RM Sotheby's has announced that McLaren F1 GTR chassis 10R will headline its Monterey auction in August with a value in excess of $35 million. Known as "The Pop Art F1," the car has spent more than a quarter of a century with Pink Floyd drummer and noted collector Nick Mason.
Chassis 10R is the first F1 GTR built to 1996 specification and one of only two factory Short-Tail "XP" prototypes. The other is chassis 01R, the car that won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans outright. McLaren built only nine GTRs to the developed 1996 specification.
The car is immediately identifiable by its factory Blood Red finish and large yellow "96 GTR" graphics. RM Sotheby's describes it as the only F1 GTR with this factory-created, non-sponsored livery. McLaren retained the car from new, used it during preparations for the 1996 Le Mans race and later converted it for road use at the factory.
Mason acquired 10R directly from McLaren in 1999 and kept it for more than 25 years. That long ownership, combined with prototype status, factory road conversion and the unusual origin of its graphics, separates the car from most surviving F1 GTRs.
The sale itself is scheduled for Monterey Car Week in August. The July announcement is therefore a consignment story rather than an auction result, and the figure above $35 million is the auction house's valuation, not a sale price. Even so, the appearance of 10R on the market is exceptional: it is one of two factory Short-Tail prototypes and has remained in the same private collection since 1999.