Hammer Down

Racers that are going, going, gone

Scheduled to appear in the Bonhams sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 24 is ‘Denise’, the Coupe de l’Auto trophy-winning 1911 Delage Type X. The car won the 387-mile Coupe des Voitures Legeres by just 71 seconds and was sold to Cambridge undergrad Buster Lacon after the race for £1000. He campaigned it at Brooklands for a couple of years before selling it on. The reserve price is £320-360,000.

The H&H Classic Auctions sale at Stoneleigh Park on February 26 saw a bumper crop of competition cars on the block. Among them was the unique 1958 Cooper-Buick Type 45. Chassis number F2-23-58 was the last F2 chassis built at the Surbiton works in 1958 and sold new to JR Lewis, who raced the car briefly before it was converted for hillclimb use with 3.5-litre V8 power. Rebuilt in the ’90s, it sold for £29,500.

In the same sale, the distinctive Kitchiner K3A F5000 car with Rover V8 power went for £12,500, while the ex-Sam Posey Surtees TS11 failed to sell. The ex-Danny Sullivan Elden Mk8 Formula Ford, with which the American began his career, went for £9000.

Highlights of the sale for many were the Group C cars. The distinctive ex-Tony Trimmer/Chris Ashmore/Dave Coyne Harrier LR4 /7 failed to sell, while the Porsche 962 driven to fourth in the 1990 Daytona 24 Hours by Stuck, Haywood and Herzog reached its £140,000 estimate.

Big money went for the ex-Dick Protheroe Jaguar E-type — the first CUT 7 — as featured in last month’s Motor Sport. It sold for £275,000.