Rowan Atkinson's McLaren F1 sells for $16m

British comedian and actor, Rowan Atkinson, has sold his McLaren F1.

While the final sale price has not been disclosed, the asking price of the legendary supercar was £8million, equivalent to A$16.05million at current exchange rates.

This is significantly more than the highest amount paid for an F1 at auction, which was around A$11million at Pebble Beach in 2013.

One of the more high profile F1 owners, Atkinson was also one of the more enthusiastic, clocking up over 66,000km during his seventeen-year ownership period.

Famously, that period included two well publicised accidents, the second of which, in early 2011, led to the most expensive insurance claim ever in the UK at a hefty A$1.7million.

In a feature in the current issue of MOTOR, Atkinson explains his rationale for parting with a car he is clearly fond of: "I bought it for the quality of thinking behind it. Now it has become a thing of value, it is time for someone else to enjoy it."

An extremely handy amateur racer, Atkinson was not shy in using the F1's performance, but says it is the McLaren's useability that he was most impressed by.

"You can take the car to the racetrack, but what makes it so different to other supercars is that you don't have to. You don't need to plan a long distance journey with military precision before it's worth getting out of the garage. The vast majority of the miles have been accried doing outwardly very mundane trips."

While any McLaren F1 is a rare machine - just 63 standard road cars were built - Atkinson former steed is truly unique, being the only one painted in its deep burgundy-red hue and the only car with white-on-black dials. Every other F1 is the other way around.

Fortunately, despite the astronomical price tag, the new owner says he intends to use the F1 regularly just as Atkinson did.