Although every single one of the 28 McLaren F1 GTRs ever built is an absolute rarity, this red and yellow icon clearly outshines its legendary siblings. The fascination for chassis 10R is not just based on its vibrant pop art livery, which is a quintessential symbol of its decade. It is also rooted in its fascinating history and its prominent previous owner, the drummer of one of the most commercially successful rock bands of all time.

RM Sotheby's will auction this monument of British automotive history from August 13 to 15, 2026, during its Monterey event. The auction house estimates the value at over 35 million dollars, which translates to roughly 30.6 million euros.

The car bearing the chassis designation 10R rolled out of the Woking factory in December 1995. It was the first of only nine cars built with the upgraded specifications for the 1996 season. McLaren built only two short tail prototypes. This particular car initially served the British sports car manufacturer as a fully functional test mule and remained the only GTR to keep the striking factory paintwork.

The racing career of this GTR reached its peak in the spring of 1996 during the official preliminary tests for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Managed by the reigning champion team Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing, factory driver David Brabham pushed the car around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe. The revised aerodynamics and a lighter magnesium gearbox made this generation the fastest and most desirable evolution of the iconic race car. Even the long tail version built for the 1997 season could not keep pace with the two-tone rocket.

This extremely rare McLaren marks not only the pinnacle of nineties motorsport but also the end of a defining era. The F1 GTR was the last overall winner at Le Mans to be directly derived from a road legal GT car.

Following its active racing career, the F1 GTR passed into the hands of one of the greatest automotive enthusiasts in rock history. Nick Mason, drummer for the psychedelic rock pioneers Pink Floyd, who had himself competed at Le Mans five times, purchased the car directly from the manufacturer in 1999. There is a certain logic to the fact that the most visually striking GTR went to a founding member of the very band whose Dark Side of the Moon cover became one of the most revolutionary visual masterpieces of the seventies, gracing more than 45 million copies sold worldwide.

McLaren personally converted the uncompromising race car for public road use, and in 1999 it received the British license plate K40 MCL. Ongoing maintenance was subsequently handled by the specialists at Lanzante around Paul and later Dean Lanzante. This is the very same workshop that managed the victorious Kokusai Kaihatsu team at Le Mans in 1995. They also carried out two restorations of the car after it sustained damage during testing in 2009 and a demonstration run at Goodwood in 2017.

Nick Mason, who also owns a Ferrari 250 GTO, a Maserati 250F, and a Porsche 962 among other race-bred rarities, consistently maintained the car at the highest possible level. As a result, the highest bidder will not just receive a static piece of motorsport history but a fully drivable total work of art.

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