The £10.4m, N̈urburgring 1000Kms-winning Ferrari 312 PB: auction results

1972 Ferrari 312 PB

Sold by RM Sotheby’s, £10.4m

What does £10m get you in the world of historic racing cars? If this star lot from RM Sotheby’s sale  at Villa Erba in Italy is anything to go by, it gets you an ultra-rare Ferrari with a spectacular race history. Winner of the Buenos Aires and Nürburgring 1000Kms races, this car – driven by Ronnie Peterson and Tim Schenken – helped Ferrari to victory in the 1972 World Sportscar Championship of Makes. It was then sold to celebrated former NART driver Harley Cluxton, with Walmart chairman S Robson Walton and Lord Irvine Laidlaw being among subsequent high-profile owners.

2018 Caterham 7

Sold by Collecting Cars, £25,000

Anyone who has driven a Caterham powered by the fabulous 660cc Suzuki engine might struggle to believe that the vendor of this 60th Anniversary was restrained to have covered only 449 miles.

2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12

Sold by Silverstone Auctions, £601,500

If you missed this mad TVR racer-for-the-road in our Matters of Moment pages back in June, here it is again post its appearance at Silverstone Auctions – where it fetched a record price for any TVR.

1971 Fiat 500 ‘abarth l’

Sold by The Market by bonhams, £13,250

This pugnacious Fiat proved that size isn’t everything. Created from a standard 500L, it had been tuned to the nth degree by specialist Abarth engineers to create a race-specification restomod.

2014 Confederate Hellcat x132

Sold by Silverstone Auctions, £34,313

Confederate of Alabama enjoyed a moment in the sun in the 2010s when its creations found favour with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and David Beckham. This was one of just two X132s to make it to the UK.

2002 CART World Champion Ring

Sold by RM Sotheby’s, £13,760

This was Paul Newman’s ring that commemorated Cristiano da Matta becoming 2002 CART title winner while at Newman/Haas. It was a star item among 100 lots of Newman racing memorabilia.

1970 Dodge Charger 500

Sold by Bonhams, £40,600 

Few American muscle cars have survived in entirely original condition but this Charger was just as it had left the production line. It was sold from the estate of the late US car historian Tom Ferrara.

1973 BMW 3.0 CSL

Sold by RM Sotheby’s, £247,000

It’s difficult to imagine a better ‘Batmobile’ coming to market than this one. A former BMW press car, its first private owner kept it for 49 years, during which time he had it fitted with a whole new set of factory-correct lightweight body panels.

Forthcoming sale highlights

• F1 Authentics, July 9, Online
  Sports memorabilia specialist F1 Authentics will offer a bottle of Ferrari Trento sparkling wine signed by all three podium finishers at this year’s British Grand Prix – with proceeds going to Sir Jackie Stewart’s charity Race Against Dementia. But don’t worry if you miss out: there are a further nine similarly signed bottles coming up for grabs at some of the remaining grands prix of 2023. Online at f1authentics.com.
• Brightwells, Leominster, August 2
  If you like old-fashioned auction houses that offer variety, it’s worth a trip to Herefordshire to discover Brightwells which has been selling, well, everything since 1846. Vehicles have become a speciality, with the house holding regular sales of surplus 4WD, commercial and military machinery – and, of course, classics. This sale will feature a special section devoted to German-built two and four wheelers.
• Mecum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 26-29
  You know an auction is going to be big when facilities are made available for campers and recreational vehicle owners. You also known an auction is going to be big when Mecum is running it so it’s no surprise that this sale taking place at a complex usually used for agricultural shows will feature 1200 lots and run for three days. There’s a typically fine array of 1960s and ’70s Stateside beef and 1950s fins.
• Bonhams, Goodwood, Sussex, July 14-15
  Bonhams auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed has become as much a fixture of the occasion as the sight of cars running up the hill. This year’s sale will include an impressive array of Aston Martins ranging from a concours-winning 1950s DB2/4 Drophead Coupé to a 10-year-old Vanquish – but one of the highlights is set to be a 1984 Audi Sport Quattro S1 rally car that’s tipped to fetch almost £1.5m.