Around the houses, June 2012
NEWS FROM THE MAIN AUCTION HOUSES AROUND THE WORLD
SILVERSTONE AUCTIONS
In its Spring Sale on May 16, Silverstone Auctions will offer a key part of Formula l’s rich history for sale. Alongside Ayrton Senna’s 1982 Ralt RT3 F3 machine (£110-125,000), the Northamptonshire-based auction house has included the Toleman car the three-time World Champion drove in his first F1 season.
This particular chassis (TG184-2) is the one that carried him to second place in that year’s wet Monaco Grand Prix. The young Brazilian — who had turned down testing contacts with McLaren and Brabham — overtook 11 cars in 19 laps and was closing in on Prost’s McLaren at a rate of nearly four seconds a lap before the race was stopped on lap 31 because of the worsening conditions. The estimate is available on request, but expect this particular F1 car to reach well into six figures.
Other interesting racers in the sale include a Fiat 500 Abarth that was the 2011 European Championship runner-up (£15-20,000), an original 1965 Morris Mini Cooper S 970 (£25-30,000) and even a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette 396 Big Block racer (£70-80,000).
ARTCURIAL
The French auction house has confirmed several lots for its July 7 sale at La Sarthe on the Le Mans Classic weekend. Most interesting to Motor Sport readers will be a 1991 Peugeot 905 (£580-990,000) — which won at Silverstone in 1992 with Derek Warwick and Yannick Dalmas driving, and a 1968 Porsche 908 (£1-1.3m) that was raced by Jo Siffert in period.
There’s also an interesting piece of history in the shape of a 1988 WM P88 (£120-200,000). This particular car, which is one of two that raced at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, was driven by Roger Dorchy, Claude Haldi and Jean-Daniel Raulet, and achieved a top speed of 405kph (251mph) on the Mulsanne straight. That speed (aided by taping over the air intakes) has never been beaten following the introduction of chicanes before the 1990 race.
BONHAMS
On June 29 — at its annual Festival of Speed sale Bonhams will sell the Olav Glasius collection of Lotus cars. Glasius has been a fan of the marque since he watched Jim Clark aboard the Lotus 25 in the 1963 Dutch Grand Prix. There will be 24 cars offered for sale — which together are expected to fetch over £1.5 million — and among these is the ex-Cliff Allison and Keith Hall Lotus-Climax Mk XI, entered by Team Lotus at Le Mans in 1956 (£135175,000), the ex-Team Camoradi, Ian Burgess 1961 Lotus-Climax Type 18 (£175-225,000) and the ex-Rod Carveth 1962 Lotus-Buick type 19 (£150-200,000).
For Rolling Stones fans out there Bonhams is selling a 1950 Pontiac Chieftain Silver Streak Convertible, which was owned by Keith Richards in the 1970s, at its Hendon sale on April 30. It is expected to reach £18-22,000.
RM AUCTIONS
The lots keep coming in for RM’s Monaco sale on May 11-12 and the latest to be announced include a 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider, a 1966 2065P Dino Spider, a 1953 Ferrari 375 MM Spider and an ex-Schumacher Ferrari F1-2000.
Chassis number 0680 MDTR is one of only two 625 TRC Scaglietti Spiders ever built and was raced by Richie Ginther in period. The Dino you may recognise from page 90, where Gordon Cruickshank has discussed the car in detail. It carries an estimate of £1.8-2.3m.
Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher raced the final car in the list — the F1-2000 — at the 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ferrari factory has recently restored it, but anyone who fancies owning and driving it will need to find £560-700,000.
On August 12 RM will sell a selection of vehicles from the Aalholm Automobile Museum in Denmark. Included in the 175 lots is a 1938 Bugatti 57C Stelvio Drophead Coupe by Gangloff (£200-230,000), and a rare 1938 Maybach Zeppelin D58 Roadster (£80-100,000). And if you’re in the market for swish railway rolling stock, there is also an 1890s Danish royal carriage with an estimate of £35-40,000.