Monterey Car Week always attracts the heavy hitters, but RM Sotheby’s may have already locked up 2026’s headliner. On August 15, the auction house will offer a McLaren factory prototype that tested at Le Mans, wears the only livery Woking ever designed for a GTR, and spent a quarter century in the garage of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. With an estimate north of $35 million, this is the 1996 McLaren F1 GTR chassis 10R, better known as the “Pop Art F1.”
First of the Fastest Breed
When chassis 10R rolled out of Woking in December 1995, it became the first of just nine GTRs built to 1996 specification. McLaren kept the car in-house as a development machine, handing it to works drivers like 1995 Le Mans winner JJ Lehto for winter testing before sending it to Le Mans pre-qualifying in 1996, where David Brabham wheeled it to eighth in class.
And the 1996 updates matter. Stretched bodywork and a deeper front splitter piled on downforce, while a magnesium-cased gearbox helped shed roughly 84 pounds, making this the quickest GTR variant of them all, 1997 Longtail included. Only one other short-tail prototype exists: chassis 01R, the car that won Le Mans outright in 1995.
The Paint Job Woking Never Repeated
Because McLaren owned 10R outright, there were no sponsor logos to accommodate, so the factory did something it never did before or since: it designed its own livery. The Blood Red body with those massive yellow “96 GTR” graphics is pure 1990s pop art, and it makes 10R the most instantly recognizable F1 on the planet.
That a car this visually loud landed with a founding member of Pink Floyd, the band behind rock’s most iconic album cover, feels almost too perfect.
A Quarter Century With a Rock Legend
Converted for road use by McLaren itself and registered “K40 MCL,” chassis 10R was sold directly to Mason in 1999, joining a collection that includes a Ferrari 250 GTO, Jaguar D-Type, and Porsche 962. And Mason actually drove the thing. Goodwood demos, 750-kilometer club tours through Tuscany, the works.
That enthusiasm occasionally came with a bill. A journalist put it in a wheat field in 2009, and Mason found the tire wall at Goodwood in 2017, with Lanzante (the same outfit that ran the 1995 Le Mans-winning effort) restoring it both times. Now, after 25-plus years of loving use, the Pop Art F1 is looking for its second-ever private owner.
Spec Sheet
Model: 1996 McLaren F1 GTR
Chassis: 10R (“The Pop Art F1”)
Engine: 6.1-liter BMW V12
Power: ~600 HP (race-restricted)
Transmission: 6-speed manual with magnesium housing
Body: Short-tail, 1 of 2 factory prototypes
Production: First of 9 built to 1996 spec
Road Conversion: McLaren factory, registered 1999
Pricing & Availability
Chassis 10R crosses the block as Lot 328 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction on Saturday, August 15th, carrying an estimate in excess of $35 million. If bidding lands anywhere near that number, it will comfortably unseat the $25.3 million road-going F1 that set the all-time McLaren record just last December.
Recap
1996 McLaren F1 GTR “Pop Art F1” (Chassis 10R)
The only factory-liveried F1 GTR ever built, Nick Mason’s longtime McLaren prototype heads to RM Sotheby’s Monterey with a $35 million-plus estimate that would make it the most expensive McLaren ever sold.
