Woah boy, this is gonna be a doozy. Sotheby’s is no stranger to selling cars for people so rich they probably daydream of wearing monocles and twirling their villainous mustaches, while Bond is strapped to a barbaric torture devices. Especially at Monterey Car Week. But this one is going to fetch an absolutely mind-melting number, the sort of price that would even make most of those Bond villains back out. That’s because it’s a 1996 McLaren F1 GTR, one of the rarest cars on the planet and one of the most desirable. It’s so rare and so desirable that Sotheby’s estimated price is “Excess of $35,000,000.”
How could any car be so valuable that $35 million isn’t thought to be enough? This specific F1 GTR isn’t just any old McLaren. Hell, it isn’t even any old McLaren F1. Normal F1s fetch millions of dollars at auction but this one makes those look ordinary. In 1995, McLaren built nine GTR race cars, but it kept the first one: chassis number 01R. With that car, McLaren won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in its debut attempt. It’s McLaren’s motorsport masterpiece.
Sotheby’s
This isn’t that car. McLaren isn’t getting rid of that thing. The rules changed for the 1996 season, so McLaren had to build a new car to comply, with bodywork extensions front and rear, a more aggressive front splitter, and more downforce. It was also around 84 pounds lighter thanks to several weight saving measures, including a magnesium gearbox housing. The 1996 F1 GTR was the fastest racing F1 of them all, even faster than the more famous Long Tail version that came in 1997. Like the 1995 car, McLaren only made nine and kept the first one for itself, chassis number 10R.
In 1999, McLaren converted 10R to road use and sold it to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. This is that car.
Over the years, 10R has been all over the world. It’s been used in road tests by Autocar, shown off at Goodwood meetings, and driven in hundreds of miles in road rallies. It’s lived a life few other cars can compete with. Being owned by Nick Mason is amazing but it’s among the least interesting things about it.
Sotheby’s
OK, so it isn’t the most attractive livery, but its original “Pop Art” red and yellow livery makes it a one-of-a-kind F1 GTR, even among the other eight 1996 GTRs. The unique engine cover of that glorious BMW-sourced V-12 is interesting, though. Add all of that rarity together and you get a car that’s worth more than some small islands. Is any car actually worth that much money? Probably not in the real world. But in the world of people with more money than they know what to do with, something as rare and special as this is worth whatever it takes to steal it away from every other rich person. I am excited to see what it eventually sells for and jealous of whoever gets to buy it. Hopefully whoever buys it actually drives it. It’s driven all over the world, and it was built as a race car, so it isn’t a garage queen. It deserves to be driven as much as possible, even if the cost of scratching the bumper is enough to buy a medium-sized mansion.