Motor Sport collection: More vroom for your room
Fans of motor racing art, artefacts and ephemera will find a huge range, including these collectibles, at the Motor Sport shop – motorsportmagazine.com/shop
James Stevens Formula 1 prints
The standard team merchandising posters not doing the trick? Why not upgrade your wall-hanger game with one of these superbly striking fine art prints from the mega-talented James Stevens. Having studied to be an airline pilot initially, Stevens began to pursue a career in art after falling in love with all things automotive, and turning his work to Formula 1 in 2021. He has since risen to become a regular in motoring exhibitions.
Stevens’ style fuses photorealism with abstract elements, such as the single block colour background with plain white track stretching into the distance behind. The subjects themselves – we’re featuring George Russell’s 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix-winning Mercedes, left, and Lando Norris’s McLaren, above, but there are more designs available on our website – are incredibly detailed, with sponsors, reflections and light traces all adding to the overall effect.
Each print is limited to just 250 examples, sized A2 (42cm x 59.4cm), supplied signed by the artist himself and complete with a presentation box and protective handling gloves.
£250
Ferrari 640 print, signed by Nigel Mansell
The story goes that British hero Nigel Mansell was so certain Ferrari’s new semi-automatic gearbox wouldn’t last the distance of the season-opening 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix that he’d booked an earlier flight home. His joy at winning that race was perhaps a bit tempered by the loss of a costly transatlantic ticket when the 640 did hold and Mansell made history becoming the first driver to win with such technology. This print is signed by the man himself.
£249.95
Suixtil Monaco Jacket
The problem with dressing for events like the Goodwood Revival is that you often never don those gladrags again, well, until the next year, and even then the temptation is to swap out those oil-stained 1950s overalls for something ’70s psychedelic. But Suixtil brings retro chic to everyday wear, and this Monaco jacket is a prime example. Modelled on a design often worn by Juan Manuel Fangio, it’ll look just as good on the Goodwood banking as it will on your next shopping run.
£199
Ford GT Le Mans set
What’s better than one Ford GT? You guessed, it, four of them! This collectible boxed set commemorates Chip Ganassi’s quad of factory-backed Ford GTs that competed within the LMGTE Pro class at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016. Joey Hand, Sébastien Bourdais and Dirk Müller would win aboard the No68 car. Each car is recreated in 1:64 form, mounted on a display base and limited to 5000 sets.
£57.98
Playforever Midi Bonnie
Just when you thought Playforever’s offerings couldn’t get any cooler, along comes this Midi Bonnie Stars and Stripes design. The firm’s notoriously tough and hard-wearing models often stick to a single base colour, but this proudly sports American colours, evoking thoughts of those early Indycars.
£46
About the Motor Sport shop
With hundreds of special and unique racing-themed products, and many new items regularly added, the Motor Sport shop is aimed at both serious and casual collectors with a wide range of prices to suit your budget.
The expert view
People like me…
Now here’s a twist on the norm: how do you go about handling a person like me? From the outside –specialists, dealers, auctioneers, etc can be quite intimidating, both to contact and then to deal with. But trust me, we’re not.
At The Signature Store we have three main types of contact with clients who are selling, and a variety of ways in which we handle each. The first, and probably most common, is that a collector will contact us looking to sell whatever they have, whether that be due to downsizing, retiring, cashing in… whatever.
For somebody looking to sell an entire collection, we’ll first asses and value whatever they have, and then make three suggestions: we’ll say what it’s worth on the retail market; we’ll offer a price to buy it and pay upfront (which will be lower due to the work involved from our side); or the third is to offer a commission sale. In this case we’ll take the items and work to sell it (assess, photograph, authenticate, list it online, handle the sale, dispatch and make sure the customer is happy), and then take a commission when it goes. It’s less hassle and everybody wins.
My biggest tip – do a bit of research before you contact us. It’s so much easier if you have a figure in mind because then we can work with you – we will have a figure in mind too.
Another contact we get is an estate sale, when somebody has died. These must be handled in the right manner, as often we’re dealing with grieving relatives who are looking to move on items that can have a heavy sentimental value. We often advise not to rush into sales like this, usually to wait to ensure they’re not having a knee-jerk reaction they may regret later. Be sure you want to sell.
The third is when we go out and find collectors who often don’t know the true worth of what they’re sitting on. Many times we’ve gone to look at a collection and found some total gems.
The key to all this is truth and honesty. Ultimately, we’re here to advise, not to rip anybody off. For us it’s our reputation. See, we’re not so scary after all…
Andrew Francis is director at The Signature Store, thesignaturestore.co.uk