2023 Mclaren Gt on 2040-cars

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Rowan Atkinson sells his McLaren F1 for $12 million

With little over a hundred produced (including prototypes and racers), there aren't a lot of McLaren F1 owners out there. Rowan Atkinson is among the most prominent, but he won't be any longer as reports from the UK reveal that he's sold his F1. The actor best known for his role as Mr. Bean bought his McLaren back in 1997 when it was still new for what was then a princely sum of GBP540,000 (about $830k). He drove it regularly over the nearly two decades since, putting some 41,000 miles on the odometer and crashing it twice – the most recent collision in 2011 cost his insurers a reported $1.4 million to fix. With values for the McLaren F1 skyrocketing, Atkinson put it on the market earlier this year. The consignment was handled by London classic and supercar broker Taylor & Crawley, headed by the same David Clark who sold Atkinson the car when he served as McLaren's sales director. Although the final transaction price has not been disclosed, the original asking price was GBP8 million – equivalent to over $12 million at current exchange rates. The supercar was reportedly purchased by another British enthusiast who intends to drive it as frequently as Atkinson did. Private treaty sales like this (where prices are not generally disclosed) notwithstanding, the Atkinson sale would eclipse the highest price paid to date for the iconic supercar at auction. According to Sports Car Market, the top price paid was at Pebble Beach in 2013, where Gooding & Co sold one for just under $8.5 million. The same event the following year saw one go unsold, despite a high bid of over $10 million. Related Video:

McLaren P1 looks retrolicious in Gulf livery

We live in a bit of a conundrum over here in the Autoblog editorial office. On the one hand, we're big fans of progress – and things move fast in the automotive industry. On the other, we do like a bit of retro style from time to time – especially when it comes to classic racing liveries. Where those two intersect, though, can leave us weak in the knees. Like this McLaren P1, for example, decked out in retro Gulf livery. Commissioned from the McLaren Special Operations by Canadian venture capitalist and philanthropist Miles Nadal, this one-of-a-kind take on Woking's flagship hybrid hypercar looks prime to line up alongside a Martini-liveried Porsche 918 Spyder or trounce a JPS-inspired Lotus Evora. It may not have the Gulf Oil logos plastered all over it – that would strike us as a little over the top – but it has been done up in the traditional baby blue with orange accents, from the tapered orange stripe running over the top to the orange brake calipers. The theme continues subtly inside where McLaren's own signature orange accents are joined by more baby blue to complete the theme. Though McLaren might not be as closely associated with Gulf as say, Aston Martin or Porsche, the two have crossed paths on a handful of notable instances over the course of their respective histories in racing. One of the most iconic of the long-tail McLaren F1 GTRs wore Gulf livery alongside Davidoff logos, as did another short-tail example, as well as an M8D, M16B-2 and M19A straight through to the modern MP4-12C GT3. Featured Gallery McLaren P1 in Gulf livery View 12 Photos News Source: McLaren via Facebook McLaren Coupe Supercars mclaren p1 mclaren special operations gulf mso

Is this McLaren's anticipated 570S GT?

McLaren is planning an additional body style for its new Sports Series. The British supercar manufacturer told us that before we drove the new 570S coupe in Portugal last month. And now we're seeing the prototype for that new version undergoing testing. Woking introduced the Sports Series in coupe form this year and will follow up with the convertible in 2017. This new version is expected to arrive in between, sometime in the second quarter of the new year. The big question is just what form this bodystyle will take. At the launch, McLaren spokesman Wayne Bruce confirmed the variant will still use the same mid-engined layout and carbon monocoque chassis as the company's other cars. He also discounted the possibility of a more extreme speedster (like it did with the Mercedes SLR), and confirmed that a longtail version like the 675LT would not, in the company''s estimation, be considered a distinct bodystyle. Based on earlier reports of ideas being thrown around Frank Stephenson's design studio, and from what we're seeing here, it appears that the new addition will be some sort of GT version. The modified roofline would seem to be incorporating a larger luggage compartment, enhancing the prospect of driving the sports car on a daily basis. We can expect this new model to be mechanically identical to the existing coupe. That means a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 driving 562 horsepower (in 570S spec) to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Related Video: