When Gordon Murray Automotive’s new Special Vehicles division revealed the S1 LM during Monterey Car Week in the summer, it said all five examples had already been bought by a single person.
It seemed that, not only did the stunning three-seat, V12-powered supercar resemble Murray’s McLaren F1, but the way it was sold reminded the collector car world of how three of the five F1 LMs were also purchased by one person – in that case, Prince Jefri of Brunei.
But now, for billionaire petrolheads the world over, there’s a glimmer of hope. One of those five new S1 LMs is coming up for auction. Chassis number one, no less, will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas on 21 November, ahead of that weekend’s Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Since the car hasn’t been built or even specified yet, the winning bidder will get the chance to sit down with Murray and design the car to their exact preference. Just as buyers of Murray’s McLaren F1 did when that arrived back in the mid-1990s.
A modern reinterpretation of the F1, and of the F1 LM, itself a roadgoing tribute to the F1 GTR that won Le Mans in 1995, the five examples of S1 LM “stand as the crown jewels of his modern era,” says RM Sotheby’s. “The S1 LM showcases the essence of Professor Gordon Murray’s six decades of design mastery and debuts Special Vehicles, a new division devoted to crafting the most exclusive drive-focused cars ever built by the British marque,” the auction house added.
Powered by a modified version of the engine fitted to Murray’s T50 supercar, the three-seat S1 LM – with its driver sat in the middle and flanked by two passengers – uses a naturally-aspirated, 4.3-liter V12 engine that revs to 12,100 rpm and produces over 690 horsepower. It features a bespoke Inconel exhaust system wrapped in 18-karat gold-foiled heat shielding, just like that of the F1. Total target weight is just 2,109 lbs.
RM Sotheby’s has given the car an estimated value in excess of $20 million. It isn’t known how much the original buyer paid for the five examples, but Gordon Murray Automotive previously sold a run of 100 T50 supercars, to which the S1 LM is related, for $3 million a piece. It is likely the auction will exceed the circa-$20 million figure examples of McLaren F1 have recently changed hands for.
Professor Gordon Murray explained how he worked on the S1 LM while successfully recovering from cancer in 2024. “The amount of effort and focus that you have to put into a brand new motor car, you haven’t got time to think about anything else and designing this motor car was a big part of getting me through that,” he said.
Shelby Myers, global head of private sales at RM Sotheby’s, said, “For many collectors, the McLaren F1 LM defined an entire generation of modern supercars, becoming one of the most valuable and sought-after cars in history. Professor Gordon Murray is the living legend who shapes not only the supercar but the very philosophy of what makes a driver’s machine truly special. The S1 LM chassis #1 offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the original creator and help write automotive history’s next chapter, an experience that is truly priceless.”
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This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
