The colour of money

One of the greatest competition car collections in the racing world is set to be auctioned off later this year.

In what RM Sotheby’s says is the “largest single collection of open-wheel cars ever offered at auction”, more than 40 Indycars – driven by Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti and Sébastien Bourdais among others – as well as road machines, trophies and more is being sold off from the now-defunct Newman/Haas Racing.

The team was owned by actor Paul Newman and businessman Carl Haas; Carl Haas Automobile Imports was the Lola distributor in the US, and this is reflected in the cars offered in the sale.

Among the cars offered are Mario Andretti’s 1984 Lola T800 in which he won his fourth IndyCar title and the 1993 Lola T93/00 that Mansell claimed his 1993 CART championship in, as well as the cars driven by Bourdais during his dominant period of winning four Champ Car titles on the bounce between 2004-07.

Artwork, overalls and scale models are also being auctioned from what is still one of IndyCar’s most successful ever teams. Newman died in 2008 before the team ended its participation in the championship at the close of 2011. Haas died in 2016.

Some expressed regret that a museum is not being created out of the collection. Bourdais tweeted: “Sad day…”

The auction is on October 29.