In what might have been the most expensive game of car spotting since someone invented Monaco, I spent this morning with two of my colleagues wandering through RM Sotheby's 1st December Dubai auction. R.M Sotheby’s started out as R.M. Auto Restoration by a chap known as Rob Myers — hence the “R” and the “M”. It later became RM Auctions, and is known today as R.M. Sotheby’s. Related: Someone Just Paid $11 Million / AED 41 Million For The Most Special Zonda Ever. I watched a Zonda sell for $11M today. It has more titanium bolts than my car has horsepower. And this week, Sotheby’s is in Dubai for a motor auction, and we attended the viewing. The stars of the show were a 2014 Pagani Zonda 760 LM Roadster and a white 2022 Aston Martin Valkyrie Coupe— one of the only ones on the market right now. Even the air at the event was rarified, as was the fashion choice. Even at 11 AM in the morning, as we walked through the pavilion at the golf club, you could see the fashionistas out and about. An Ermenegildo Zegna suit here, a Piacenza shirt there, and everything from Loro Piana to Vitale Barberis Canonico in between. A proper event, I’d say. First, there were the watches. Probably put there to make them seem cheapy-cheapy. There was a TAG Heuer Carrera that was specifically made to match the McLaren MP4-12C - because heaven forbid your watch doesn't coordinate with your supercar. But the real star was a Jaeger LeCoultre AMVOX3 Tourbillon GMT (below) which is essentially what happens when watchmakers stop worrying about silly things like affordability and start showing off. It's got more complications than a Kardashian divorce, including a tourbillon that looks like a tiny mechanical ballet. Chopard seemed to be having a clearance sale of their Mille Miglia collection - five different models, all celebrating various aspects of the famous Italian road race. There was even a Jacky Ickx Edition, named after the man who could drive anything with wheels faster than physics should allow. But the heavy hitters were the Rolexes. A selection of Daytonas that included a white gold reference 116589 that'll probably sell for more than most people's houses. Though my personal favorite was the now-withdrawn 'Paul Newman' 6240 - a watch so valuable they probably keep it in a vault guarded by ninjas. And here's me, wearing a Casio that I'm pretty sure I bought from a petrol station. Anyway, the Zonda. It’s a 760 series, but not just any regular, plebeian, $5 million 760 series. You see, the legendary racer Juan Michael Fangio himself had, shortly before his death, helped Horacio secure a line of AMG’s M120 engines, the same ones that were used in the 90’s S classes. Eventually, the Zonda, the first Pagani, would use the 6.0-litre M120 to power itself, and more and more iterations of the Zonda would come out. Only five of this first Zonda were built, before the Zonda S was announced, this time with a 7-litre M120 engine. Related: Ultra-Rare Pagani Zonda 760 LM Roadster Heads to Dubai Auction. This one-off Zonda has more wings than an F1 grid and the last great NA V12. Now it just needs $12M and a brave driver. And shortly after, the capacity was raised to 7.3-litres, and a roadster edition was announced. To compete with the Enzo, Carrera GT and Veyron, Pagani launched an even more insane version of the Zonda, called the Zonda F. And for the customers who wanted something even more special, Horacio would release special editions, each 5 in number. Key examples include the Cinque and Tricolore. Then, in 2007, Pagani made something called the Zonda R. The only reason for the creation of this car was to get the Nurburgring lap record, which it did by thrashing the Ferrari 599XX with a margin of over 10 seconds. Anyway, after the Tricolore and Zonda R, everyone, including myself, thought that the Zonda has topped out; she’s peaked. But people wanted a road-legal Zonda R, so Pagani made the Zonda 760 RS. The 760 refers to the horsepower of the car, with a redline at 7,500 RPM and a 7-sp automated manual gearbox. And that was the final, zenith Pagani, right? No, one gentleman consignor asked for some Le Mans features to be added to his bespoke Pagani 760. This is the Zonda LM Roadster, and was overseen by Horacio Pagani himself. It is based off of a 7.3-litre Zonda S, and heavily uses technology from the Zonda R. It is meant to be an iteration of the 760-series. And in-person at Emirates Golf, she’s a beauty. Fully exposed, lacquered Carbon Fiber, green accents, and a road presence even when standing still. The last time a Zonda came to a public auction was six years ago in 2019, at an Abu Dhabi Sotheby’s auction. Only 140 Zonda’s exist, and only one is on the public market right now — this one. It’s easy to see why she’s expected to fetch more than USD 12,000,000 at auction. But there was loads more to unpack, and I've already ogled at the Zonda enough. Let's move on to the Ferraris, because there were enough of them to start their own small principality. A whole herd of 308s were gathered in one corner, from GTBs to GTSs, including a rather lovely Quattrovalvole that, if my memory of 1980s Ferrari maintenance bills serves correctly, probably cost its original owner more in servicing than purchase price. And somewhere in he vicinity was a Ferrari 16M, that looked like it would eat the 308's for breakfast. There was even a 'Monospecchio' Testarossa - that's the rare single-mirror version for those of you who don't speak Ferrari salesman - looking exactly like the poster that adorned my bedroom wall in 2008. Then there was the XJ220, a car that perfectly encapsulates everything brilliant and mad about British engineering in the early '90s. Originally promised with a V12 and four-wheel drive, it ended up with a turbocharged V6 from a Metro 6R4 rally car and rear-wheel drive. Despite causing more lawsuits than a Hollywood divorce, it still managed 213 mph back when doing that speed meant you were either very brave or very stupid. This one's expected to fetch half a million dollars, which seems rather reasonable for something that was briefly the fastest car in the world and looks like liquid silver. There was also a beauty of an SLS AMG Black Series on display, right next to a Senna LM that i'll come to later. Tucked away near the entrance was a 1956 Lotus Eleven Series I Le Mans - a car so light Colin Chapman probably considered removing the paint to save another gram. Next to it, gleaming in the Dubai sun, sat a RUF 911 from 1985. For those of you who don't speak 'obsessive Porsche enthusiast', RUF is what happens when German engineers look at a 911 and think "not mental enough." There was even a Ferrari 812 Competizione casually parked next to an F12tdf, mext to a 488 Challenge Car, all looking like they'd just popped out for a quick blast down Sheikh Zayed Road. The combined horsepower count of just that little corner could probably power Dubai's entire grid of traffic lights for a month. And don't even get me started on the G-Wagons. There was a whole collection of them, from a V12-powered G63 that sounds like it was designed specifically to frighten small children, to a Landaulet that looked like it had escaped from a sheikh's personal garage. The whole scene was made even more surreal by Dubai's skyline looming in the background, like even the buildings had come to have a look at this collection of automotive excellence. As the morning sun caught the chrome and carbon fiber, I couldn't help but think this must be what heaven's parking lot looks like. The McLaren Senna LM sat there in its papaya orange glory, looking about as subtle as a firework display in a library. Only 20 were ever made, each one more outrageous than the last. And when I say outrageous, I mean properly outrageous - it makes the regular Senna look like something you'd use for the school run. The modern stuff was equally mental. A Lamborghini Centenario Roadster sat there looking like something Batman would drive if he moved to Dubai. Only 20 were ever made, and this one's probably worth more now than when it was new - which is saying something considering it cost $2.3 million in 2017. Parked next to it was an Aston Martin Valkyrie that made everything else look like it came from Toys R Us. It's basically a Formula 1 car that's learned to wear number plates, complete with a Cosworth V12 that revs to 11,100 rpm. Getting this thing road legal probably gave the engineering team more headaches than a whiskey distillery's quality control department. But the most surprisingly valuable thing there? A Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet. Imagine a G-Wagon that's been stretched like chewing gum and had its roof chopped off over the back seats. Only 99 were made, and at around $700,000, it's the most expensive way to look down on Range Rover owners while getting a suntan. Oh, and there was a Tesla Cybertruck. Yes, really. Looking about as subtle as a brick through a jeweler's window and estimated at $150,000, which is what happens when people are willing to pay supercar money for what's essentially a stainless steel origami experiment with wheels. And on that bombshell, I'm off to explain to my bank manager why I need a loan for... well, any of them really. Though I suspect trying to justify a twelve-million-dollar Zonda might be a bit of a stretch, even if I promise to only drive it on Sundays.
