Mercedes is honoring its historic 12-pot lineage’s power, performance, and poshness with the the ultra exclusive Mercedes-Maybach V12 Edition. The massive powerplant has been a hallmark of the brand since the 1930s, when the first Maybach-produced 12-cylinder debuted in the Maybach Zeppelin. That legendary model, engineered by Karl Maybach, was lauded for its technically advanced features, performance, and ride comfort, described in a 1934 brochure as “the ultimate automobile of wish fulfilment, characterized by distinguished elegance and power.” The Maybach Zeppelin was one of few of its contemporaries that could crack 100 mph.

The Mercedes V12s that are so revered today were born in the 1990s with the M120, which not only powered its most opulent S-Class sedans but served as the basis for the legendary CLK GRT supercar and even the Pagani Zonda. The modern twin-turbo iteration of the German marque’s V12 primarily powers the Mercedes-Maybach S 680, in which it develops 612 horsepower that pushes the 5,000 pound-plus behemoth to 62 mph in 4.5 seconds.

That very vehicle serves as the basis for the V12 Edition seen here, which has been beautified by the Mercedes’ Manufaktur personalization division. The striking two-tone exterior features olive metallic on the upper body and obsidian black metallic on the lower, separated by a contrasting high-tech silver metallic pinstripe—a meticulous paint application that can take up to ten working days. The exterior’s olive metallic also appears on the five-hole forged wheels but the most striking single detail is arguably the C-pillar’s unique Maybach emblem, featuring chrome, gold and a prominent “12,” a direct tribute to the hood ornament of the historic Maybach Zeppelin.

Inside, the cabin brings a smorgasbord of bespoke luxury with Nappa leather in Manufaktur-exclusive saddle brown and complementing high-gloss brown burr walnut wood trim that extends to the handcrafted steering wheel. The vehicle’s rarity is plainly marked by a “1 of 50” badge in the center console and a golden inlay on the rear center console, which features the Maybach emblem framed by twelve golden circles. This intricate inlay alone requires up to seven working days of precise handcraftsmanship. Each of the 50 vehicles will also come with bespoke accessories, including Robbe & Berking silver-plated champagne flutes with edition-specific engraving and a handcrafted key gift box.

The Mercedes-Maybach V12 Edition is only available in select markets, with deliveries to customers set to begin in autumn 2025.

Six years after the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ broke the 300 mph barrier and the record for the fastest production car, a new speed king has been crowned. A pure EV from China dubbed the YangWang U9X Xtreme took to Germany’s Automotive Testing Papenburg track to hit a maddeningly quick top speed of 308.4 mph, usurping the Bugatti’s 304.8 mph.

In the Chiron’s speediest spec, its 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 cranked out 1,578 horsepower. That sounds like—and objectively is—a ridiculous figure, until the U9 Xtreme’s powertrain is considered. According to Car and Driver, a 1,200-volt system features a motor per wheel, each producing a peak 744 horsepower, adding up to a combined output of 2,959 horsepower.

The record-setting driver is Marc Basseng, a seasoned endurance race winner who previously set a production-car lap record at the Nürburgring with a Pagani Zonda F in 2007. “This record was only possible because the U9 Xtreme simply has incredible performance,” Basseng said. “Technically, something like this is not possible with a combustion engine. Thanks to the electric motor, the car is quiet, there are no load changes, and that allows me to focus even more on the track.”

The YangWang U9 Extreme is a more specialized version of the standard U9, a hypercar currently available in China with a 1,287-hp quad-motor configuration that’s good for a 60 mph time of 2.3 seconds. While a foreign nameplate in the states, YangWang is a luxury brand under the umbrella of BYD, which has just surpassed Tesla in European EV sales for the second consecutive month. BYD has a vehicle that competes with just about other body style of EV on the global market, including the Volkswagen ID.3-rvialing BYD Dolphin, the Tesla Model 3-rivaling BYD Seal sedan, and even the BYD Shark, a plug-in hybrid pickup truck.

The U9 Xtreme is sure to be among the rarest of Chinese EV behemoth’s offerings, with production limited to just 30 examples. Unfortunately, no BYD products are currently sold in the U.S.

In 2020, the Italian Sea Group’s Tecnomar brand made waves with the release of a 63-foot speedboat featuring styling a la the the low-volume Lamborghini Sian, which attracted mass publicity and a celebrity buyer in UFC legend Conor McGregor. Knowing that, expect the significantly larger and more powerful Tecnomar for Lamborghini 101FT, the first Lamborghini-branded superyacht, to create a metaphorical tsunami.

Following a similarly inspired design formula, the 101-footer takes cues from the few-off Lamborghini Fenomeno, the Revuelto-based masterpiece that debuted at Monterey Car Week 2025 with a naturally aspirated V12 and triple-electric-motor system, just under 1,080 horsepower, a 2.4-second 60 mph time and a 217 mph-plus top speed.

Much care went into ensuring the yacht’s color scheme matched the Fenomeno’s lime green and black “Giallo Crius” launch livery, and there are plenty of nods to Lambo’s geometric motifs in the vessel’s geometry. The extent of the design inspiration is especially obvious in the stunning image of the vehicle and yacht in-profile seen above. Additionally, the yacht’s helm station nods to the cockpit of the the Huracan-replacing Temerario supercar, with the goal of giving the captain “the same feeling as being behind the wheel of a Lamborghini super sports car.”

More quintessentially Lamborghini design elements, including hexagons and “Y”-shapes, are found inside, which can accommodate up to nine guests plus a full crew across three dedicated cabins. Imagery shows rather sparse interior spaces largely clad in muted gray tones without a rounded edge in sight—even a Raging Bull figurine features the angular cuts seen on Lambo bodies.

As impressive as the design is the powerplant: three powerful MTU 16V 2000 M96L engines, combined with three surface propellers, are capable of pushing the massive watercraft to a top speed of 45 knots (about 52 mph), thanks to a combined output of 7,600 horsepower. That makes the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 101FT one of the fastest boats of its size, right up there with the 7,800-hp AB Yachts 100 Superfast.

“With the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 101FT, we are taking Lamborghini’s DNA to sea,” said Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann. “Performance, design, and innovation come together in a motoryacht that redefines the concept of nautical luxury. It is not only a yacht, but an affirmation of Italian excellence. The Italian Sea Group and Automobili Lamborghini share an exclusive clientele, who are passionate about beauty, technology, and extreme performance. It is exactly this shared vision that makes our collaboration so natural and so significant.”

A likely eight-figure price tag and more info will be announced closer to the Tecnomar for Lamborghini 101FT’s maiden voyage in 2027.

As the new flagship production Ferrari, the 849 Testarossa is automatically one of the most desirable roadgoing vehicles money can buy. But by resurrecting the classic “red head” nameplate, the Maranello marque is also making an instant-classic case for their latest four-wheeled feat of performance engineering.

While Testa Rossa was first used in 1956 to describe the red cam covers on the Ferrari 500 TR’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder—a tradition that carried over to the 3.0-liter V12 cam covers in the succeeding 250 Testa Rossa—the two-word phrase most commonly conjures images of the bedroom poster icon that stunned the world when it debuted with an avant-garde, wedge-shaped design in 1984.

“The Ferrari Testarossa was a very important model for Ferrari,” Andrea Modena, Head of Ferrari Classiche, the Italian marque’s exclusive department handling official certification, restoration and maintenance of its heritage cars, previously told Maxim.

“The car was of course known for its dramatic styling and the now signature strakes leading to the intakes, but it also featured several important technical innovations, such as the four valves per cylinder, the first time for a twelve-cylinder Ferrari road car. Of course the car subsequently became especially famous as it was included in several important movies and shows”—such as Miami Vice—“especially in the United States, which truly cemented its legacy.”

Much of the Testarossa’s appeal was in its stylized design, one that’s clearly channeled in the 849 Testarossa, particularly by the wedge-shaped front end. At the same time, the OG Testarossa’s side strakes are nowhere to be found, and the bridge-like horizontal fascia connecting the headlights is more aligned with that of the Ferrari 12Cilindri and F80.

Generally, “the vertical and transverse lines generate an unprecedented visual scheme, inspired by aeronautics and the Sports Prototypes of the 1970s,” Ferrari explains, pointing to the dual tails, which have their roots in the low-volume 512 S sports prototype from 1970. Additionally, the sculpted upper surface of the door boasts a “three-dimensionality never before achieved on a standard production car,” Ferrari claims. Those tails, which are integrated with the active wing, compose a patented piece of aerodynamic kit.

The Ferrari 849 Testarossa generates approximately 915 pounds of total downforce at 155 mph. This downforce is achieved through several active aerodynamic elements, including an active rear spoiler. The car’s design and optimized airflow channels contribute to improved cooling.

Aside from the limited-production F80 hypercar, this is the most powerful Ferrari ever. The powertrain is derived from the preceding SF90 Stradale—the first hybrid Prancing Horse. However, the V8 gets a redesigned block, cylinder heads and larger turbochargers featuring low-friction bearings, as Road & Track points out. These upgrades have led to a significant jump in combustion-born output to 819 horsepower and 621 pound-feet of torque. Three electric motors—one for each of the front wheels and a third between the V8 and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission—contribute another 216 hp, bringing total horse count to 1,035.

Ferrari claims a 0-62 mph of 2.2 seconds, which exceeds the performance of the SF90 Stradale and its more extreme XX variant, while the top speed pushes past 205 mph. Those figures may suffer slightly in the open-air variant, the 849 Testarossa Spider. Weighing 200 pounds more, the convertible features a retractable hard top that can be operated in just 14 seconds at speeds of up to 28 mph.

Inside both is a new steering wheel featuring mechanical buttons, including the iconic engine start button. That analog feature is paired with a decidedly modern advanced Human-Machine Interface (HMI) system and extensive ADAS features, like Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind Spot Detection. The interior design aims to optimize space and improve ergonomics, e.g. by reducing the width of the bottom of the door panel and adjacent areas, space is more available for the rear bench and the passenger-side glove box. The seats are available in two versions: comfort, with a sculptural treatment of the upholstery and styling that matches the geometry of the cockpit, and a carbon-fiber racing seat.

For those who crave even more from the most powerful production Ferrari, the optional Assetto Fiorano package is available on both the coupe and the Spider. This track-focused trim sheds about 66 pounds through extensive use of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials, including new carbon fiber wheels and seats. Aerodynamic performance is also ramped up with larger flicks and an additional pair of vortex generators, while stiffer, single-rate Multimatic shock absorbers improve body control and handling on the limit.

Pricing will be announced when deliveries of the Ferrari 849 Testarossa begin in mid-2026, followed by the arrival of the convertible Spider a few months later.

“Pebble Beach” is the catchall for what has evolved into Monterey Car Week, with a focus on the weekend when the most important events like The Quail, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance take place every August. This year’s edition was a notable success for many top marques, but none more so than McLaren, which made hypercar history with two incredible, multimillion-dollar vehicles, in addition to other enthralling displays and debuts.

First up was the W1, successor to the iconic, $20 million McLaren F1, which made its public debut in Monterey. With 1,258 hp, the W1 is the fastest and most powerful road-legal McLaren ever, and all 399 examples of the $2.1 million hypercar have already been spoken for. VIPs got to see it up close at a private Pebble Beach party held at Chateau McLaren, a secluded mansion in Carmel Valley converted into a temple to all things McLaren, that was easily the coolest event during Car Week.

As if that weren’t enough, at the Chateau McLaren party, which had a full-on Belle Époque France theme to suit the incredible architecture, the brand staged the U.S. debut of an even more eye-popping hypercar—the “Project: Endurance”—with which McLaren will make its long-awaited return to the top class at Le Mans in 2027. McLaren won Le Mans in 1995 with the unbeatable F1 GTR but has been absent from the hypercar class (now called LMDh) for 29 years. Project Endurance could easily catapult them straight to the podium at the legendary 24-hour race two years from now.

What’s more, at the event, new McLaren Group Holdings CEO Nick Collins and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown announced an historic opportunity for a select number of clients to own one of the cars in a highly exclusive Project: Endurance customer partnership program, the first of its kind for a currently-campaigned race car. The purchase will include full behind-the-scenes access to their upcoming return to Le Mans, plus key team personnel and drivers, as well as a comprehensive track driving program at world-famous race circuits.

“There is a huge level of excitement for Project: Endurance around the globe with customers and fans,” Collins notes. “The opportunity to be one of only a few to own this Le Mans Hypercar and be directly involved in the development and testing program is a very special proposition”—the ultimate gentleman racer’s car. Also during Car Week, the brand announced a no less exciting plan to auction one of its 2026 Formula 1 cars, in another unprecedented offering of a current race car, in conjunction with RM Sotheby’s. 

All of which reinforces the fact that no other automotive brand so successfully connects clients with its racing heritage and prowess. Also on display for the first time in the Americas during Car Week was the McLaren 750S Le Mans, a special edition 750S coupe celebrating the 30th anniversary of McLaren’s historic 24 Hours of Le Mans win in 1995; as well as “States of Endurance,” a further celebration of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Le Mans victory in which specially-designed McLaren Artura Spider and 750S supercars are driving across the country.

The growing focus on McLaren cars of all kinds as collectible automotive icons was reinforced by a strong showing at both The Quail and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the two keynote Car Week events. At The Quail, a pair of the most covetable multimillion-dollar limited hypercars McLaren has ever built, the Elva and P1, both in historic Gulf Oil livery, were displayed in the “Evolution of the Supercar” section by McLaren owners. And McLaren Racing showed a number of iconic F1 cars from the past 50 years in a special class celebrating the 75th anniversary of Formula 1 at the Concours, with their 1988 MP4/4 F1 car capturing a coveted Second in Class podium.

At the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca meanwhile, McLaren further celebrated the 75th anniversary of Formula 1 by bringing three iconic F1 cars to the track: The 1974 M23/05 raced by Emerson Fittipaldi, the 1984 MP4/2 raced by Niki Lauda, and the 2024 MCL38/02 raced by Lando Norris. While two of the cars were on static display, Zak Brown drove Lauda’s MP4/2 in exhibition laps to the delight of the marque’s legion of F1 fans.

Along with the display at the Concours this makes the most impressive collection of McLaren F1 cars ever assembled in the U.S. “It’s fantastic to be back at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion, it’s one of my favorite events of the year and it’s an honor to get behind the wheel of Lauda’s MP4/2, a car the team were so successful in,” Brown commented prior to the event. There were additional privately-owned McLarens at Laguna Seca as well, such as Richard Griot’s important 1967 M6A chassis number one.

All of this comes in the midst of McLaren’s winningest Formula 1 season in nearly 20 years, as it looks like a sure bet to capture both the F1 Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships this year. Much of the Car Week initiatives were made possible by McLaren’s new owners, Abu Dhabi-based investment firm CYVN Holdings, which also acquired a a non-controlling stake in McLaren’s racing division, all under a new entity named McLaren Group Holdings (MGH).

The new streamlined ownership, which has also finally made the brand debt free, is eager to catapult it to the top of the elite supercar ranks, partly by building on the synergy been McLaren’s F1 cars and road cars. “Monterey Car Week is always a great opportunity for us to engage with clients, prospects and enthusiasts alike,” notes Nicolas Brown, President, McLaren, The Americas, who was present for the various events. While not eschewing its focus on engineering, technology and performance, the brand is now making great strides on the luxury and lifestyle side of the equation as well.

At the Chateau McLaren unveiling, Nick Collins declared that this was really just the beginning, especially for McLaren owners and enthusiasts stateside, who turn up in force for events like Pebble Beach. “The U.S. market is more than half of our global volume, and also a huge amount of our global passion,” he says. “And it’s a growing passion as well, whether it’s growing through the race theme or through the road cars…. We just want to do more and more [here]. So you’ll see us a lot more of us in the U.S.” We call that another win.

Like the Rolls-Royce Coachbuild division catering to the top 1 percent of the marque’s customers who commission one-off vehicles built from the ground up—such as the $31 million Arcadia Droptail—Bugatti is now offering similarly comprehensive personalization through its Programme Solitaire. The inaugural creation, named Brouillard, is a breathtaking coupe that pays tribute to Ettore Bugatti’s beloved majestic thoroughbred.

The Programme Solitaire is a modern-day take on Bugatti’s early 20th-century tradition of collaborating with specialist coachbuilders, a practice Jean Bugatti revolutionized by bringing the craft in-house to create icons like the Type 57 SC Atlantic. Brouillard is built upon the pinnacle of Bugatti’s W16 platform, featuring the 1,500-horsepower iteration of the legendary quad-turbocharged engine.

Channeling principles of classical art, Brouillard is dressed in dark tones on the lower third of the vehicle that visually connect to the car’s shadow, creating the perception of a lighter, more dynamic silhouette. Its aerodynamic kit straddles the line between function and beauty, from the air intakes that optimize cooling efficiency to a fixed ducktail wing that enhances the car’s elegant silhouette.

The interior craftsmanship reaches new heights with custom-woven fabrics, green-tinted carbon fiber, and a glass roof that creates an airy, cathedral-like experience. Tireless dedication to the finest artisan craftsmanship is evident in details like embroidered horse motifs, customized seats shaped to the owner’s preference, and a gear shifter machined from a single block of aluminum, featuring a miniature hand-crafted sculpture of Ettore’s favorite horse.

The Brouillard will be officially unveiled during Monterey Car Week as the first project of the new Programme Solitaire, which will create a maximum of only two masterpieces each year, ensuring that each receives complete attention and craftsmanship. These commissions will use existing Bugatti powertrains and chassis while focusing on bespoke bodywork and interior details.

The Chevrolet Corvette just made Nurburgring history, becoming the fastest American car to lap the famed “Green Hell” test track. The Corvette ZR1X spec sheet—featuring 1,250 horsepower developed in a hybrid, twin-turbo V8 powertrain, Qualifying mode and a push-to-pass function—translated from paper to pavement as the most extreme ‘Vette ever rounded the 12.9-mile circuit in 6:49.275 Not only is this the fastest American-made ride to clock a time on the track, it’s also the fifth-fastest production car to do so. What’s more, it wasn’t a race car driver, but Corvette ZR1X vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell who completed the feat, thereby setting the fastest lap at the ‘Ring by a non-race car driver.

ZR1 vehicle dynamics engineer Brian Wallace set a 6:50.763 time in the 1,064-horsepower ZR1, putting it seventh on the production car Nurburgring fastest-lap board. All were U.S. production-spec vehicles, with the only modifications being the safety equipment recommended by the track. This includes a roll hoop, full containment race seat, fire extinguisher, and a six-point safety harness. All three set lap times for the Prototype/Pre-Production category, since the ZR1 and ZR1X are not sold in Europe and the Z06 was a North American variant.

“We’ve created a different kind of relationship between our cars, iconic tracks, and our engineers, it is how we develop our vehicles,” said Morris. “These Corvettes weren’t piloted by pro racecar drivers. They were driven by the same engineers who designed, engineered and tuned them. Brian… and Drew have grown into world-class drivers and even better engineers. Their lap times now rank among the fastest ever recorded by non-professionals at the ‘Ring, which is so cool.”

“No auto manufacturer has done a Nürburgring lap attempt like this before,” added GM President Mark Reuss. “From development through production, and now at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Green Hell, we have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish. These are the best Corvettes in history, period.”

If the C8-gen Chevrolet Corvette in its mid-engine layout seemed like a design departure, get a load of this concept. Looking like a four-wheeled reimaging of the Tron universe’s Light Cycle, this is the second in a series of three Corvette design concepts to debut in 2025—the first being an era-blending gullwing creation from General Motors’ Royal Leamington Spa design studio in the U.K. In contrast, this entirely futuristic vehicle comes from the minds at GM’s Advanced Design studios in Pasadena.

“Our Advanced Design teams are dedicated to shaping the future, driving innovation, and exploring what’s possible,” said Bryan Nesbitt, vice president of global design. “The California Corvette concept is another example of forward-thinking design. We invited multiple GM studios to envision Corvette-inspired hypercars—the first of which was revealed by our UK studio in March. The California team has now delivered a complementary study that honors Corvette’s legendary performance, while infusing it with their own distinctive vision.”

“Southern California has been at the heart of automotive and design culture for a century, and GM has had a deep design presence here for nearly 40 years. We wanted to ensure that this concept was developed through that SoCal lens, but with a global and futuristic outlook. Duality of purpose is the basis of this concept’s design strategy,” added Brian Smith, design director, GM Advanced Design Pasadena.

The tunneled carbon fiber underbody, active spoiler, air brake and large 21-inch front/22-inch rear wheels are the stuff of today’s hypercars. But the single-piece front-hinged canopy, which enables transitions from roadgoing use to open-air track racing, is a feature yet implemented on any consumer automobile. The California Corvette is also envisioned with a T-shape prismatic battery pack to accommodate low seating and better airflow around and through the chassis. The minimalist interior features an augmented-reality HUD that enhances high-speed driving by only displaying the “most essential data,” per Chevrolet.

The UK’s concept was more recognizable as a Corvette, but Pasadena’s interpretation is by far more fantastically futuristic. Needless to say, we’re eagerly awaiting the third and final Corvette concept of 2025.

Dominic Toretto’s original 1970 Dodge Charger is arguably the most iconic movie car featured in Fast and Furious flicks, but it’s a ride from the third installment that just drift, drift, drifted into multiple sales records. This custom 1992 Mazda RX-7 FD featuring bodywork by Veilside just sold for $1.2 million at a Bonhams event, setting a record for both the most expensive roadgoing Mazda ever auctioned and the highest price paid for one of the franchise’s movie cars.

As Car and Driver notes, Veilside is a Japanese tuner known for its aerodynamic kits and participation in the high-octane Hollywood property. This RX-7, driven by Sung Kang’s Han Lue in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, wears Veilside’s Fortune widebody body kit, which adds a hulking seven inches of extra width. The most memorable custom feature is of course the black-and-orange paint coat, paired with ridiculously shiny five-spoke rims, which helped earn it a spot on Tokyo Drift promotional posters.

The Mazda RX-7 FD, the third and final generation of the RX-7, is revered for a few reasons. It’s famously one of few production automobiles to feature a rotary engine, a powerplant configuration that uses a rotor instead of pistons to rotate the crankshaft, enabling high red lines and a distinctive high-pitched buzz. That engine was mounted behind the front axle, helping the vehicle achieve almost a perfect 50/50 weight distribution. The RX-7 was also the first mass-produced car to feature a sequential twin-turbocharger system, featuring a small turbo to provide boost at low RPMs for quick response and a larger turbo that would “kick in” at around 4,500 RPM, providing a huge surge of power for the top end of the rev range.

Built to current specification in 2005-2006, this Tokyo Drift RX-7 was employed primarily for stunt and static scenes rather than drifting sequences, and it’s one of only two examples that survived filming. It was purchased by the current seller and shipped to the U.K. in 2008, just two years after Tokyo Drift’s release—it’s since been driven rarely and had its engine inspected thoroughly by a local rotary specialist. The record $1.2 mile sales amount nearly doubles the price paid for a Fast and Furious movie car—a 1994 Toyota Supra from the first two films that sold for $550,000 four years ago. The final hammer price also blows past that of a first-generation 1967 Cosmo 110S, which previously set the Mazda road car auction record at $264,000 in 2014.

See one of the Veilside Mazda RX-7 FD’s most memorable Tokyo Drift moments—also one of the corniest examples of male peacocking ever put to film—below:

Most of today’s most valuable classic cars would get smoked in speed tests by a modern counterparts. But the McLaren F1, dubbed the “Car of the Century” upon debut at the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix, has managed to hold on to a record for three decades and counting.

The world’s first road car to achieve downforce-producing ground effect was famously developed by Gordon Murray, the Formula 1 designer whose racers racked up 50 Grands Prix wins. While tame compared to the radical Bugattis and Koenigseggs of today, the F1 was unprecedented in the ’90s, with an all carbon fiber/Kevlar monocoque chassis, three seats, zero electronic diver aids, aerodynamic cues from the 1971 Ferrari 312P sports racer, an entirely flat floor that enabled ground effect, and a naturally aspirated 6.1-liter V12 producing 627 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque.

Natural aspiration is especially noteworthy, as RM Sotheby’s points out that the McLaren F1, under the helm of Le Mans-winning test driver Andy Wallace, set the world record for the fastest road car at 242.95 mph in 1998—a speed that’s only been surpassed by turbocharged or supercharged road cars since. That’s to say, the McLaren F1 is still the fastest naturally aspirated road car ever built.

This particular model has a couple of other things going for it. It’s one of just seven original US imports and 106 total McLaren F1s manufactured between 1992 and 1998. More notably, its original owner was Larry Ellison, the co-founder of software company Oracle whose $283.8 billion net worth currently ranks him as the world’s second-richest person, according to Forbes. Coincidentally, Elon Musk, the world’s current richest person with a $408.7 billion net worth, purchased one of the other seven McLaren F1 U.S. imports in 1999.

RM Sotheby’s has more on the vehicle’s history and provenance:

Delivered to him in August 1997, Ellison kept his car for over a decade with 062 wearing a California vanity license plate “ORACLE8,” logging less than 2,600 miles, before it was purchased by another car collector and resident of the San Francisco Bay Area via Ferrari Maserati of Silicon Valley in 2005. That second owner then sold it at auction in 2010 to its current, third owner, having been driven less than 3,500 miles from new by that point. Remarkably, the car would stay in the San Francisco Bay Area with its new owner, making it likely the only F1 to have changed owners multiple times…but never changing its immediate geographic location.

After sending 062 to McLaren Special Operations in the UK for a service, new radiators, and upgrades to the air conditioning to further enhance its drivability, the car took part in the 20th F1 Anniversary Tour of 2012, based around Lake Garda’s Grand Hotel a Villa Feltrinelli. It is shown among the F1s and F1 GTRs in Porter Press International’s McLaren F1 AnniversaryTour book.

Chassis no. 062 is offered with a number of McLaren Special Operations upgrades in addition to the aforementioned upgraded radiators and air conditioning, including aluminium fuel tanks and a sports exhaust (the original exhaust accompanies the car), and is on its original magnesium wheels, with a spare set finished in matte black. It is accompanied by the original owner’s manuals, the original luggage set, the tool roll, a travel suitcase, garment bag, car cover, F1-branded Auto Glym detailing kit, the service modem/laptop, and torque wrench.

The F1 was sent to McLaren Philadelphia in October 2023, one of eight global service centres where servicing and repairs can be carried out in a factory-approved manner on an F1 (and the only facility in North America with a McLaren F1-certified technician). At this point, the car received a rebuild of the transmission (which was handled by McLaren Special Operations in the UK), the fitment of four new tires on the original wheels, fitment of 12 new spark plugs alongside an 18-month service, some repairs to the gold foil in the engine bay, a new battery, and the aforementioned replacement of its fuel bladders with the aluminum fuel tanks. November 2024 saw further service work by McLaren Philadelphia to address the car’s air conditioning system. This work was carried out on location at the owner’s collection.

In March of this year, a detailed condition report was carried out by Kevin Hines, the aforementioned factory-authorized McLaren F1 technician based at McLaren Philadelphia. This report (which is available for inspection to qualified bidders) summarized that “it is evident that this vehicle has been well cared for during its current and previous ownership, being in very good cosmetic and mechanical condition.” Under advisement of the report, the car’s windshield was replaced with a correct, original style windscreen sourced from McLaren Special Operations in the UK. Further to the report, the car’s exceptional history file includes numerous invoices and documents dating back to the original Ameritech invoice to Ellison for the purchase of the car in 1997.

Expect Ellison’s former 1997 McLaren F1 to sell for a projected $23 million or more when it’s auctioned from August 13-16 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey event.