We don’t know if any of you have $3 million rolled up in your pockets - we don’t, in case you were wondering about our finances - but in the event that you do, here’s something that you would find good use for in all that moolah.
We just found out that one of the first - and therefore, more famous than most of its brethren - McLaren F1 GTRs is now being auctioned for, you guessed it, € 2 – 2.5 million, or somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million.
This particular vehicle is historical for being labeled as ’Chassis #5’ and was originally purchased by one French racer Jean-Luc Maury-Laribiére. Jean-Luc used it during the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 1994 and a year later, commissioned world-famous French sculptor and painter César to turn the F1 GTR into Maury-Laribiére’s very own supercar art car.
Now, it looks like Mr. French racer is ready to part with his baby and has turned to Artcurial Motors to help him auction off his multi-million dollar car at the Le Mans Classic event on July 9.
So there you have it. Interested? If you are, then you better be ready to put a dent in your bank account.
Though it’s not as old as some of its supercar contemporaries, McLaren Automotive has, in its existence, established quite a glowing reputation for being one of the most desirable, most popular, and most expensive cars on the planet.
That being said, not many people know that McLaren’s pride and joy - the F1 - is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Yep, the very same car that was described two decades ago as the "the finest sports car the world had ever seen" is celebrating the big ’2-0’.
Apart from being one of the fastest production cars in the world, the McLaren F1 also dominated the auto racing world, running away with the 1995 GT1 championship, as well as finishing first, third, fourth, fifth, and thirteenth at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans.
And for its 20th birthday, McLaren threw quite a lavish party for the F1, inviting owners of the supercar to a dinner at the McLaren headquarters in Woking, England, where the owners were given a chance to rub elbows with other F1 owners and share their own fond memories of sitting behind the wheel of one of the world’s most popular supercars and, predictably, being the center of attention wherever they went.
You don’t need to remind us how rare and exotic a McLaren F1 is. As a matter of fact, the moment you see one, you kind of feel like you’ve won the lottery. Of course, you didn’t really win any money so the sense of euphoria quickly goes away the moment the F1 zooms past you.
Now, imagine the looks on the faces of these people who were able to see the sight of, not just one McLaren F1, but 21 of them all in the same place at the same time live and up close. Yeah, 21 units of one of the world’s rarest four-wheeled machines together at the same place, at the same time.
It’s not as good as actually owning one, but for car enthusiasts that can’t afford one - that’s us - it’s about as close as it gets to an otherworldly experience.
For over ten years, no car on the planet could match the McLaren F1 in terms of sheer speed. And the ironic thing is, unlike its successors to the title of fastest road production car in the world – the Bugatti Veyron and the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, among others – the McLaren F1 was never built entirely for that reason.
As a matter of fact, according to designer Gordon Murray, McLaren created the F1 for the sole purpose of becoming the ‘ultimate’ road car. But in the process of building the F1, McLaren found themselves building something that was more than just the ultimate road car, but also the fastest one out on the streets.
And as is the case with timeless videos, we have a video of the McLaren F1 from March 31, 1998, the exact date when the F1 set the speed record, which it owned, for more than ten years.
Spare a few minutes of your time and watch history unfold before your eyes.
You may be familiar with the quirky English comedian Rowan Atkinson from his hilarious Mr. Bean sketches, but what you may not know is that the silent comic is also a fanatic of high performance vehicles and even has a McLaren F1 super car of his own that he takes out whenever he wants the Formula One experience without having to worry about getting wet. However as good as Gordon Murray’s three passenger 12 cylinder design once was, there is now a new halo car in the sports car market, the 1001 HP Bugatti Veyron, and what better way to get familiar with the French exotic then spending a day at the Silverstone Circuit for a parallel comparison at speed on the track.
