McLaren sports cars worth $40m tour NZ

(Newshub.)
(Newshub.)

The cars are exotic, and the price tag incredible: $40 million worth of McLaren sports cars left Auckland on Sunday morning for a tour of New Zealand.

Owners from around the world have come to pay tribute to the late Bruce McLaren, along with his daughter Amanda.

By rights the McLaren F1 is too valuable to be outdoors, let alone on the streets of Auckland.

But $20 million price tag be damned - especially with a chance to be part of the biggest McLaren gathering ever.

For Amanda McLaren, the 2000km tour is partly work, but mostly family.

She was only four when her father Bruce built the first ever road-going McLaren.

"I still can't reach the pedals of the M6 GT - I had the honour of driving it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year, and I was still a foot away from the pedals," says Ms McLaren.

With drivers from all over the world, some of the cars have been flown in, while others are rentals.

Budget-blowing rentals too: all up, this week may cost up to $60,000.

"It's not a bad rental but it's not cheap. Not a lot is with us," says McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewett.

With incredible scenery and great roads, it's an easy sell - but New Zealand also has a 100km/h speed limit. And when some of these cars are capable of 350km/h, it could feel epically slow.

Which is why a couple detours have been planned.

Fittingly, the first stop was the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo, with a track just wet enough to make insurers shudder.

It was a chance for former F1 drivers Bruno Senna and Derek Bell to help owners get the most out of their cars.

Mr Bell, a Le Mans legend, also drove with Bruce McLaren.

"Bruce was a figurehead, you think what Bruce did. He would have got all sorts of accolades if he hadn't had his accent, he would have been Sir Bruce McLaren, because who did that?" says Mr Bell.

The Epic Tour finishes in Queenstown this Friday.

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