mclaren-f1-gtr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/410363\/","title":{"rendered":"Someone Was Once Ballsy Enough To Steal The Shift Knob From BMW’s $20-Million McLaren F1 GTR"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been to dozens of BMW events in my ten years as an automotive journalist. Whether it\u2019s a reveal, a motorsport-related gathering, or a stand at a bigger event, the company is always very generous when it comes to letting people get in their cars to experience them first-hand.<\/p>\n

Before I was even a journalist, I remember BMW reps at a local test drive event in New Jersey letting me poke around the interior and the trunk of the i8, which had only recently been revealed. Journalists had yet to get their hands on it, yet there I was, sitting in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

This attitude even extends to BMW North America\u2019s vast collection of vintage road and racing cars. At places like the Monterey Motorsport Reunion, most of the time, all you have to do is ask if you want to hop inside a car for a brief moment, and the BMW folks will let you.<\/p>\n

It sounds like in at least one instance, a nefarious individual took advantage of that situation to steal a piece of BMW Motorsport history.<\/p>\n

The Coolest Car In BMW\u2019s Collection Isn\u2019t A BMW<\/p>\n

The crown jewel of BMW North America\u2019s collection is a McLaren F1 GTR, specifically chassis #17R. It\u2019s also known as the \u201cFINA car\u201d thanks to its sponsorship livery from the Belgian oil company of the same name. The car was one of three F1s purchased by BMW Motorsport in the mid-1990s, and saw action at Silverstone and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.<\/p>\n

\"1996Source: BMW<\/p>\n

Despite an estimated value north of $20 million, BMW still carts out the F1 fairly regularly to showcase it at events around the country. I very clearly remember visiting Watkins Glen International for an IMSA race, and this very F1 was on display at the BMW booth.<\/p>\n

According to Tom Plucinsky, the head of BMW Group Classic USA, the company even goes as far as to drive it on track a couple of times a year. Here\u2019s what he said in an interview with BimmerLife<\/a>:<\/p>\n

At this stage, we only \u201cexercise\u201d it once or twice a year to keep it in full operating condition. At this stage, it is one of the only original owner examples and it is unrestored since it was re-conditioned after the LeMans race in 1996. To be frank, the value\/insurance is an issue whether the car runs or not. Crash damage can be fixed\u2014although expensive would be far less than the value of the car. Fire is worse case scenario.<\/p>\n

That is to say, this F1 is incredibly valuable and very much irreplaceable, so BMW is certainly taking some risk here. But the company also knows it\u2019d be wrong to just stash it away and let it rot somewhere. So its stewards keep the car running, and enthusiasts like you and me benefit by being able to see and hear it in action.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Most of the time, running the F1 GTR isn\u2019t a problem for BMW. When asked whether it makes him nervous, Plucinsky brings up a frightening fact:<\/p>\n

I think every pro we have put in the car has spun it at one point, so yes. Even though it is a 30-year-old car, it still feels like it should be a modern high downforce race car, and it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

If you drive the car like a non-downforce car it\u2019s fantastic! A big powerful go-kart, I love it. When I drive it, I am always worried at the beginning but once I\u2019m rolling, it is just such a thrill and pleasure to drive and the nervousness disappears.<\/p>\n

However, there is always a sense of relief when the car is loading back on the transporter.<\/p>\n

\"Wkwfw\"Source: BMW<\/p>\n

Running the F1 isn\u2019t cheap, either. A brake job costs $50,000 in parts alone, and every 10 years, BMW contracts Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the brand\u2019s motorsport partner in North America, to do a major service that involves removing the engine, rebuilding the gearbox, and replacing the fuel tank.<\/p>\n

This Is Why We Can\u2019t Have Shift Knobs At Auto Shows<\/p>\n

Sometime in the mid-2010s, shift knobs started disappearing from show cars on the floors of auto shows. Automakers quickly realised people were stealing them, so they started preemptively taking off the knobs to keep thieves at bay. This practice persists to this day; at most auto shows, if you can find a car with a manual transmission, the shift knob has already been removed before show-goers arrive.<\/p>\n

\"Emalb\"Source: BMW<\/p>\n

BMW could\u2019ve learned a thing or two from those automakers, because this exact theft happened with the F1 GTR back in 2016, around the time those thefts started happening.<\/p>\n

The shift knob was stolen at a show several years ago. The non-descript black ball knob has a moving weight in it\u2014kinda like a slide hammer.<\/p>\n

The knob itself doesn\u2019t have any fancy labeling or anything. This video<\/a>, published a couple of months ago on YouTube, gives a good look at the car\u2019s interior, with the shiny ball sitting proudly atop the shifter:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Obviously, BMW couldn\u2019t just log into FCP Euro or RockAuto and order a replacement shift knob. McLaren built just 28 F1 GTRs, and ten of those\u2014the later \u201cLong Tail\u201d models\u2014came with a sequential shifter with a different golfball-shaped shift knob (shown below). So we\u2019re talking about sourcing a part that was made for a grand total of 18 cars.<\/p>\n

\"DiffSource: Girardo & Co.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Pluincsky says the replacement knob cost just \u20ac750 (roughly $875) to replace, which is a lot less than I would\u2019ve guessed. But he also notes that it was 10 years ago, so prices for the extremely niche part may have increased since then.<\/p>\n

If you happen to find yourself inside BMW\u2019s F1 GTR with plans to steal the shift knob, just know you\u2019re no longer stealing a piece of racing history, because the original is long gone. Not that you should be planning to steal shift knobs at all. That\u2019s just wrong.<\/p>\n

Top graphic images: BMW \/ LukasJVW on YouTube<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve been to dozens of BMW events in my ten years as an automotive journalist. Whether it\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[32556,49,48,172750,578,60,576,577,172751,82,17648],"class_list":["post-410363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-bmw","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-car-shows","tag-f1","tag-featured","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mclaren-f1-gtr","tag-sports","tag-theft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}