McLaren Raises £2 Million In Surprise Charity Auction For Final Senna

The build slot for the final McLaren Senna has been auctioned for a chunky £2 million after its availability was unexpectedly announced to a group of insanely wealthy customers.

When the company’s most esteemed guests arrived at an annual invitation-only event, they didn’t even know the car was available. But McLaren had cheekily reserved build slot 500 of 500 and held an impromptu on-the-spot auction where brand loyalty and wallet size were tested to the maximum.

Let’s be honest, the most astonishing thing here is the reminder that, with no prior warning, some individuals can drop £2 million plus taxes on a car without worrying about it.

But McLaren’s move wasn’t made for pure profit, given that the first 499 cars were sold for a suddenly cheap-looking £750,000. The full £2 million will be given to the Ayrton Senna Institute, which provides education to almost two million underprivileged kids in the great man’s home country of Brazil.

The winning bidder also has to pay his local country’s taxes, which, if he or she is British, would be another £400,000 in VAT, plus on-the-road charges of a few thousand pounds.

They’ll be able to have the car built to their exact specification just like any other buyer of the odd-looking Senna. We just hope some of them see the kind of flat-out track action that Ayrton himself would have wanted the 789bhp, 1198kg hypercar to see.

Mike Flewitt, McLaren CEO, said:

“The McLaren Senna is the personification of McLaren’s motorsport DNA, designed without compromise to excel on a race circuit, but legalised for road use.

“Only 500 will be built and to raise such a significant sum at auction for a cause as worthy as the Instituto Ayrton Senna – the foundation that cherishes the legacy of one of McLaren’s greatest Formula 1 racing drivers – is both a genuine pleasure for McLaren and a testament to the desirability of our new Ultimate Series car.”