Tag Archives: RM Sotheby's

Auctions

Gordon Murray S1 LM V12: A $20 Million Love Letter to Speed and Survival

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One of only five examples of the Gordon Murray Automotive S1 LM V12, a road-legal love letter to the golden age of endurance racing, is heading to auction — and the price tag could easily top $20 million.

RM Sotheby’s will handle the sale later this month, and in a fitting twist, proceeds will go to charity. But this is no ordinary millionaire’s toy. As Shelby Myers, global head of private sales at RM Sotheby’s, puts it:

“S1 LM Chassis #1 offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with the original creator and help write the next chapter in automotive history.”

That creator, of course, is Gordon Murray, the legendary mind behind the McLaren F1, Brabham BT46B, and Mercedes SLR McLaren. The S1 LM is his latest opus — and perhaps his most personal.

A Modern Echo of Le Mans Glory

The S1 LM was conceived as a modern homage to the Le Mans–winning McLaren F1 GTR, blending the purity of old-school engineering with cutting-edge precision. The car retains the F1’s three-seat layout, with the driver perfectly centered, and a six-speed manual gearbox — a deliberate nod to the analog era that built Murray’s reputation.

But it’s the engine that steals the show. The Cosworth-built 4.0-liter V12 has been reimagined, stretched to 4.3 liters, and fine-tuned to deliver more than 700 horsepower while revving beyond 12,000 rpm. That’s motorcycle-level ferocity wrapped in carbon fiber elegance — and it all happens in a car that weighs less than one ton.

The proportions are spot-on: a long, low nose, a tightly sculpted tail, and a functional rear wing that whispers Le Mans pedigree without shouting it. Inside, the cabin is minimalist but exquisite — every surface purposeful, every control machined with Murray’s trademark precision.

A Car Born from Resilience

For all its engineering brilliance, the S1 LM’s greatest story might be human. Murray developed the car while undergoing treatment and recovery from cancer — a journey that gave the project an emotional depth beyond horsepower and lap times.

“The amount of effort and focus you have to put into a brand-new car is so great that you don’t have time to think about anything else,” Murray shared recently. “Designing this vehicle helped me get through it all. The S1 LM is special for all those reasons.”

The S1 LM, then, isn’t just a supercar. It’s a statement — of survival, of design purity, and of the kind of mechanical passion that doesn’t fade with time.

The Next Chapter

As RM Sotheby’s prepares to bring Chassis #1 under the hammer, the sale feels less like a transaction and more like a passing of the torch. Whoever wins the bid won’t just own a car; they’ll own a slice of living automotive history — one forged by a man who turned recovery into creation, and once again reminded the world what true performance looks like.

If ever there were a machine worth $20 million, this might just be it.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

Auctions

Ayrton Senna’s Legendary 1991 McLaren MP4/6 Heads to Auction

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The car that conquered Brazil’s heartbreak is back in the spotlight — and it could fetch up to £11.5 million.

In the pantheon of Formula 1 legends, few moments shimmer with the same emotional charge as Ayrton Senna’s 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix victory. It was the day São Paulo wept with joy, when a two-time world champion finally conquered his home soil — and did so with a car stuck in sixth gear.

Now, that very machine — the McLaren MP4/6 in which Senna wrestled a failing gearbox, muscled through corners with sheer will, and screamed across the finish line to delirious fans — is heading to auction. RM Sotheby’s will offer the historic chassis, MP4/6-1, in a private sale running from December 8th to 11th, with estimates between £9 million and £11.5 million.

This isn’t just another F1 artifact. It’s the first MP4/6 ever built — the prototype that launched McLaren’s 1991 season, tested by Senna and teammate Gerhard Berger at Estoril before making its sole race appearance at Interlagos. After that triumphant day, the chassis was retired, preserved in McLaren’s headquarters for nearly three decades like a holy relic of racing history.

Under its sculpted carbon-fiber skin beats a Honda 3.5-liter V12, one of the last truly analog monsters before F1’s full dive into electronics and semi-automatic transmissions. At Brazil, that engine became both savior and tormentor — Senna had to nurse it through 10 laps with a seized gearbox, feathering the throttle to prevent stalling in slow corners while fending off Riccardo Patrese’s faster, semi-automatic Williams FW14.

He somehow made it work. When the checkered flag waved, Senna was spent — arms numb, voice cracking — yet victorious. It wasn’t just another win. It was Brazil’s redemption through one man’s exhaustion and genius.

Before its last sale in 2020, McLaren Heritage fully restored MP4/6-1 to race-ready condition, ensuring that every detail — from its carbon tub to its Marlboro-era livery — meets the standard of a car capable of running again. The car will be handed over to Lanzante, the British specialists known for bringing McLaren’s track icons back to life, for pre-sale inspection and ignition checks.

Included in the sale: a McLaren certificate of authenticity, an external starter, remote control panel, fuel pump, engine pre-heater — all the paraphernalia needed to awaken a sleeping V12 giant.

For collectors, this is more than a piece of F1 machinery; it’s a monument to endurance, emotion, and the raw heroism of a man who could make a car do the impossible.

Thirty-four years after Senna’s triumph, MP4/6-1 once again takes center stage — not on the tarmac of Interlagos, but on the auction block, where history itself is up for bidding.

Source: RM Sotheby’s

Auctions

Ferrari M6 Prototype: The Godfather of LaFerrari Hits the Auction Block

Just when you think Maranello has no more secrets to spill, another one of its crimson skeletons emerges from the factory vaults. A few months after a LaFerrari development mule built around a 458 Italia sold for a cool $1.215 million, another Frankenstein from Ferrari’s experimental lab has surfaced — and this one might be even juicier.

Meet the M6. Not the BMW kind. This is Ferrari’s own early hybrid test mule, a vital stepping stone in the creation of the LaFerrari — the brand’s first electrified hypercar and, arguably, the last true Maranello monster before the electrification era went full steam ahead.

Back to the Beginning: Early Hybrid Origins

The M6 started life as a humble 458 Italia, but it didn’t stay humble for long. Built between February and April 2012, it was one of the first prototypes to bridge Ferrari’s traditional ICE heritage with its then-radical hybrid ambitions.

Forget carbon fiber tubs and sci-fi aerodynamics — those came later. This prototype sits on an aluminum chassis straight out of the 458 parts bin. But under the bonnet lurks something far more exotic: the V12 that would go on to power the mighty LaFerrari. It’s like finding a test track mule wearing the wrong clothes but hiding the right heart.

Between May 2012 and May 2013, Ferrari’s engineers used this machine to thrash out the hypercar’s braking systems around Fiorano. It was also tasked with dialing in suspension geometry, steering feedback, and even tire behavior. Most notably, it was the first mule fitted with Ferrari’s cutting-edge electronic stability system — a system designed to handle the combined forces of a screaming V12 and electric torque.

A Rolling Laboratory in Disguise

Visually, the M6 looks like a slightly tweaked 458, though Ferrari’s engineers were anything but gentle with it. During its testing days, it wore temporary bumpers and a shooting brake-style rear decklid — not for beauty, but for airflow data and cooling tests. All of those quirky prototype parts are included in the sale, giving collectors a glimpse into Maranello’s mad-scientist phase.

The cabin tells the same story. It’s standard 458 Italia in layout, but dotted with warning stickers, exposed wiring, and a rather dramatic red kill switch — all screaming “do not touch unless you have a PhD in Ferrari development.”

From Test Mule to Collectible Unicorn

Ferrari sold the prototype to a collector in 2016, after its tour of duty at Fiorano was complete. Now, it’s coming up for auction through RM Sotheby’s Sealed platform, with bidding open until October 23.

It’s not road-legal, but it’s fully functional — meaning its next custodian can fire it up and feel the pulse of the LaFerrari’s DNA coursing through an aluminum skeleton. Before the handover, it will even undergo a full service back in Maranello, as if being knighted one last time by its makers.

RM Sotheby’s expects it to fetch between $1.05 million and $1.3 million, which is a small price to pay for a piece of Ferrari’s hybrid genesis. Because while the LaFerrari may have been the headline act, the M6 was the crucial sound check — the rough, raw prototype that helped redefine what a Ferrari could be.

For collectors, the M6 is more than a car — it’s a slice of Ferrari development history, preserved in aluminum and passion. It’s the missing link between the analog screamers of the past and the electrified beasts of the present.

In a world of sanitized supercars and digital filters, this mule remains gloriously imperfect. And that’s precisely what makes it so Ferrari.

Source: RM Sotheby’s