Elon Musk's Former McLaren F1 That He Once Crashed Wows At Goodwood Festival Of Speed

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, car enthusiasts are buzzing as a legendary 1997 McLaren F1, once owned by Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk, is up for display.

What Happened: A photo shared on Twitter shows the iconic 1997 McLaren F1 parked on the festival grounds.

In 1999, Musk bought the car for $1 million after selling his first company, Zip2. The following year, while demonstrating its acceleration to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel en route to a meeting with  Mike Moritz, Musk had an accident involving the vehicle. Musk said in an interview later that the accident didn’t actually wreck the car but all the glass and wheels were shredded and there was massive body damage to the front and the rear. The core chassis and the engine were fine, he added. Musk sold the vehicle in 2007.

"After Zip2, I had a choice of either a house in Palo Alto or a condo plus a McLaren F1. Took me about a nanosecond to decide," Musk said while reminiscing that there are a lot of good memories of that car. "It is such exquisite engineering & design!," the CEO added.

Only 106 McLaren F1 cars were produced between 1992 and 1998 when production ended. Other celebrity owners of the vehicle include actor Rowan Atkinson renowned for his role as Mr. Bean, Ralph Lauren and Jay Leno.

As per the plaque card in front of the vehicle on display at the festival, the current owner of the vehicle uses it for events and tours.

Goodwood Festival Of Speed: The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an auto festival being held in West Sussex. It kickstarted on July 13 and is expected to go on till July 16. However, as per a recent announcement, the activities slated for Saturday (July 15) have been canceled due to a severe wind warning in the area.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read More: Musk Teases Fix For Tesla’s FSD Steering Wheel Nag Again: ‘Update Coming Soon’