Silverstone Auctions
RM Sotheby's
Much like Silverstone Auctions, RM Sotheby's key auction is in the Middle East, more specifically the United Arab Emirates at the final Formula One race of the season. Each and every car in this auction has its own story, some more than others but this auction is significantly smaller with only 42 lots with two of these being automobilia. However the smaller the auction does not necessarily mean that the small amount of lots lose any quality. The auction begins with a slightly dangerous lot for the consigner at least. It is an Aston Martin One-77 which is being auctioned off charitably in order to raise money for parks in Africa. However the car is being auctioned off with no reserve, meaning there is no minimum price it has to sell for. In theory this means that it could sell for £200k but the estimate placed upon it by RM Sotheby's is £1.5million. Next up, after a BMW Z8, is the first significant sale being the 1992 Benetton B192 which was the first car that Michael Schumacher drove in his full time debut for Benetton and driven to a 3rd place in the German and Italian Grand Prixs. This has an estimate of £850k - £1.25million due to the name on the side of the car. Next along is another classic F1 car being the Ferrari 126 C2 which is the only surviving of seven produced for the 1982 Formula One season. This car was driven to multiple podiums by both Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti. This model was also the last car that legendary driver Giles Villeneuve drove as he crashed at Zolder, which ended up firing Giles out of the car and into some metal fencing which killed him on impact. This car has an estimate of £2million-£2.75million. Next in the long run of Ferraris includes a Verde British 275 GTS, a 458 Speciale Aperta, an F12tdf, an F355 Berlinetta, an F40 and a Daytona. Two of the cars I have not mentioned I need to talk about in detail, the first of which being the F2002. This car was driven by the legend himself, Michael Schumacher, in his world championship winning season of 2002. A portion of these proceeds will be donated to the Keep Fighting Michael foundation, which adds to the value of the already valuable F2002. This was the most successful season that Ferrari had in F1 as with this car, Michael Schumacher and team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished on the podium in every single race. This specific car was driven to victory in San Marino, Germany and France, and was the polesitter car in the Spanish GP of that year. The cars current owner took it back to Fiorano for an engine and gearbox change where he made it available for Corse Clienti racing and provided a Ferrari Classiche certification. This plus all the other factors make the estimate of £5.5m-£6.5m seem like a real bargain and whoever buys this will be the owner of an extremely important model. The second car to be spoken about in detail is only the second variant of the model to come up for auction which is the highly exclusive Ferrari FXXK. Based on the LaFerrari hypercar, this is a track only version of the LaFerrari built in small numbers for certain customers. The XX programme allows for 30 of Ferrari's most loyal customers to buy special versions of these cars but not to own them. They are instead allowed to drive them on certain tracks when they want to. The FXXK has 1035bhp which is an 85 horsepower jump from the road car and only has 250km from its one person ownership. Typically, there is no way to auction XX cars but Ferrari has allowed it but, I believe, only through RM Auctions. Previously an FXXK sold for just over £3million but this model has an estimate of £4million to £4.5million, which would smash auction records for a Ferrari XX model. Next along, they have a 2017 Ford GT for sale with prices up to £1million which is astonishing given that the cars cost around £400k new. Sotheby's just keep bettering themselves with a Jaguar CX-75, one of the stunt cars used in the James Bond film 'Spectre'. Originally, Jaguar were going to put this car into production but they ran out of money so only made 6 or 7 prototype cars. Nobody really knows how many of these were made, between 6 to 10 of them for sure. Due to the strange circumstances of this car, the estimate is just over £1.2million as a top estimate, but none of these have ever come up for auction before so this will be interesting. A Jaguar XJ220 is also featured in this auction followed up by a blue carbon fibre, 2014 Koenigsegg Agera R. One of two finished in this spec and one of 18 in total, this was the centrepiece of the Koenigsegg brand until the RS replaced it. This is a fairly high mileage Agera R with 4400 miles when these cars are usually garage queens, as well as an interesting car as it is able to run on E100 biofuel making it an extremely innovative car. Much like the Jaguar CX-75, this is the first time one of these cars is for sale in a public auction so the £2.5million top estimate could be very different. There are a plethora of high end Lamborghini's going under the hammer such as a Countach LP400S, a Diablo VT Roadster and a Diablo VT with 19 miles on the odometer from new. Along with these are a Lamborghini Diablo GT which is a one of 80 model exclusively for the European markets with an estimate of just over £750k max however last year one was sold for £815k in Monte Carlo. The other Lamborghini for sale is the Concept S which was built originally for a design showcase for the Geneva motor show however the customers loved the design so much that it was planned to make production. However, another twist to the tale is that only one mechanical model was made being this one as well as one design model with resides at Lamborghini HQ. This one off has been privately owned but now is up for sale for £1.6million as a top estimate. After the Lamborghinis we have a yellow Lexus LFA and a Maserati MC12, the latter having a top estimate of £3.5million. McLaren are only represented by two cars which are the newest GTR models. First is a P1 GTR based obviously on the hybrid hypercar McLaren P1 finished in a black and orange livery fairly reminiscent of some of the older Gulf liveries held by the F1 GTRs. Second is a McLaren Senna GTR, of which not many are actually complete yet. Based on the Senna this car has an incredible aero kit to make the regular Senna look like a Corvette C8. Both of these cars are set to sell in the £2million range. Much like the Silverstone auction, there are too many insane cars to talk about them all so I will have to just list them with some highlights having a little description. Left in the auction is a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, Mercedes G63 6x6, Mercedes SL65 Black Series, a one of 75 Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss, a one of one Pagani Zonda Aether, a Singer Porsche 911, a Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Touring, a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, a Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport, a Porsche 911 Speedster 997, a Porsche 911 Sport Classic, a Porsche 918 Spyder, a one of one Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead designed for an Arabian Sheikh and finally a one of one Zagato Raptor Concept car. This auction will take place on the 30th November after the final Formula One race of the season.
