You know you’re in a special garage when there’s a brand new race-ready McLaren P1 GTR in front of you, but you zip right past it because of what’s sitting in the next room. Like one of the 30-odd early ‘60s Ferrari GTOs, resting wheel to wheel with perhaps one of the most elegant track-bound Prancing Horses ever, a 1958 250 Pontoon Fender Testa Rossa.



Ferrari GTOs have been known to fetch nearly $40 million at auction, and the Testa Rossa is certainly worth half that. So you can see why at a mere $3 million — which includes a factory-backed gentleman racer series — the P1 GTR may seem like an automotive bauble by comparison. But rest easy, the yellow-and-green liveried McLaren got its share of gawkers at this recent event, which took place just north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

The occasion was a champagne and appetizer gathering for well-heeled car aficionados thrown by McLaren’s New York offices and hosted by Tom Price, a big regional car dealer whose marques include McLaren.

Price’s expansive Italian-inspired garage is a marvel, its ochre walls and tiled roof reminiscent of countless Tuscan homes. Inside are not only a few dozen special machines — plus one stunning Riva Aquarama speedboat — but also a range of posters, sculptures and other memorabilia from Price’s decades of historic racing.

As visitors pulled up to the valet stand (about half in various McLaren models, including the $1.1 million P1 supercar), they were greeted by the sight of a life-size statue of a 1930s racer in full battle mode. Not far away stood Price’s favorite and oldest machine, an early ‘30s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Touring Corto Spider, which has done Mille Miglia Storica time.

“I know how lucky I am,” says Price, a soft-spoken man with a big smile. “We’re just caretakers of these cars.”

To his credit, Price drives his prized collection. He says he’s done nearly 200 races over the years in his GTO, which is astonishing considering its value. “Look, it’s a car, it can be fixed,” he says with a shrug. “The important thing is they’re on the road doing what they do best.”

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The collector says he enjoys having car folks over to see his collection, although the business reason for the invitation is more than apparent.

Supercars seem to be enjoying a bit of a hey day of late, with similar gauntlets being thrown down by Porsche (918 Spyder, $850,000), Ferrari (LaFerrari, $1.4 million) and McLaren (P1). Each mates traditional gas-powered engines with electric motors to the tune of roughly 1,000 horsepower. Add ample use of carbon fiber and aluminum and you’re left with exceptionally light and fast machines.

In theory, there would likely be some gamesmanship involved in getting today’s 0.01% crowd - many of whom hail from the Bay Area’s high-tech set - to chose your gas-hybrid monster over another, hence these sorts of exclusive soirees.

But in reality, these rare beasts typically are all snapped up before the companies even start manufacturing them. So it is with the Porsche (918 built, all sold), Ferrari (499, ditto) and P1 (375, ditto). And the same can be said for the star of this show, the P1 GTR, which is only available to existing P1 owners and whose 30-plus examples are largely spoken for, says McLaren’s JP Canton.

“We are offering what is a unique opportunity for some of those owners, which is not just buying an amazing machine but also (at that $3 million price tag, $600,000 over the GTR’s base price) provides full factory support for eight races all over the world, a driver’s fitness program (at McLaren HQ in England) alongside our Formula One drivers, and access to our F1 simulator,” says Canton, describing a package that has echoes of Ferrari’s elite FXX program.

If you’re hankering for a race-oriented McLaren but the GTR isn’t in your price range, another option exists. Not far from the prosciutto table and across from Price’s ruby-red P1 sat a new-to-market (appearing this fall) McLaren 675S, essentially a race-spec 650S that costs $350,000 (about $100,000 more than the 650S). But Canton says it’s already sold out.

As mean as the 675S looks, it doesn’t hold a spark plug to the nearby GTR belonging to Chris Goodwin. For Goodwin, a winning endurance racer and McLaren’s chief test driver, sorting out the GTR has been a dream job. He says his mission with the car was to dial in a feel for the road that will be predictable for its amateur-racer owners.

“Although there’s only 100 more horsepower (1,000 hp) in the GTR over the P1, all the small differences add up to huge changes, to the point where we’re seeing 10 seconds per lap over the P1 on most top European courses,” says Goodwin, a wiry running buff who seems like he could sprint almost as fast as the car he’s testing.

None of this assembled crowd needed to be convinced of McLaren’s stature in the exotic car world, even if they do own top examples of other marques. Goodwin thinks he knows why pricey cars like these are often sold before they’re built.

“Back when the McLaren F1 came out in the ‘90s, it was tough to sell 100 of them, but I could sell 100 P1s before today ends,” he says with a laugh. “For a few decades there, people with money were buying art and horses. Now? Cars are cool.”