Watch a McLaren Senna GTR Get Craned Into a 57th Floor Penthouse
The one-of-75 McLaren will serve as a living room ornament for a successful Australian businessman.
It's one thing to want your favorite car in your living room, but it's a trifle more difficult when that living room is at the top of a tall building. Businessman Adrian Portelli didn't let that hurdle stop him from installing a rare McLaren in his luxury penthouse apartment
As reported by 9 News, a crane was enlisted to carry Portelli's McLaren Senna GTR up to the 57th floor of the Sapphire by the Gardens building. "It's just a race car, so you can't register on the street," Portelli told 9 News, adding "It was just sitting in a factory anyway, so I might as well, you know, give it the title it deserves." The spectacle drew a signifcant crowd, who watched the car rise into the air from street level.
The car's new home is the most expensive penthouse in Melbourne, which sold for a lofty $39 million. "It was part of the package," said Portelli. "I'm like, if I buy the penthouse, I want to get a car up there, and they're like, 'alright, leave it to us,' and they got it done." Portelli is well known as a car enthusiast in Australia. The 34-year-old has amassed a significant fortune running LMCT+ Group, a successful promotions and giveaways business with a focus on the automotive world.
Getting the car in required deconstructing the side of the building, including the removal of several windows. A crane then hauled the Senna up, with a construction crew on the 57th floor grabbing the vehicle from a specially-constructed platform and tucking it inside. The 13,000-square-foot penthouse itself is still bare inside, in the early stages of construction.
For now, the Senna rests on the concrete floor, with building expected to finish in the next 12 to 18 months. Portelli, for whom the penthouse was a "spontaneous" purchase, will use the property as a weekender.
The McLaren Senna GTR is the company's most potent car this side of the F1 team. The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 is good for a mighty 813 horsepower, while the aerodynamic elements generate a full 2,200 pounds of downforce at speed. The rare beast cost Portelli on the order of $3 million AUD ($2 million USD).
McLaren limited the Senna GTR to just 75 examples, and now it seems one will be locked up for the foreseeable future. ""The car is going to sit in the lounge room, it will be the centrepiece," said Portelli, noting the car "might have found its forever home."
Some enthusiasts will decry that such a potent machine has been reduced to a mere ornament. Naturally, there's every chance this Senna GTR shows up on an auction site in ten years time as a remarkably low-mileage example. Keep an eye out.
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