Thorney Motorsport to run its own McLaren auction in October 2026

Thorney Motorsport has announced plans to run a dedicated McLaren car auction on Saturday 17 October 2026 at its facility near Silverstone, UK, with bidding available both online and in person.

In the announcement video, John Thorne explains that the auction is being created because demand has outgrown the workshop's existing sale-or-return route. Thorney says it has already sold 50 McLarens this year and nearly 270 cars since it started offering sale-or-return sales. The business will continue to offer that service, but the auction is intended to give private owners, independent dealers and trade sellers another way to put McLarens in front of a focused buying audience.

The key difference, according to Thorney, is inspection depth. Every car entered into the auction will be inspected thoroughly by Thorney Motorsport before the sale. That inspection will be supported by pictorial and video evidence, and the resulting information will be included with the car's sales pack. Thorney says it will not be carrying out remedial work as part of the auction entry process, but it will list what the car needs so buyers can understand the condition before bidding.

That matters because buying a McLaren at auction can otherwise involve a lot of uncertainty. In the video, Thorne says he has previously avoided buying McLarens at auction because he does not know what he is buying without getting underneath the car and taking it apart. This event is designed to address that problem by putting each car through the same kind of inspection Thorney applies to cars it sells itself.

The inspection material is expected to include a full Google Drive with hundreds of images, covering areas such as undertrays, suspension, seals, brakes and general visual condition. Thorney also refers to diagnostic output, road testing and checks carried out before cars are prepared for sale. The aim is to give bidders a clearer view of what each car is, what it may need, and how that should influence the price they are prepared to pay.

For buyers, that creates a different proposition from a standard auction listing. A car may still need work, and the inspection does not mean that work has already been completed, but bidders should have more information before making a decision. For some buyers, that may mean paying stronger money for a car with fewer concerns. For others, it may mean buying a cheaper car in full knowledge of the work they intend to complete after purchase.

For sellers, the auction will be open to private and trade entries. Thorney has set an administration and preparation fee of GBP 750 including VAT, which covers inspection, valeting, time-limited storage and insurance while the car is on site. The fee applies whether or not the car sells, but Thorney says the inspection data remains with the seller if the car does not sell.

All vehicles entered into the auction must be delivered to Thorney Motorsport from Monday 12 October 2026. Cars must then be collected from site no later than Friday 23 October 2026, otherwise storage charges will apply.

For buyers, the auction will operate on a hammer price plus a 6% buyer's premium, with VAT added to the premium. Thorney has also made clear that the buyer is purchasing the car directly from the seller. As with seller cars, purchased vehicles must be collected from site by Friday 23 October 2026 unless separate storage arrangements are made.

Thorney says cars already being sold on sale-or-return through the business will automatically be included in the auction if they remain available by that point, with no additional charge to those existing customers. The auction process is expected to open several weeks before the day itself, with further social media updates and online bidding details to follow.

The event is also being positioned as a way to simplify selling for owners who do not want to deal with the usual friction of a private sale. A private seller can put the car into a McLaren-specific auction with inspection material attached, while an independent dealer can use the same process to present a car to a more targeted audience. In both cases, the pitch is clarity: buyers see the condition, sellers get access to demand, and pricing is set through auction bidding.

The timing is interesting for the independent McLaren market. Early MP4-12C, 650S and 570S examples are now established used buys, while later Super Series and Sports Series cars continue to attract owners looking beyond the main dealer network. A specialist-led auction gives those cars a more focused sales environment than a general performance-car sale, particularly where inspection detail, diagnostic evidence and model-specific knowledge matter.

Thorney is making a strong claim for the scale of the event, describing it as potentially the biggest McLaren car sales event the UK has seen. Whether that proves true will depend on the number and quality of cars entered, but the format is notable: a one-day McLaren-only auction, hosted by a specialist that already sells a significant volume of cars, and built around condition reporting rather than simple listing photography.

Thorney says full terms and conditions, together with online bidding details, will be published nearer the time. Until then, the outline is clear: a dedicated McLaren auction, on site at Thorney Motorsport, with inspected and prepared cars, seller entries open to private and trade owners, and online as well as in-person bidding on Saturday 17 October 2026.