Richard Burns’ brilliant Subaru Impreza WRC car tops Bonhams auction

1999 Subaru Impreza

Sold by Bonhams, £488,500

This wasn’t any old ‘Scooby’ – it was the one built to compete in the World Rally Championship with the late Richard Burns at the wheel. Driven by Burns in the 1999 Sanremo Rally and the 2000 Monte Carlo it was subsequently campaigned to a string of victories by French drivers including Armando Pereira and Benoit Rousselot before being converted to gravel specification in 2004 for Michel Sambourg – who used the car to win the French championship. Acquired by the vendor in 2018 and in need of restoration, it was rebuilt from the ground up using rare, original parts.

1974 Triumph Stag

Sold by H&H, £1800

Bargain or bottomless money pit? The bidder for this 1974 Stag – which has been off the road for 35 years – will no doubt discover which. It had belonged to the now-deceased owner since 1984.

2017 Ultima GTR

Sold by Historics, £53,200

Considering the value of a McLaren F1, £53,200 sounds like a pittance for a road-going supercar that blew everything from the Ferrari Enzo to the Bugatti Veyron into the weeds.

1965 Sunbeam Tiger

Sold by The Market, £36,500

This fully prepared Sunbeam race car was powered by a tuned 5-litre Ford engine. Originally exported to South Africa, it returned to the UK in 1989 and was campaigned frequently from 2000-10.

1977 MG Midget ‘Frogeye’ recreation

Sold by WB & Sons, £4300

With Austin-Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprites now fetching upwards of £10,000, this Tifosi Rana replica looked like good value. Based on a 1977 MG Midget, it benefited from a punchy 1500cc engine.

2011 Suffolk SS100

Sold by H&H, £52,875

This Suffolk replica of Jaguar’s SS100 was said by H&H to have been “among the best examples” its specialists had seen. The Jaguar XJ6-based car had been subject to more than £80,000 of fettling.

1963 GTO Engineering Ferrari 250 SWB

Sold by Brightwells, £806,400

This is one of the first 10 250 SWB Competizione recreations built by GTO Engineering. Completed in 2010 by GTO founder, Mark Lyons – who died in ’22 – the car was sold with parts from the donor 250.

1960 Ducati 125 ‘Barcone’

Sold by Bonhams, £138,000

This works Ducati was ridden to victory by Mike Hailwood at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and several other venues during the 1960 season when he won the British 125cc championship. After Hailwood signed with Honda the following year, the bike was further campaigned by other star riders including Percy Tait and Arthur Wheeler.

Forthcoming sale highlights

• Gallery Aaldering, Holland, Until June 7
  Anyone with more than a passing interest in classic cars will be aware of this 230-lot online auction of barn finds that began on May 19 and ends on the very day that this issue of Motor Sport hits the newsstands. So it may not be too late to place that winning bid for anything from an Alfa Romeo 6C to a Tatra T87. All are coated in filth, but every car is said to have been started on a regular basis.
• RM Sotheby’s, Le Mans, france, June 9
  RM Sotheby’s has partnered with Le Mans and the ACO to hold a special centenary auction at the time of this year’s 100th anniversary of the celebrated race. The house says it hopes to stage “the most significant sale of sports competition cars ever offered” in the form of 24 lots, each of which will have a significant Le Mans race history (plus the 1965 Le Mans starter flag). Find it at Place Luigi Chinetti.
• H&H, Duxford, June 14
  H&H returns to its long-established venue at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, to stage its early summer sale of classic, collector and performance cars. Expect the whole gamut of vehicles, plus automobilia and possibly a few motorcycles (although Vespa and Lambretta fans will probably want to save their cash for the dedicated scooter section being included in the July 12 two-wheeler auction at the National Motorcycle Museum).
• Mecum auctions, Walworth, wisconsin, Us, June 20-25
  No Mecum sale is ever small, but when it promises “the world’s largest road art auction” you can bet it’s going to be huge. Taking place at the firm’s Wisconsin headquarters in the heart of the Midwest, the sale will run for six full days and feature thousands of items ranging from garage signs and petrol pump globes to rare spares, models and automobile art.