The final build slot for the McLaren Senna has been auctioned off at a private event for £2 million, with all proceeds going to the Ayrton Senna Insitiute.
The Woking-based manufacturer showed off its latest creation, dubbed a track car for the road, last Saturday night at McLaren Automotive’s glittering HQ, before it was officially shown to the public at midnight.
While all 500 built slots had supposedly been accounted for, McLaren held one back to auction off for the charity. Guests at the unveiling believed every car had been accounted for, so it came as a shock when the surprise auction was announced.
Max Girado, formerly head auctioneer at RM Sotheby’s and now a partner in his own company, Girado & Co, was the auctioneer and helped to drum up £2 million for the car, raising more than three times the list price.
All money raised will go the Ayrton Senna Institute, a charity that raises money for underprivileged children in Brazil.
The McLaren Senna is the firm’s most extreme road car yet, with its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine producing 789bhp and 800Nm of torque allowing a 0-60mph time of just 2.4 seconds a top speed of 205mph.
Vivienne Senna, sister of the late Ayrton Senna, said: “Raising this amount of money for the Instituto Ayrton Senna is a wonderful result for our collaboration with McLaren Automotive.
“The Senna family has a long-standing association with the McLaren brand and when the idea of a new model in the McLaren Ultimate Series taking Ayrton’s name, we were immediately interested to explore the possibility. Now that the McLaren Senna has been revealed, we can say publicly how happy we are to be a part of this project.”
