Photo credit: Alex Penfold/RM Sotheby’s
Chassis 10R left McLaren’s Woking works in December 1995 as the first of nine F1 GTRs built to the upgraded 1996 specification. Engineers kept it in-house as a development and promotional car, running it through winter tests at Magny-Cours with drivers including 1995 Le Mans winner JJ Lehto. It wore its factory scarlet paint with bold yellow graphics from the start, a look so striking that people still call it the Pop Art F1. Only one other short-tail prototype shared that basic shape, the actual 1995 Le Mans winner, and 10R remains the only GTR finished in this exact livery.
David Brabham pre-qualified the car for the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. It finished an underwhelming 8th in class and 20th overall at the end of those sessions, before sister chassis 11R went on to contest the entire race. After seeing the 1996 package appear in the form of longer bodywork sections, a more aggressive front splitter, and a lightweight magnesium gearbox that saved a handy 38 kgs over the previous year, Gordon Murray’s team, which had already tested the concept in the previous season with a nearly stock F1 GTR winning Le Mans outright, were even more convinced of its merit.
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McLaren adapted the 10R for road use and sold it to Nick Mason in 1999, with the car receiving the registration K40 MCL and quickly fitting into a pretty spectacular private collection that already included a Ferrari 250 GTO, a Maserati 250F, a Jaguar D-Type, and a Porsche 962. Paul and Dean Lanzante, the guys behind the 1995 Le Mans winner, took care of the car from that point forward, and with a ‘open cheque book’ mentality to boot. Mason used the car for road trips through Tuscany, the rare Goodwood event, and a few runs with other F1 GTR owners to commemorate anniversaries.
However, two major accidents occurred during that ownership time. In 2009, a journalist on loan from Autocar wound up in a wheat field after losing control of the vehicle during a test drive. Lanzante quickly restored the car to its original condition, sparing no money. Eight years later, during the 75th Goodwood Members’ Meeting in 2017, Mason crashed into the tire barrier at St Mary’s during a demo lap. Fortunately, he walked away unharmed. Lanzante put the front end back together again for him. When all was said and done, the car was one of the most mechanically and cosmetically strong 10Rs available. Recent inspections by Paul & Dean Lanzante are still safely on file.
RM Sotheby’s will auction 10R on August 13-15, 2026, at the Monterey Conference Center. The estimate is already well beyond $35 million. If it sells at that price, it will be the most expensive McLaren ever sold at auction, surpassing the $25.3 million paid for one of their road-going F1s in Abu Dhabi in December. Only a few of the 28 F1 GTRs made were road-ready in the 1996 style, and none of the others can compete with the 10R’s factory prototype status, spectacular Pop Art paint, single, continuous private ownership by a rock legend, and road legality.
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