McLaren Art Car by César Tipped to Top €2 Million at Auction

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed)
Jun 17th 2010 at 7:01PM

When automobiles break the seven-figure mark at auction, they're usually pre-war or even post-war classics. But a sportscar from the 90s? This one is an exception.

As it is, the McLaren F1 remains a highly coveted collectors item, pristine examples still commanding seven-figure price tags in their own right. A race-spec McLaren F1 GTR is an even more sought-after rarity. But even in this field, this particular example is rarer still.

After racing it at Le Mans in 1994, French industrialist Jean-Luc Maury-Laribiére handed his McLaren over to famed artist César. The result has a similar effect as BMW's own art cars, which makes sense considering that the McLaren is powered by BMW engines and enjoyed factory backing in its motorsport exploits. This one-of-a-kind example is set to cross the auction block during the Le Mans Classic on July 9, where auctioneers Artcurial Motors anticipates it will fetch between $2.5 and 3 million.

Gallery: McLaren F1 GTR art car by César

Tags: art car, art cars, artcurial, artcurial motors, bmw art car, bmw art cars, césar, cesar, f1, f1 gtr, le mans, le mans classic, mclaren, mclaren F1, mclaren f1 gtr

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Peloton25 Jun 17th 2010 8:55PM

Details in the article are a bit of a mess.

McLaren F1 GTRs generally trade for lower prices than their road car counterparts. There are a few factors that play into this - limited use potential, high running costs, few spares available. Even the F1 GTRs which have been converted for road use typically sell for a lower figure than a standard F1 road car. Perhaps this will change as the GTRs get older and more opportunity to participate in historic racing with them becomes the norm.

Also, this F1 GTR competed in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans wearing this livery placing 13th overall. It did not race at Le Mans in 1994 - in fact none of the F1 GTRs had even been built in 1994.

The César livery was applied to this car following the 7th round of the 1995 BPR GT series at Montlhéry held May 14th, 1995. The Le Mans race that year took place on June 18th, 1995 and the car was unveiled when removed from the transporter for the first time at the start of the week. There was also a similar livery applied to the team's Venturi 600 LM.

>8^)
Erik

reallytorkedoff Jun 20th 2010 11:29PM

Don't the full-on road cars have more horsepower as well, since the race cars are restricted to meet class specs?

Peloton25 Jul 2nd 2010 6:19AM

The road cars do have slightly more power. GTRs were rated at an even 600hp and the road cars have 627hp. BMW made some tweaks to the GTR engines and tuning to compensate for the restrictors and preserve some of the power that would have otherwise been lost. An uncorked GTR engine can push 680-700hp.

>8^)
Erik