Monarch of Brunei’s McLaren F1 GT Steps Into the Limelight

Recently, @brunei_car_collection on Instagram—an account devoted to monitoring the whereabouts of former and current cars owned by Brunei—shared an image of a recognized McLaren F1 GT being loaded onto a Boeing 787 in Brunei, ostensibly set for London’s Heathrow Airport. This McLaren F1 GT is seldom glimpsed and typically surfaces only once every few years, as indicated by the source. Per the Instagram description, the vehicle is purportedly being transported to McLaren HQ in Woking for overhaul and upkeep. While the sight of a vehicle being transported for servicing may not appear notable initially, it is the vehicle’s proprietor and the vehicle itself that renders this scenario so intriguing.

Among the 106 McLaren F1s manufactured in the early 1990s, it is claimed that the monarch possesses 10 of them. The collection is estimated to encompass roughly 2,500 to 7,000 vehicles spanning almost all high-end and exotic automobiles, as the video below demonstrates (inclusive of the aforementioned F1 GT). Reportedly, there are over 600 Rolls-Royces in his assemblage, including a unique $14 million, six-door, gold-plated Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II. Nonetheless, the McLaren F1 GT represents one of the scarcest and priciest. It was rumored that the collection had begun to deteriorate in the tropical humidity due to subpar storage and maintenance conditions. Costly exotics and even bespoke supercars were allegedly starting to decay and develop fungus.

This photograph of the vehicle reportedly en route to England indicates that the Monarch (or an individual acting on his behalf) is engaged in upkeeping his automobile collection, offering evidence that perhaps not all is lost. The upkeep of McLaren F1 vehicles is notoriously expensive (sensational) and pretty intricate as all maintenance operations are handled directly by McLaren’s factory crew, and only a handful of technicians are trained to mend these. Just how pricey can repairing an F1 be? Well, actor Rowan Atkinson had to foot a $1.2 million repair tab for his standard road-going McLaren F1 following a mishap in 2011. Despite this and another minor accident, he vended the vehicle in 2015 for $12.2 million, underscoring the fact that these vehicles command such astronomical values that the maintenance costs are justified.

The Drive reached out to the original poster of the photographs as well as a McLaren spokesperson to extract further details, though we await a response.

The Monarch of Brunei stands as one of the wealthiest individuals on the globe. Serving as the political leader of Brunei, the petite nation’s economy is predominantly driven by oil exports. Despite Brunei boasting a relatively high GDP per capita of $27,442 in 2020, per the World Bank, a significant portion of the nation’s wealth, which transcends half a million inhabitants, is concentrated within the Monarch and his family. As per Forbes, his total net worth surpasses $20 billion, and one of the Monarch’s primary expenditures is his renowned car collection. Mirroring the conventions of most oil-producing nations, Brunei’s human rights record is deemed unsatisfactory, as per the U.S. Department of State.

With some luck, information regarding this exquisite specimen may emerge during its purported European sojourn.

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