The auction house is one of my favourite areas at Autosport International.
In previous years it’s been operated by Coys, but this year Silverstone Auctions debuted at the show. As I’ve mentioned previously, a little game I like to play is to go on an imaginary shopping spree and see what I can squeeze into a pre-set budget – this year my purse was limited to £750,000. That’s the cost of a base-spec McLaren Senna, if such a thing exists, or several of these arguably cooler but definitely older cars.
Wandering around the Silverstone Auctions space with my fantasy purse in mind, I’d already earmarked a very cool 1984 Renault 5 Turbo 2 (£63,000), a much newer but utterly desirable Porsche 997 GT3 RS (£157,600), an ultimate-spec yellow Porsche 964 Carrera RS N/GT (£129,375), a 1975 Porsche 911 ‘Safari Spec’ rally car (a bargain at £81,000) and a 1965 Studebaker Lark Daytona 500 (£115,000) which I spent far too long drooling over. Referring to their final sale prices, this had me knocking on the door of £546,000.
Then I spotted something very cool, and for a bargain price, too.
This BMW Motorsport Z4 GT3, chassis #1004, was built by BMW Motorsport in 2010 on behalf of Dörr Motorsport in Germany for use in VLN and the N24. Of course, it wasn’t the only E89 that debuted that year; Schubert Motorsport’s Need for Speed/Speedhunters-branded machines also broke cover in 2010. I wonder where those cars are now?
This car was later operated by the hugely successful Marc VDS team, and went on to take podiums in the Blancpain championship at Magny Cours, Silverstone, and Oulton Park, and multiple podiums in the British GT championship. Since the original build, Barwell Motorsport brought the Z4 up to 2015 specification with a full bare-chassis rebuild, and it remains undriven since.
In my opinion, the road-going Z4 Coupe is still a great-looking car, albeit one slightly tarnished by an association with people who might cut hair for a living. However in GT3 spec, with centre-lock wheels, aggressive wide bare-carbon bodywork and that huge wing, it looks truly insane.
That’s without mentioning that there’s a BMW V8 under the bonnet. And not just any V8 – BMW’s P65B44 4.4-litre is the racing version of the E92 M3 GTS power plant, and just so happens to be one of the best sounding engines in GT racing. I can hear Speedhunters’ technical editor Ryan’s BMW-senses tingling from here.
The good news? Well, brand new this car would’ve set you back €300,000. For a slightly-used race car, this Z4 GT3’s sale price was just £118,125, including a spares package, taking my total imaginary spend to just over £664,000. That gives me a cool £86,000 to spend on getting this bad boy road legal.
Given the same budget, would anyone still take the Senna?
Jordan Butters
Instagram: jordanbutters
jordan@speedhunters.com
Great photography Jordan! Wow! That's some amazing cars in those photos! Sadly I cant afford any of them. One day hopefully...
The McLaren Senna for sure... it is registerable, a current model with spares and technical support, it only takes up one carpark and doesn't leak oil all over the floor.
Most importantly you know you can just jump in, go for a drive and be confident that it won't break down or catch on fire
Unless you are salomondrin (or whatever) who burned his senna
Thank you for actually getting the reference I made
Cars like the Senna are bought almost exclusively by tool bags who can't drive to save their lives. I'm really surprised a film producer has one.
I guess you haven't seen this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzfSU1Kt_o&t=396s
maybe i would pick this Z4 GT3 for track toy,it should be more fun than senna
No love for the XL1, Jordan?
Same here
It’s proper cool - had a good look around it.
Is it weird that I want the XL1 more than pretty much all cars except the 964 and the Safari?
Tough choice. There's many cars only dream-car list for £750,000 that I can buy. But the Senna will likely go down as one of the most complete supercars ever made without leaning into hypercar territory. The fact that it's basically a road-legal race car makes it more appealing than having a garage with 10 of my dream cars, and that's not an easy decision to make.
I'm personally offended by the idea that people here are actually picking the Senna. How boring can yall be? You will have the same car as an idiot youtuber (too soon, his caught fire, denting JDM ism's theory slightly theory), and, in a few years when the hypercar makers have all one-upped it, its ugliness will weigh much more heavily on it
Also, lol, it's weird to try to pretend there aren't spares or supoort for things like old 911s (porsche only built about 600 million of the damn things) or Renault Turbo 5s. These cars don't exist in a vacuum. The BMW would be the biggest hassle, but they made a lot of those too. It's not impossible. Take care of your car and it won't break down (or leak oil, that floor looks clean to me)
Let me explain my "theory slightly theory" a little more...
The McLaren Senna is a simple litmus test to check if a person is a "car enthusiast" who is interested in cars as objects, or they are a "driving enthusiast" who is interested in actually using them.
Having a garage full of old cars is cute, but it is analogous to having a large collection of old condoms
We all know what condoms should be used for...
Nobody cares how they look
Nobody wants the condom that was used by their favorite porn star in 1984
Nobody cares which condom led to the development of the latest and greatest condom
Nobody would put up with leaky old condom packets in their room
Nobody cares about future condoms "one-upping" the one they are currently using
But to be fair, I wouldn't buy a condom that has a reputation for catching fire regardless of how well it performs otherwise
What's a condom...?
That was an intentional joke... I am sorry you missed it
I am a FIRM believer in reusable condoms.
Agree 110%. I'd take any ONE of these cars over that hideous Senna. New hypercars don't do it for me anyway, but that car...
It is called 'function over form', my friend.
There are cars with similar enough function and much better form. They could have styled the car better and achieved the same aero figures.
The ford capri is the most beautiful one! I never see any space dedicated to the ford capri in this page, please talk about the european muscle car!
Your selection over a Senna ANY day of the week
I'll go for that grey 308.
I'd take the Z4 and the Alfa, then a house to keep them both in, likely with pennies to spare.
Senna doesn't do anything for me, unlike most of these cars on auction... and then hooning them with the change left!
Those are some amazing cars but the one car that stood out to me was that VW XL1
The XL1 had the most aerodynamic design and a claimed 300 mpg but alas the Diesel Scandal happened
For sure - it’s a ridiculously efficient little thing. IIRC it sold for almost £90k.
You'd be a moron to buy a Senna over all of that
Driving future or driving past? This is the question
Where is the yellow 964?