Ferrari - A History of Cease and Desist

 There has been a news story dominate my car related Instagram feed this morning of news that Ferrari has sent a Cease and Desist letter to a small modification company about their design based upon a Ferrari car. This is not the first time that Ferrari have sent legal warnings to 'clients' for defacing the brand or creating a case of libel against the manufacturer. This article will cover some of the past cases of Cease and Desist as well as some of the arguments against the letters.

The first known case of the cease and desist letters that Ferrari sent to clients was aimed at American rapper DeadMau5 and his 'Purrari'. The Ferrari in question was a 2014 458 Spider which he had customised with a sky blue wrap with a pixel art image of the internet character Nyan Cat, which was a video of a pixel art cat with the body of a pop tart and a rainbow trail coming from its tail. Although this wrap was distasteful and ruined the car, in my opinion, this is not what Ferrari were angry about, especially considering this wrap was used to take part in the Gumball 3000 rally, where all cars have to have stickers and wraps on them. The real issue came when pictures were shown of the floor mats and custom Ferrari logos on the car. This removed the traditional Ferrari logos and replaced them with an image of a jumping cat, rather than a prancing horse on the standard car. In the cease and desist letter, Ferrari stated that the changed logo defaced the company and designated legal action would be taken unless he removed the wrap and the custom logos. After a rant on his Twitter, DeadMau5 agreed and removed the wrap to reveal the all white 458. He later sold the car and bought a Lamborghini Huracan and Nissan GTR and did the same thing to those two. The second significant case came just last year involving German fashion designer Phillipp Plein and his green Ferrari 812 Superfast and a photo the designer put on his Instagram account. The image in question showed a pair of his trainers placed upon the rear quarter of his car. The picture seems to suggest that the shoes being placed just above the 'ferrari' logo on the car, that the Ferrari is being used for marketing purposes. This is the reason Ferrari sent the cease and desist letter as a quote from Ferrari: "tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari's brands and causes Ferrari further material damage". The latest case features 7X Design and their GTO Vision, a car I have seen and absolutely love. The basic principles are that it is a body kit based on the 488 GTB platform that culminates design elements from Ferrari's past, as a sort of homage to the best models of Ferrari's past. Featuring louvres that look similar to that of the F40, a glass engine cover similar to the F40/F50 and rims similar to the 288 GTO. However this is too much for Ferrari as they stated "coachbuilding its cars challenges their business and constitutes a trademark infringement" even if the design of the 7X Design is also trademarked. Since that, 7X Design have had to remove all images of the GTO on their social media as well as removing the actual body kit from the car. Since this, 7X Design has put out a statement attempting to revert the decision and save the GTO Vision from "being bullied out of existence by Ferrari". 

The thing is about these cease and desist letters is they do have a point to them. But there in the case of 7X, there are lots of problems with it. Ferrari are complaining that this body kit is offensive to the brand and the coach built car is worthy of a cease and desist, yet they're not the first manufacturer to coach build a Ferrari. When looking at the list of Ferrari body kits, there are many of them, and some look better than others. To list a few of these body kit manufacturers there are: Novitec, Mansory, DMC, Liberty Walk, Hennessey, Ares Design, Misha Designs, Nimrod, Fabspeed and many many more, all featuring uniquely designed body kits and body modifications to many Ferrari models, yet only 7X Design are being targeted by this letter. This provides the first problem in that Ferrari cannot target one manufacturer of custom body kits without taking on all of them which Ferrari don't have the full blown power to do. One counter argument that could be present in this is that some of these body kit manufacturers (certainly Novitec and Mansory), remove the Ferrari logos and use their own logos instead. But if they do that, the DeadMau5 argument is brought up in that the logos used on a Ferrari do not belong there as it tarnishes the reputation of Ferrari. It is evident then that there are some problems with these letters. 

Some people may be asking, why do people make body kits to put on a Ferrari because surely if people want a good looking car, they buy a Ferrari and if they don't like the way it looks, they can always sell it and buy a different supercar as there are plenty of other options. The main reason would be that they want to personalise it to their tastes and add their own personal touches to the car through body modification to make it truly theirs. People may also wonder why Ferrari can't do this for them, which does beg the question as to why? The answer to this is simple. The only cars that Ferrari make custom for their clients are made because the client is either rich enough to buy their way into the brand, or they have bought every single previous model and is a friend of Ferrari themselves. Here are just a few examples of Ferrari's Special Projects programme, created for one off designs for clients. The first one created was called the SP1 and was made for a client in Japan who wanted a Ferrari F430 but wanted it a little differently. So Ferrari brought in an independent coachbuilder who designed the car to the clients specification and was sold to the client for much higher than list price. Another significant one was the SP275 RW Competitzione which in essence was a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta with a few visual changes and a large price for the client. But this example is interesting as the name and the design itself is a homage to a previous car, being the 275 Competitzione, which is similar to what 7X Design are doing by creating a homage body kit. The most recent addition to the Special Projects gallery is called the Omologata and is based on the 812 Superfast, with a very similar body besides the sills on the rear window and a livery. But this car looks incredibly similar to the Touring Superleggera Aero 3 that was unveiled the same weekend. Based on a Ferrari F12, this car is a tribute to old 1930s Italian racing cars but Ferrari haven't sent them a cease and desist for what they're doing. So why have they sent one to 7X Design. 

In conclusion, have Ferrari done wrong by sending out these letters? No they have not. They are protecting their integrity and their brand from being attacked or misused and they have their right to do that. Are they, however, taking it a little bit too far by threatening legal action upon a small body kit manufacturer? Yes I believe so because even back at the dawn of Ferrari, there were manufacturers taking their cars, making them a bit different and selling them as their own. These manufacturers include Pininfarina, Vignale, Touring, Zagato, Bertone and Frua, which to car enthusiasts such as myself, are known as some of the biggest names in the business for car design, each worth millions upon millions. So what if 7X are like those? What if Ferrari are stopping them from becoming the next Pininfarina or the next Bertone? The truth is, they may not become the new coachbuilder to go to, but Ferrari should not shut them down for trying.  

Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance Review - Part 3

 This is the third part of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance review, which has now become longer than originally planned because the Salon Prive entrants list has expanded to include cars that were entered but weren't shown previously. This means that the number of cars in these four classes has near enough doubled, but the more cars, the more fun in explaining them, so to begin is Class L being the Milestones of Endurance Racing. 

The first car in this class is the 1972 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT/3 which can only be described as an open top monster. Built to take part in the World Sports Car Championship, the Tipo 33 follows a long line of Alfa Romeos built to win championships and though this one wasn't as successful it is still an absolute beast. Powered by a 3.0 V8, the car produced 440bhp which was inspired by the lightweight and powerful Porsche 908, the top speed is unknown as each car was handbuilt and there are only 12 units that exist. This would have been an extremely successful racing car but Ferrari had just begun to race their 312P and so Alfa Romeo couldn't keep up. Only one example has been sold through auction and it managed to raise £392,000. The next car is the class winner being the 1988 Porsche 962. Anyone who knows endurance racing cars knows how dominant Porsche were in the 1980s with the 956/962 and this particular car, the Kenwood car, is no exception. Powered by the same 3.0 Flat 6 as the Porsche 935, the 962 was mid-engined and twin turbocharged meaning the power produced was 790bhp, which is around the same as a modern day Formula One car. This example was chassis CK6-88 which was built to compete in the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans where it finished a commendable 9th in class, and was later fitted with the Kremer high downforce kit until it finished racing in 1989. It's been restored to original specification and was driven by Derek Bell at the 2012 Le Mans support race. At auction, there have been a few 962s to cross the block, the most recent selling for £1.5million. Moving a few years on, next is the 2000 Audi R8 LMP900 which was Audi's first venture into endurance racing after massive success in rallying and touring cars. Two versions were created, the R8C which was built for Le Mans and this version, the R8R, which was built for LMP900 and was open topped much like the Alfa Romeo previously. Powered by a twin turbocharged 3.6 litre V8, it produced around 600bhp, the R8 R took the LMP 900 route because of the new American Le Mans series (ALMS) so much so that at the opener at the 12 hours of Sebring, the R8s recorded a 1-2 win. They later took all three podium spots at Le Mans starting the era of domination for Audi in endurance racing. Only one has sold at auction in 2012 and the final price was £1,034,000. Next is the 2010 Ford GT1, which was a car released in the final few years of the GT1 category of racing being active. Having returned to GT3 racing in 2007, the Ford GT was making waves in the motorsport world and so Matech decided to take a Ford GT GT3 and modify it for GT1 usage. Powered by a 5.0 V8, it produced 600bhp putting it in line with other cars in its class such as the Maserati MC12 GT1 and the Lamborghini Murcielago R-SV. Not particularly successful in GT1 in the few years it was active before the FIA pulled the plug, but one of the best sounding V8s ever fitted to a racing car. One was sold in Monterey in 2014 for £1,200,000 which is much more than expected for this car. Next is the 2012 Peugeot 90X which was the best car a Peugeot could be although there was a slight issue with it. It was built to replace the 908 which had won top honours at Le Mans in 2009 and was built as a hybrid version as the previous generations had been diesel powered. It was taken out for pre-season testing at the Sebring circuit but it would never race again as in 2011, Peugeot cancelled their sport division and therefore the 90X never raced. The only example of Peugeot's endurance machine to sell at auction was a 908 HDI for £1.5million. The final three cars can be clumped together as they are very similar to each other, all entered by Aston Martin. The first is their 2020 Vantage GTE which is still based on the old Vantage body so is presumed to be the last one made. The GTE is their top car when it comes to endurance racing with multiple class wins at the World Endurance Championship including a few Le Mans class victories. The second car is the 2020 Vantage GT3, which is from a lower class than the GTE but is still featured in the World Endurance Championship. Again based on the previous generation, the GT3 focuses on the British GT Championship as well as the WEC, with a few class wins in each. The final car entered by Aston Martin is the Vantage GT4 which was an updated version of the Vantage N24 car which raced in the FIA GT4 Championship. All three of these cars are special as they have very few miles on as if they're factory prototypes or owned by the Aston Martin heritage centre. The only record of any of these cars selling at auction was a Vantage GT4 which sold last year for only £81,200. 

The next class is fairly similar to the previous, being endurance racers, though this class is exclusive for the V12 powered cars. The first car in this class is the 1974 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT/12 which is the V12 version of the Alfa Romeo in the previous class. In hindsight, this car was used as a developmental car for the later 33SC12 model. However as far as development cars go, it was incredibly successful with seven out of eight race wins against some of the more competitive 1970s racing cars such as the Renault Alpine A442-B and the Porsche 908/3. Powered by a 500bhp V12 and with the car weighing only 670kg, this car is incredibly close to achieving a 1:1 power to weight ratio, which for 1974 is insane. There has never been one of these cars to sell at auction but Girardo & Co. have sold this exact example before and this car ended up winning the Best in Class award. Next is a 1978 Ferrari 512 BB LM which was a racing version of the road going Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer and this example is a second generation example after the first iteration was not very successful. The body was designed by Pininfarina and certainly makes an impact on first view, carrying over very few elements of the original design as it features built in lights rather than pop-up and the tail was extended to the maximum according to regulations. 25 were built in total and the racing success of the cars did not improve as much as Ferrari believed it would. A win in class at the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans is the standout performance by the 512 as it was almost always in the rear view mirrors of the much more powerful Porsche 935 K3s. Only one has been recorded to have sold at auction which was in 2014 when a 1981 example sold for £990,000 which can only increase in the future. Next is a British brute being the incredible 1988 Jaguar XJR9 which is a Le Mans legend. Built by Jaguar alongside Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) it used a 7.0 V8 as well as a unique design package which had the rear wheels covered by the bodywork to increase aerodynamics and top speed on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. While racing in the 1988 World Sportscar Championship, the XJR9 won the Le Mans 24 hour race and later won the team and drivers championship, with Formula One driver Martin Brundle being the winning driver. It is believed that the XJR9 had around 750bhp which led to an extreme 245mph top speed though it never achieved this speed during any races. This car is also famous for having two iconic racing liveries, the first being the one this example is displayed in being the purple Silk Cut livery and the second being a green Castrol livery, the latter example selling at auction for £2.1million in 2015. Sticking with Jaguar, the next car is a 1991 Jaguar XJR-15 which is known as the car that the world forgot about even though it is a majesty of design. Built based on the XJR9 as a road going racing car made for a one make series that Jaguar planned to run and did so for one year in 1991. Made entirely of carbon fibre, it was built after the XJ220 concept was released to the public and TWR decided to develop a road legal XJR9 as an alternative. The initial plan was to produce 50 examples but in the end 53 chassis were built with a price tag of £500,000 each which was, and still is, extremely expensive. They are much more accepted now as a quality super car than at the time though it has racing heritage in that an XJR-15 chassis was used to develop Nissan's R390 prototype car. The interesting thing is that since the XJR-15s have been appearing in the last few years, the auction value has not skyrocketed and in fact has gone in the opposite way, with the last example selling just three years ago for £270,000 which is half the value of the car new. The next car is extremely unique and one people may only know from the Gran Turismo racing games being the 1999 Lister Storm. It was built as a homologated version of the racing car and broke the record on its launch of the largest engine in a road car since WW2 with a 7.0 V12, used by the XJR9 racing car. It participated in the British GT Championship where in the first season it raced against Chrysler-Oreca Dodge Vipers, Marcos LM600s, Porsche 911 GT2s and the very rare Venturi 400LM and it came out on top during its first season. Later it became the only factory team in the championship as Chrysler pulled out of the championship, which led to a plethora of wins. The most interesting part about this car, however is that it was owned by Newcastle United. In the late 1990s, Newcastle United bought two Lister Storm cars to race in the GT Championship and finished them with interesting liveries featuring many Newcastle badges, leading to variable successes in racing but no improvement to the football team. This exact Lister Storm was sold at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed for £465,000 which is over £300,000 more than a road car that sold a year earlier. The final car in this class is the 2001 Ferrari 550 Maranello GT1 which is a car from the last fine years of the GT1 championship. The Ferrari 550 was never made eligible for racing by Ferrari and so privateers took 550 chassis and developed them into racing cars, the most significant being the projects made by Prodrive. 12 were built by Prodrive to race in the GT1 series and was the final V12 Ferrari to win a race at the GT1 championship. This car has a good record at auctions especially recently as RM Sotheby's sold a 2001 550 GT1 by Prodrive during their Monterrey online auction this summer for £4.29million which is the most expensive car ever sold during an online auction, even beating a Ferrari Enzo and a Ferrari 275 GTB. 

This next class is a very small one with only two cars in the whole class but it is a special class as it celebrates the road going McLaren F1. The first car is one that has appeared at both the 2018 and 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed being McLaren F1 chassis 028 which has a remarkable story behind it. Firstly it is believed to be the only example finished in Grand Prix Red and that paired with a cream interior looks absolutely stunning and this car was owned by a very famous racing driver. In 1993, Michael Andretti was gifted this car by McLaren as a contractual obligation for his stint with the F1 team for that season, though he kept the car in the UK for storage. It was later displayed as the promo car for McLaren at the 1995 Goodwood Festival of Speed before changing hands to Tokyo before going to the US. It then was sold as part of a multi car sale deal so the owner could buy a Ferrari 250 Testarossa before being delivered to DK Engineering and now resides in the UK with its new owner. The second and final car of the class is the McLaren F1 chassis 037 which has a lot less known about it. What is known is that it resides in the UK and is finished in Special Silver over grey alcantara which is a fairly common McLaren F1 spec. The car has made its way around the world with its various owners as it has been spotted in Newport Beach as well as Johannesberg before being spotted at Donington Park for the recent SupercarDriver Super Secret Meet where it featured alongside many other hypercars for one of the best gatherings of cars ever. Auction prices of McLaren F1s have always been high and the last road car to sell at auction was sold for £15,650,000 which is now seen as cheap for a McLaren F1. 

The final class of this section of the review focuses on the racing versions of the McLaren F1 and there are four beautiful examples to gawp at. The first example is the McLaren F1 GTR #13R which is finished in the black and red Lark livery. The GTR was the first racing version of the F1 and this example was sold by McLaren originally to Japan and Team Goh Racing (which would become Team Lark McLaren) alongside a second F1 GTR. It was displayed at an auto museum in Japan for a long time alongside a McLaren F1 road car and the extremely rare F1 GT. In terms of race history, it won the All Japan Grand Touring Championship in 1996 with Ralf Schumacher as the lead driver with three wins in total. Since its racing days, the current owner took the car to McLaren to get the car road legalised at a cost of around £200,000 and since then has been seen at many UK events including the Goodwood Breakfast meets and the Festival of Speed. The next car has quite an interesting story to it because it was not a purpose built GTR but a converted road car, built to GTR specification in 1994. It did enter the legendary 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, but was the one F1 that failed to finish in the same race the F1s dominated with 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th. However the following year it managed to finish 6th at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Due to this car originally being a road car, it did not need to undergo the road legality conversion and therefore it has been seen a few times on the road. The car is finished in the red and white UenoClinic livery. The next car is the first of the Longtail variations of the F1 which was built for the FIA GT1 championship and the 1997 Le Mans regulations and is one of only ten built. This one has been finished in many liveries originally being a Lark livery as this was sold to Team Goh in Japan same as 13R, failing to finish the 1997 Le Mans race. It later traded through different teams featuring a yellow Parabolica livery (which the car is finished in now) as well as a full Papaya Orange spray. The final car in class is 28R which is finished in the most famous Longtail livery, the Gulf Warsteiner livery. This car is actually a rebuild of chassis 27R after it was damaged during transport but was later rebuilt as chassis 28R as a spare car for the FIA GT Championship. This car does not have much racing history as by the time it came to be raced it was used as a spare car and never actually raced. When it comes to auction records of F1 GTRs and GTR Longtails, there have actually been a few to come to auction. The only F1 Longtail to sell at auction was in 2014 with the FINA liveried BMW F1 GTR Longtail which sold for £5.2 million, and there's only been F1 LMs to sell at auction rather than GTRs and the most recent sold for £19.8 million a few years ago. 

The final two classes will be in the final review of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance and those classes include some 90s supercars and some future classics which has around 10 cars in it which should be incredible. 

Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance Review - Part 2

This is part two of the review of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance event for 2020. This piece will cover the next four classes of the event from Classes H to K, with each section detailing the cars entered as well as announcing the best in class winners.

The first class of this section is the Post War Touring (Open) class which is for convertible cars or roofless cars from the post war era and there were some gems in this class. The first car is a 1948 Delahaye 135 M by Pennock. This French luxury sports car was completely bespoke and generally have coachbuilt bodies meaning no two Delahaye 135 Ms are the same. Fitted with a cast iron 3.6l Inline-Six, it produced 115hp which gave it a top speed of only 100mph but 0-60mph could be achieved in under 10 seconds which for 1948 is truly, incredibly fast. It had to be fast too, as it has history in Grand Prix, rally and endurance racing making it a true sports car of the time. Auction records show that the prices have hovered over £150,000 consistently, making it affordable for all that class. Next up is the 1949 MG YT, fully restored by Bridge Classic Cars, which is one of only 877 produced and was not a commercial success. Launched at Geneva in 1948, this was available in right and left hand drive as an open topped version of the YA, known as the Y Tourer. This was at a time when many British manufacturers were failing to sell open topped variants of their cars and unfortunately this car was axed two years after its launch. At auction, they tend to top around £25,000 as they're not too desirable in today's market. Next up is a 1961 Fiat-OSCA 1500-S Pininfarina which is mostly famous for preceding the legendary Fiat 124 Spider. Built by Fiat in the classic style of two doors, two seats, front engined and rear drive, which they would continue with sports cars they made up until this day. As this example is the OSCA version, it had a peppier 1.5 litre twin-cam engine which gave it 71bhp but in a car that weighed less than a tonne that was more than enough. Pricing at auction is generally around £80,000 which seems like a good investment for a car like that. The next car is the 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Short Chassis Volante by Touring. This car is a masterpiece. Built to replace the legendary DB5, the DB6 was a bit slow off the starting blocks with the design being passed from Touring to Aston Martin and then back again meaning the car looked dated even when it first launched, with resemblances to the old DB5 and was therefore not popular with the standard Aston Martin fanbase at the time. Overtime though, like many cars, people came to love and appreciate the DB6 and especially the Volante as shown in the auction results as, in the last few years especially, the prices are around £500,000 increasing to £600,000 quickly. The final car is a 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS by Scaglietti which won this class with flying colours, those colours being dark blue with a tan interior which is one of the best specs for any Ferrari. This example had just undergone a full nut and bolt by DK Engineering making it absolutely spotless. This restoration took three years to complete and has to be one of the most pristine Ferrari Dino 246 GTSs in the world. Known as one of the best V6 cars that Ferrari ever made, the 246 Dino GTS shared the same engine as the legendary Lancia Stratos rally car and gave the road going Ferrari a top speed of 148mph which was ridiculous for 1973. Auction results show this particular model is on the rise much like the other cars featured in the concours, with prices rising above the £250,000 barrier.

The next class is the Post War Touring (Closed, Two-Seater) and features a lot of valuable machinery beginning with a one off 1958 Jaguar XK150. This one is bodied by Bertone and is thought to be the only remaining Bertone XK150. Jaguar had previously sent three XK120s and XK140s to be converted by Bertone into a fixed-head coupe, drophead coupe and a roadster and the XK150 was no exception. It is alleged that they were sent to Bertone to try to come up with a concept to replace the XK150. This is the only one believed to remain as the other two haven't been seen for decades. Next up is the winner of the class being a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 Series II. The Series I DB4 has an issue with overheating in the oil cooler and therefore the Series II fixes this issue. Based on the same body as the Series I, the Series II features Touring design and only around 350 examples were built between 1960 and 1961. In terms of auctions, the DB4 has always been a high seller, especially in Zagato form, and can range between £450,000 and £550,000. This car also won the best in class for this category. Next is a 1966 Ford GT40 Mk1, a car famous for beating Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but this is the road legal version. Built at the same time as the race cars, there were 30 out of 87 cars built for the road making them a rarity among rarities. The road car was obviously downgraded from the racing version but with 335bhp from the Ford Fairline V8 fitted by Shelby American is still no slouch. When it comes to auctioning these, there is hardly a car that dips under £2 million. The last Ford GT40 Mk1 to sell at auction came in 2016 where one sold for £2.9 million. The penultimate car in this class was the 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S, which to many is regarded as the first supercar. Some believe the Mercedes 300SL was a supercar before the Miura but it focused more on luxury than speed. The Miura is one of the true great cars, featured in the opening of The Italian Job, a 0-60mph time of under 6 seconds and with only 140 produced, rare as anything. In terms of auction history, Miuras of any variation always do well and the P400S is currently hovering around the £1 million price tag but as time goes on, the price will only go up. Finally for this class is the 1974 Dino 246 GT, not badged as a Ferrari Dino which is unique. This is because the 206 Dino was not a true Ferrari with heavy steering and pig-looks, so much so that people called them Dinos and not Ferraris. This example of the 246 GT is unique as it is finished with a green exterior and green leather interior, making it a true one off. The last Dino 246 GT to sell at auction sold for a respectable £440,000 as it is the mid range car, but even so the prices keep on rising. 

The penultimate class of this list is the Post War Touring (Closed, 4-Seater) and the first car in this class is actually the class winner, being the 1960 Citroen DS19 Le Paris. This was a small production, custom build by the French coachbuilder, Henri Chapron and he was the person to create the Citroen DS Decapotable, the convertible DS as Citroen did not agree with it being a model in their range. The Le Paris was a coupe hard-top version of the DS convertible conversion and was produced in a tiny run of nine cars, as Chapron had run out of money to buy the DS Coupes in 1959. Due to the rarity of this car, the auction records are very slim but one sold for £148,560. Next is a 1962 Maserati 3500 GTI, which is believed to be the first car to wear the famous GTI badge. Bodied by Touring, this car cost over £10,000 new which was the same sort of price as the top range Ferraris at the time, with 235bhp and a top speed of 144mph it was truly a brilliant sports car even though it looks more like a GT car. This car also preceded the legendary 5000 GT and the most recent to sell at auction sold for just over £126,000. Next is an extremely famous car being a 1963 Aston Martin DB5 by Superleggera. Known mostly for being the James Bond Aston Martin, the DB5 is possibly the most famous Aston Martin car ever produced and to some extent one of the rarest with just 886 produced in the three years it was in production. Even though this example doesn't have machine guns in the front headlamps, spikes in the bumper or an ejector seat but it is still a brilliantly beautiful car. Auction prices of DB5s have always been high and recently have gotten over the £500,000 mark. The final car in the class is another Aston Martin being the 1966 DB6 Vantage Sports Series, which was a performance version of the DB6 that was produced at the same sort of time as the DB5 which is strange considering the DB6 is the successor to the DB5. The Vantage specification had 325bhp which for 1966 was unheard of and had a top speed of around 150mph, it is not known because as each car was coachbuilt so many figures were different. At auctions, the DB6 is still undervalued compared to the 4 and the 5 but the average price of a DB6 is still around £300,000. 

The final class to be covered in this section is the Passione Ferrari class which, quite obviously, is a showcase of the best Ferraris the world has ever seen. The first of these masterpieces is the 1949 166 Inter Coupe which was the first road car Ferrari made, derived from the technology used in their racing cars at the time. Rumoured to be one of only 20 produced, the car produced 110bhp which is a similar figure to many small cars today and had a top speed of just 105mph which, by today's standards, is extraordinarily slow. However the sheer beauty of this car is something else and its production led to one of the greatest manufacturers of all time, which is reflected in auction results with the most recent sale recorded just shy of £1million. Next is the 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Coupe which followed the 166 in the evolution of Ferrari and came at a time when Enzo Ferrari was selling detuned racing cars (the 212 being an example). The interesting thing about the 212 is that no two are the same, as many coachbuilders were responsible for the design elements. The Vignale bodied cars are famous due to the fact Ferrari sent two to be a part of the Carrera Panamericana, a rally in the US, which it won with flying colours to the surprise of the runners of Ford and other American muscle cars. The last example to sell at auction went for £1.6million and much like many of these cars, that value continues to rise. Next is the class winner, the 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, one of the more famous in class. The 250 nameplate in the automotive world is renowned for style and expense especially the GT models such as this one. The 250 Lusso was known as the luxury version of the standard 250 GT sports car but inherited racing DNA from its bigger brother, the legendary 250 GTO, and therefore many of their owners took the GT/L racing. This led to the later models of the Short Wheelbase and the Competitzione coming to sale. This car is the first big seller at auction for this class with prices averaging at £1.5million but some examples increase to over two million. Next is the beautiful 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB/6C built originally because the previous generation of racing car, the 250LM, could not meet homologation standards and therefore Ferrari had to race the 275 instead. It's beautiful curves make it one of the prettiest cars of all time, some would say even rivalling the likes of the Lamborghini Miura or the Mercedes 300SL. The body while similar to that of the 250 GTO, several elements were changed thanks to the Pininfarina design and Scaglietti construction. This example is also finished in blue with a cream interior which is an insane specification. Auction prices are on the rise like many classic Ferraris with the last one to cross the block selling for £3,010,000. Next is a car already covered in a previous class being a 1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GT and due to the fact it's already been covered, there's no need to repeat it. Next then is a 1973 Ferrari Daytona which to some is the greatest looking car ever made. The last classic-era front engined V12, the Daytona features a long stretching bonnet and took over where the 275 left off. The Daytona had a very big rival in the form of the Lamborghini Miura and there are still debates to this day about which is the better car and which is the prettier car, but in terms of being a supercar, the Daytona wins with a top speed of 170mph if the owner was brave enough to use fifth gear, making it the world's fastest car at the time. Auction records show Daytonas selling for a wide variety of prices but they currently sell for around £700,000. Finally in this class is the 1975 Ferrari 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer which is the rarest car of the Ferrari BB series and ended up being a pinnacle for Ferrari as it featured an F1 derived V12 engine and was the first mid engined Ferrari sports car. While Lamborghini had introduced the Espada and Silhoette which was wowing the world, Ferrari and their mid engined layout kept the 365 a capable sports car. With only 387 examples created before being replaced by the 512 Berlinetta Boxer, it remains to be exceptionally rare with the last auction sale recording just over £420,000.

This concludes the second part of the Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance review which is proving to be a challenge but it has started so it will be finished. The next section will include Classes L to O which are Milestones of Endurance Racing, Milestones of Endurance Racing (V12s), Celebrating the McLaren F1 (Road) and Celebrating the McLaren F1 (Race) which should be really interesting as endurance racing cars are incredibly interesting and the McLaren F1 is an outright legend. 

The SSC Debacle

Over the last week and a half, there has been one motoring story that has grabbed more headlines than any other event. This being the SSC Tuatara's land speed record attempt for a production car. Whenever a road legal car sets a new fastest speed, the motoring world usually stands still in awe at the speeds modern cars can reach and then move onto whatever can break that record. However, more than ever, this record attempt has come under fire from some of the biggest names of the motoring journalism industry, and therefore I felt it's only right to give my opinion on the scenario.

Beginning with some background information, SSC is an American car manufacturer famous mostly for their land speed record back in 2007 with their car, the Ultimate Aero. It was built by Jerod Shelby as a "drivers car" as he said that he wanted to make the car a real drivers car, hence why it had no traction control, no anti lock brakes and no electronic driver aids. It was the first American car to hold the crown of fastest production car as it reached a top speed of 254mph in a single run, meaning it was not an official record as official records require a run both ways to get an average speed. Nevertheless, this was a ridiculously quick car, only beaten by the Bugatti Veyron SuperSport in 2010 with a top speed of 268mph. At the time it was also the most powerful production car with 1,180bhp from the engine used by Corvette in their C5-R endurance car, meaning it was always on the radar with car enthusiasts. But after this, they seemingly disappeared to work on the successor known as the Tuatara. The concept for this car was released in 2011 at Pebble Beach but after the concept nothing was heard from SSC until late 2019 when they announced a production version of the Tuatara was to be made, after 8 years of design. The first customer car was shown at the Philadelphia Motor Show in early 2020 where it was rumoured they would carry out a top speed run to attempt to defeat the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 278mph. Since this claim, the Bugatti Chiron Supersport clocked an insane speed of over 300mph meaning the Tuatara had a tall mountain to climb. On October 10, 2020, the SSC allegedly recorded a top speed of 331mph and an average over two runs of 316mph. This is where the problems begin.

Since the record run was published, many sources have claimed that a video published by SSC does not mathematically equate the speed at which they claimed the car managed to do. Popular YouTube personality and automotive journalist Shmee150 (real name Tim Burton) brought out a video a few days ago critiquing the video and the run itself in that it cannot have reached the speed that was claimed. Using a comparison between the Koenigsegg Agera RS top speed run and the SSCs run (as they used the same stretch of road), Tim discovered that given the speed at which the cars were travelling, it was an impossibility for the SSC to be doing the speed it was. The video showed an angle where a junction is visible out of the window, and Tim measured the length of time it took each car to reach the next junction, a distance of 1.13 miles. The Koenigsegg and SSC were put together and he measured the time it took each car to cover that 1.13 miles and at what speed. The videos showed that the Koenigsegg covered the distance the quickest, yet the SSC was allegedly moving at a faster speed. This is quite obviously a mathematical impossibility which has raised questions into the legitimacy of the run. 

BBC Top Gear recently got into contact with Jerod Shelby who is not the CEO of SSC, to ask questions regarding the run. So far they have confirmed that the footage used does not coincide with the telemetry footage which shows why the timings did not correlate as Tim pointed out. They also came under fire for blurring the dashboard meaning no one could read the speed on the speedometer. The speedometer of the Tuatara can also only reach 300mph meaning any speed recorded above that is just shown as 300, which has led to some enquiry also. At this stage SSC have accepted the speed as it was done and stand by that their car achieved the speed it did, but an investigation is currently taking place to find out whether the speed was legitimate and whether it can stand or not. At the moment, I do not take any stance on this but as the Ultimate Aero is one of my favourite cars from the late 2000s, I really wish they are able to do it. 

Sources

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/ssc-responds-331mph-video-accusations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3daTG4_JS_4&feature=emb_logo 

Salon Prive Concours D'Elegance Review - Part 1

 The time of year has come around of the Salon Prive automotive show held at Blenheim Palace and with that, another Concours D'Elegance for classics to be judged and best in class awards to be handed out. In lieu of Covid-19, there has only been one other Concours event so far this year at Hampton Court Palace with the 1970 Porsche 917K coming out on top. This article will go through each of the first four car classes of this year's Concours, giving a brief description of each of the entrants and releasing the winning cars. 

The first class of cars was Veterans at the Palace which is a class for pre-1920 cars and had four entrants this year. The first entrant was a 1904 Napier L49, known as the best car in the world before Rolls-Royce adopted the catchphrase in the post-war era, and press at the time of its release labelled it as the 'King of Cars'. This particular example was owned by the ruler of the Hyderabad State in India and who was, at the time, the richest man in the world. The car was later discovered in an Argentinean barn alongside two Bugattis, and last year won the best of show at Hampton Court Palace. The next entrant, the MMC 9hp from 1904, has very little information about it. It was produced by Motoring Manufacturing Company of Coventry, a very short lived manufacturer that produced less than five examples of the 9hp. It is documented that this example had its wheels turned for the first time in over a century when it took part in the 2018 London to Brighton rally. The penultimate entrant of this class was the 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Open Tourer. The Silver Ghost nameplate was not standard on this car as it was known as the 40/50 but this car struck an accord with its owner so much that the nickname became the standard nameplate. Since its conception, this car has been rallied through most of its life and even, in 1977, took part in the Queen's Jubilee Parade through Windsor Castle to the Ascot Racecourse. It even came up for sale at Brooklands Motor Museum at a Historics auction where it failed to sell at an estimate of £350,000 to £450,000. The winner of the class was a 1919 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost which had the higher closed top body rather than the open top version mentioned previously. This example was sold in a era of five years (1917-1922) where Rolls-Royce sales were declining due to other manufacturers entering the market, and therefore is one of only 430 sold in that era. It also featured limousine bodywork making it a very desirable, which could be a reason it won Best in Class for Veterans at the Palace. 

The next class was Pre War Touring and the first car in this class was the 1924 Bentley 3 Litre Sports which was produced between 1921 and 1929. The Sports variant was the second most common of the variants with 513 examples produced and was known as the Red Label model which was the second fastest example and didn't feature a large roofline like the standard 3 Litre. It is mainly known for being the predecessor to the legendary 4 1/2 Litre Bentley which, when supercharged, became one of the greatest racing cars of the 20th Century, as well as the Blower Bentley. The next entrant was a 1936 Lancia Astura Pininfarina 'Bocca' Cabriolet which is one of only six produced between 1933 and 1936. Built to replace the Lamba, the Astura used a 2.6l V8 which produced 72bhp, paired to a four speed manual gearbox which sent the power to the rear wheels. There are some versions which can have up to 82bhp because it was a coachbuilt car so not all examples were the same. Next was a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental, which sounds strange as the name 'Continental' is usually associated with either Lincoln or modern Bentleys. This car however started as a coachbuilt one off short wheelbase Phantom which received no interest from the marketing department of Rolls until it won best in show at Biarritz Concours in 1930, when the sales department named the car the 'Continental Saloon', wrote a brochure and priced it. 281 examples were later produced. Next is a really interesting car being the Hispano Suiza J12, the ultimate combination of Swiss styling, Spanish money and French engineering. This car was built to rival Rolls-Royce and Dusenberg in the extraordinarily high end of the luxury car market, aiming at luxurious custom built models for high end clients. The J12 is no exception with only 120 being built, each in either saloon, coupe, cabriolet or roadster forms. This example is a roadster which makes it an even rarer car and the last example to sell at auction was just over £2million which should all indicate a best in class award but there was one other car which stopped the Hispano Suiza from winning the class. That car was the SS Jaguar 100 2.5, which surprisingly is not an actual Jaguar car. Built by SS Cars, its predecessor the SS90 had a top speed of 90mph and had the shape of the MGs at the time making it a brilliant little British sports car. The SS 100 however could top the legendary 100mph mark making it a very fast car for the time and most were built as factory-bodied roadsters with only one coupe ever made. During the Second World War, production of the SS100 ceased and in 1945, Jaguar bought SS Cars but due to the nazi connotations, the SS 100 was stopped but engineering elements of it was used in the next Jaguar car, the legendary XK120. Being one of 198 and the unique history led to this being the Best in Class for Pre-War Touring.

The next class was to celebrate the 110th anniversary of one of the most beautiful car manufacturers of all time, Alfa Romeo. The first car is very significant because not only did it win Best in Class but it was crowned Best in Show meaning it joins the Porsche 917K in the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Concours and that car was the 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza Spider by Zagato. This is an extremely important car in Alfa Romeo's history as it remains in its Monza set up, meaning its racing set up as many were converted after they were raced. It was raced in period by Tazio Nuvolari, meaning this exact car won both the 1931 and 1932 Targa Florio races in Sicily as well as the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1931, which gave the car its name. There were 188 of these built but very few remain in racing format which gives this car a unique edge which was a factor leading to the Best in Show. Also in this class was an 8C 2300 Cabriolet which is the road legal and non racing version of the 8C Monza but it also took some styling cues from the 8C 2300 LM which was the Le Mans version of that car, which won the 24 hours of Le Mans a few times. The final three cars are fairly similar as they are all the same model, the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet. Being the final model in the 6C timeline, it preceded the brilliant Alfa Romeo 1900 also known as the Alfa Junior so it has some brilliant features to it. The 6C was one of the most expensive cars on sale when it first launched and due to that it had some very high class owners such as the former King of Monaco, Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power and it even featured in The Godfather, driven by Al Pacino on screen as Micheal Corleone. All three trims were present at the event being the standard, the S and the SS, with the only difference being that in the SS it features a double carburetor rather than a single one on the S and standard cars.

The next class was the Post-War Sports Racers which in a nutshell is racing cars or road going versions of racing cars from the 1940s and 1950s, which is the start of what has become my favourite class of cars, vintage and classic Le Mans cars. The first car is the Ferrari 166 MM from 1949 which was the third Ferrari model to be built after the 125S and 159S. Originally this car was labelled the 166S but only 12 of them were produced before the 166 MM arrived which is named after the Mille Miglia race in Italy. 47 of these were produced and were highly successful in road racing and was known for being the first Ferrari to be highly successful competitively which solidified their reputation as a serious competitor. This car won its class and came second best in show for the whole concours.  The next stunner entered was the 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Vignale Barchetta which replaced the successor to the 166, the 195, and was the first Ferrari to have coachbuilt elements from an external design house, being Vignale. This example is one of only eight Barchetta bodied cars, as the others were either a coupe or spyder format. A famous example of the 212 is the Uovo, 'the egg', due to the strange shape of the grill. This car was previously for sale at DK Engineering where it states it has the upgraded 2.5l Colombo V12 from the later 225 model, and a good example of one of these can sell for up to £8million. Next is a 1953 Ferrari 166 MM/53 Pininfarina Berlinetta which is a later version of the previous 166 MM spoken about on here. This was built to race in the two litre class at Mille Miglia and with 154bhp it was more powerful than the predecessor and a lot rarer as well with only 13 of these built for Ferrari clients, only one bodied by Pininfarina. With a five-speed manual and only weighing 650kg, it was a rapid sports car. Auction history for these is sparse due to its rarity but one did fail to sell in 2009 for £1.1million at RM Monterrey. The penultimate car in this class was the 1955 Jaguar D-Type, one of the most important cars in Jaguar's history. It is their most successful racing car of all time having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in a row from 1955 to 1957 only failing to win the 1954 race out of the ones it entered. Built as a development of the C-Type and XK120C racers, Jaguar knew they needed a new car to keep up with Ferrari, even though they won in 1953 with the Jaguar C-Type. When the prototype was being tested, it apparently hit 178mph, which was over 30mph faster than the C-Type could achieve and with a magnesium alloy body rather than the traditionally aluminium, it was much lighter, though much more expensive. It was such an iconic car for Jaguar that their classic department are creating a limited run of 25 continuation D-Types, following their success with recreating the E Type Lightweight and the XKSS. In terms of auction history, a non race winning D-Type can reach £3million but when RM Sotheby's sold the 1955 Le Mans winning D-Type, it sold for £21.78million which at the time was a record for a British car. The final car is a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC by Scaglietti which was originally built to keep the 500 Testarossa up to date with the 1957 racing regulations and to continue their successes. It used an inline-four engine unlike the standard Ferrari V12 that they usually use for racing with but this allowed them to excel in the 2 litre class with 220bhp and a curb weight of only 726kg. It is also exceptionally rare much like the other cars in this class with only 19 examples built and auction prices surprisingly have never surpassed £5million given this knowledge. 

The next post will cover the next four classes of cars being the Post War Touring (Open), Post War Touring (Closed, Two-Seater), Post War Touring (Closed, Four-Seater) and the Passione Ferrari class. As an overview the winners of class for these categories were the 1919 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, 1936 SS Jaguar 100 2.5, 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza Zagato Spider and the 1949 Ferrari 166 MM.

Motoring News - 14th September 2020

This week has been a highlight of recent weeks for car releases, announcements and news and therefore has prompted a news post on here for the first time since the pandemic hit the world. This week includes news of a new Nissan Z model, the first in over 10 years, the new Maserati supercar targeting itself against the Ferrari Roma and McLaren GT, a potential electrification of the world's fastest manufacturer and much more. 

The first piece of news actually comes from the end of last week, however moving into university delayed the publication of a full first look at this brand new, significant model from Italy and therefore it shall be mentioned here. It was teased a few months ago that Maserati, for the first time in 15 years, would be building a supercar and that its release would be upcoming. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this release was delayed to last week but before the coverage of the release, this is what we knew beforehand. It would have the 'MC' nameplate as the model designator rather than a trim level such as the GranTurismo MC and therefore it would be the first car since the Ferrari Enzo-based MC12 to wear that badge. It was rumoured before that it would be taking on the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ and the Ferrari 812, though now we know that to be incorrect, as it aims for a lower bracket of supercar. Many critics of Maserati also believed that this 'new' car would simply be a rebodied Ferrari 488 or Portofino when in fact it's Maserati's first car they've built independently since Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sold their stake in Ferrari four years ago. When it came to the release last Friday, people gathered in the former autodrome in Modena where a gathering of previous Maserati models surrounded the stage and awaited the covers coming off. When the covers came off, it is fair to say many people were shocked as to what Maserati had built. A two-seater, mid-engined supercar with a 0-60 time under 3 seconds and a 200mph top speed. The styling makes it look more like a GT car than a supercar as styling cues can be spotted resembling the McLaren GT, Ferrari Roma and even slightly the C8 Corvette. It uses a carbon fibre body which makes it extremely light and uses butterfly doors to create a look of exoticism but it doesn't look crazy which is a good thing. Maserati has always been known as a less flashy but cooler alternative to Ferrari, with more soul than a McLaren or Porsche and without the dramatics of a Lamborghini, and therefore this design is a success. The MC20 will be powered by a 3.0 V6 nicknamed Nettuno as a homage to the statue of Neptune in Maserati's founding city of Bologna. It is an extremely powerful engine for a V6 producing 621bhp and with the 200hp per litre ratio, this puts the car into V8 supercar territory. Price wise, the car will be available in the UK during the second quarter of 2021 with a price starting from £187,230 with the MC20 aiming to restore Maserati's reputation for creating supercars, with a cabrio, electric and motorsports version on the cards for the following months.

In Motorsport news, this weekend is the 24 Heures Du Mans which is one of the many highlights of the motorsport calendar as a true test of endurance and skill. However the WEC (World Endurance Championship) as a whole has been struggling to keep fans interested as the GT3/GTE category gets thinner every year and manufacturers rarely participate in works teams as Porsche, Audi, BMW and Ferrari have all pulled out, leaving Toyota as the only high profile works team in the series. In order to combat this, the WEC announced a hypercar class to begin from 2021 which to most people is a return of the GT1 category of the late 1990s and early 2000s which allowed manufacturers to make a racing version of their latest top road car and race with little regulation. Already Aston Martin, Toyota, Rebellion and SCG have applied to put their hypercars in this class and now Peugeot have released images of their first entrant to the Hypercar class. It is developing the car as a hybrid alongside Total who Peugeot worked with for 25 years of motorsport activities including 3 wins at Le Mans with cars such as the 905 Evo and the 908 most recently in 2009. They have revealed the car will be all wheel drive and will have to have a combined power output of 670bhp and under due to the racing regulations. This may only be a concept at the moment as the £20 million price cap on development could stop this masterpiece being fully developed, according to the rules there are to be 25 road going versions of the hypercars featuring the same engine as in the racer, which would mean next year, Peugeot will release a supercar based on this for the public to buy. 

Sticking with Le Mans news, Alpine have announced their bid to race an LMP1 prototype car at next year's 24 Heures Du Mans. Alpine in recent weeks have made massive steps in their motorsport endeavours having previously only run LMP2 cars in their rebooted history. A few weeks ago, after a shuffle around of Renault's management, Alpine Cars was put under the control of F1 team boss Cyril Abiteboul and he later announced Renault F1 would be known as Alpine F1 as of the 2021 season. This change also means Alpine are now one of the only manufacturers to run a team in two of the top motorsport classes, Formula One and WEC. Currently Alpine races as Signatech Alpine in LMP2 where it has been moderately successful with three class wins, two European championships and two World Championships but as of next year will run as Alpine Endurance using a chassis based on the existing Rebellion R-13 with the Oreca chassis and Gibson engine. It is also rumoured that Fernando Alonso will be given a seat in this car as he will be racing for the Alpine F1 team in the 2021 season. Previous to now and besides the LMP2 cars, Alpine have only run customer races using the Alpine A110 Cup, the A110 GT4 and the fascinating A110 Rally series so it will be interesting to see how they progress considering they only have a single model for sale as a manufacturer. 

The Volkswagen Group is planning a mass overhaul of their ownership which would involve Bugatti being sold to new manufacturer Rimac in a shock move. Rimac is a manufacturer most famous for creating the Concept One that Richard Hammond crashed during a segment of the Grand Tour which left him seriously injured and the car written off, but despite this are in the development stage of creating a new electric hypercar with over 1800bhp and a 0-60mph time rumoured to be two seconds flat. They were formed in 2009 and therefore they do not have the funds themselves to buy Bugatti from VW. However, VW own Porsche and Porsche has a 15.5% stake in Rimac and therefore it is rumoured that VW will ask Porsche to boost the stake to almost 50% in order for the deal to be carried out. It is also rumoured that with this switch, Bugatti would switch from combustion engines to electric powertrains given Rimac's knowledge into battery powered cars. This would mean the demise of the legendary 8.0l quad turbo W16 that is used to power the 1479bhp Bugatti Chiron as well as their more limited models such as the Divo, Centodieci, Pur Sport and the Chiron 300mph+. Bugatti sold 82 cars in 2019 which may not seem like much but when each model is priced at over £2million, it was a successful financial year, especially with the release of the 10 strong limited series, the Centodieci which has a price of £8million new, and the La Voiture Noire which was a one off costing £13million new. It is also rumoured Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati and ItalDesign could be targeted next with the Volkswagen group wanting to move into electrification. 

The next car in the legendary Nissan Z model range has been teased this week via a very bright concept car known as the Z Proto. This has been designed as both a look into the future of the Z car brand and a homage to past masters. The bright yellow paint is actually a tribute to the original model, the 240Z, from 1969 as well as the later 300ZX of the 1990s. There are more retro elements in that the side profile looks very similar to the 240Z and the modern 350Z at the same time, as well as the front lights resembling the Japan only 240ZG. However, the rectangular grill, LED lights and carbon fibre side skirts do show that this car isn't just a retro show, as well as the new 19" wheels. In terms of performance, the only figures that are known about it so far are that it will be powered by a twin-turbo V6 and will feature a manual gearbox, a rare thing for sports cars nowadays. This may sound like a brilliant car to drive along the NC500 or on a cruise through the Alps, but there is the slight issue that Nissan won't sell you one. This is because Nissan have stated that due to a 'shrinking European sports car market and specific regulations on emissions' as therefore it is 'unable to build a viable business case'. This more or less means the car will not be sold in Europe or the UK which is a massive shame because it looks to be a solid car. 

This year commemorates the 25th anniversary of McLaren's legendary Le Mans win in 1995 in their first attempt with a fleet of McLaren F1 GTRs. They ended up finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th in their first attempt at Le Mans only being split in the top 5 by a Courage C34, in what was one of the most dominant Le Mans performances of all time. To celebrate this, McLaren has commissioned five Senna GTRs each wearing a retro livery reminiscent of the five liveries the cars wore in the 1995 Le Mans. McLaren Special Operations (MSO) have revealed each car took 800 hours to handpaint after they received rights to use logos such as Gulf and Harrods to recreate them on the new model. They also have five spoke OZ racing wheels which were worn by the original cars as well as gold accents on the interior to celebrate the gold plating of the original F1s engine bay. The liveries that have been recreated include the race-winning cars UenoClinic charcoal grey colour scheme and also includes special headlights to resemble the F1 GTRs spotlights. The yellow and green GTR resembles the famous 'Harrods Car' and the Gulf, Elf and Cesar Baldaccini liveries are also made to a tee. This subseries has been labelled as the Senna GTR LM, reminiscent of the F1 LM which was a road legal version of the original GTR, and are rumoured to have cost around £1.8million each as the standard Senna GTR is just over £1million. 

Car Auction Round-Up - September 2020

 As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to blight the world and seemingly stop all events from taking place, car auctions are still continuing online or through small, socially distanced live auctions (such as the Passion of a Lifetime auction by Gooding & Co.). There are three auctions taking place in September which has taken my deepest interest as to the what the results will be as well as a lot of unique models and manufacturers that will be crossing the block. These three auctions are the Musee de L'Aventure Peugeot by Aguttes, the Bonmont Sale by Bonhams and Classic Car Auctions' September Sale. 

The first sale is the Classic Car Auctions' September Sale which will take place at Leamington Spa on the 18th/19th September with 234 lots crossing the auction block. The highest predicted seller is a 1971 Porsche 911S 2.2 which has an estimate of £75,000 to £90,000, and with 90,000 miles and a five star overall condition, this should be an interesting car to watch sell. Finished in black and with the 2.2l Flat-Six it had a top speed, when new, of 138mph with 0-60mph taking seven seconds and 180 break horsepower, making it still a capable sports car even today. The first highlight lot for me is a 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, the second generation of the ultra-lighweight Lamborghini Gallardo. Powered by a 5.0 naturally aspirated V10 to produce 522bhp, this was built to rival the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. This example is black underneath but has been vinyl wrapped in Verde Ithaca which was a colour that would eventually launch on the third generation of the Gallardo Superleggera. The name 'Superleggera' means 'super light' and is a nod to the construction style of the 350GT. This example was originally sold in Dubai, hence it is a left-hand drive model, where it spent most of its life in a private collection before making its way to the UK in 2015. With 29,000 miles on the odometer, this car is estimated to sell for £50,000 to £60,000, a truly astonishing figure considering a similar model with only 5000 miles is for sale for £80,000. The next standout car is an extremely rare model that doesn't come up for sale at all that much being the 2008 MG SV. The MG SV was a slightly failed entry into the sports car market as they never really reached mass production with only 82 being completed excluding four pre-production prototypes. It began when MG Rover acquired the failed Italian firm Qvale and continued the production of their car, the Mangusta, in the new format of the SV. It was aimed to be a new British sports car under £100,000, and it succeeded at one part with the price for the base car being £65,000. However it was not a very British car as many parts were sourced from Fiat such as the headlights from a second generation Punto and rear lights coming from the Fiat Coupe. Powered by a 4.6l V8 and producing 320bhp for a top speed of 165mph was brilliant for a sports car of that price, but unfortunately it was the low price that cost MG the most as the company fell into financial troubles and by the time they went into administration in 2005, they had only sold nine, most prolifically to Rowan Atkinson. This example has little over 2000 miles and will cross the block for an estimate of £40,000 to £45,000, over £10,000 less than the car was originally sold for. The final two cars that are highlights are rally tribute cars which may not sound very interesting like that but when the cars are examined they're both very special. The first is a 2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI TME. The TME stands for Tommi Makinen Edition which is a tribute to the famed rally driver Tommi Makinen who raced in the World Rally Championship for Mitsubishi in the 1990s and early 2000s racking up an impressive 23 wins in Mitsubishi cars. To celebrate this feat, Mitsubishi created a limited 2500 example run of cars which added a titanium turbocharger and a new ECU to push the car up to around 300bhp. It also featured the Enkei WRC inspired rims on the car as well as the embossed Recaro seats and the MOMO steering wheel, it is truly a tribute to Makinen's rally successes. This car has an estimate of £19,000 to £23,000 which is a massive decrease on previous results as these cars can be sold for up to double the estimate. The final standout car for me is a 1995 Rover Mini Cooper. Now these are fun little cars on their own but this example is a truly rare car I didn't know existed. This is the Monte-Carlo edition which is fitted with spotlights and vinyls on the rear and side of the car to commemorate the cars success at the Monte-Carlo Rally throughout its rally history. This was originally registered new in the UK in 1995 and has lived its life in a collection of cars including a Ferrari F40 and a Pagani Zonda. It has also been meticulously resprayed and fitted with an original interior which makes it even more special. Also as if this car wasn't special enough, there are only 200 Mini Monte Carlo editions and therefore the estimate price of £15,000 to £17,000 seems like a steal.

The next standout auction of this month is Aguttes auction of Peugeots and Citroens. This may not sound like an interesting auction but in fact this is an auction of the Peugeot and Citroen heritage collections, meaning there are some truly special cars crossing the block. The highlight sale is an ex-Sebastien Loeb Citroen DS 3 WRC car. Between 2011 and 2016, the Citroen DS3 racked up 26 World Rally Championship wins making it one of the most successful rally cars of the modern era. This example, chassis 17, took place in 32 World Rally Championship rallies between 2012 and 2016 with 11 wins, 16 podiums and only four retirements making it a reliable car as well as an extremely fast one. This was the car that Loeb used during his 9th World Rally Championship winning season and is one of the most technically advanced rally cars of the modern era with 300bhp and with 188bhp per litre, it moves deliriously quickly. It can accelerate to sixty miles per hour and back to a dead stop in under 7 seconds which is why it was such an incredible off road machine. Currently the price estimate of this car is price on application but in the history of selling modern rally cars, they can vary as a previous Citroen DS3 Rally car failed to sell but with an estimate of £300,000 to £400,000 but for sale on www.motorsportauctions.com, there is a Skoda Fabia WRC car for £42,000 meaning this sale could go either way. The next standout sale is another off road beast, but this time is a Peugeot not a Citroen. It is, of course, the 2016 Peugeot 2008 DKR16 which is an entirely different 'car', if you can even call it a car, than the Citroen DS3. Loosely based on the road-going Peugeot 2008, this example has been jacked up and completely restyled to create a Dakar destroyer. The Dakar Rally is constantly labelled one of the hardest races to exist, originally from Paris to Dakar in Senegal but moved to South America for political reasons. With 71 deaths in its history spanning back to 1979, and terrain spanning from deserts to mud and having to climb rocks and mountains at a rate of 800km per day, its a tough challenge. Peugeot were the first champions of Dakar as they dominated the early years before Mitsubishi and even Porsche arose to the challenge. But in 2016, the year of the Peugeot returned as this car won the 2016 Dakar Rally after a 25 year absense from rally raid racing and what a car they did it in. The engine was a diesel V6 more commonly found in the Peugeot 407 and the Citroen C6 but it had the underpinnings and tuning help from the Peugeot 908 HDI, the LMP1 car that took Team Peugeot to a third placed finish at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car surprisingly was rear wheel drive even for taking on the most difficult terrain in the world, but the 800nm of torque and the six speed sequential gearbox helped it to its victory. One of only four examples produced this car has an estimate of £450,000 to £550,000. This is the first Dakar of its kind to be sold at auction so who knows whether the estimate is accurate or not. The next highlight takes the word 'interesting' and gives it a whole new meaning. The Peugeot Flux is not a road legal car and also is not a production model meaning it is a concept car. Concept cars are used for car manufacturers to show off their styling department and very rarely to preview new models which will be produced. This example is a styling model designed in 2007 due to a competition Peugeot launched under the theme of PLEASE - Pleasure, Lightness, Efficiency, Accessibility, Simplicity and Ecology. The Flux was the outcome built in a 1:1 scale of the designers style, but with no working parts. It is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and an electric motor and the body is made up of plastic and aluminium. It was even featured in the 2007 video game Project Gotham Racing 4 with a full adaptation which could be won and driven. It has an estimate for sale of £45,000 to £50,000 which is a lot for what is essentially a model. The final car worth mentioning is a 2005 Citroen C2 by Sbarro. Sbarro is a school that Citroen contacted with a challenge to fit the biggest engine they could into the smallest car of the Citroen range which happened to be the C2. This was meant to be a challenge that could hark its roots back to Carroll Shelby who put the 7.0 V8 into the AC Ace to create the Cobra and the students in this case did a remarkably job. It has been described as an 'impressive car with great potential', as it featured a 3.0 V6 which could produce just under 300bhp and with rear drive and only weighing a tonne, if it was tested it would have been a rapid car. Unfortunately with only one produced, this was never tested for its capabilities on track. This has an estimate £30,000 to £40,000 and has never been registered and it doesn't mention whether it can be registered for road usage. 

I have covered last year's edition of the Bonhams Bonmont Sale as it was the first of its kind and featured lots of seized hypercars including the first Lamborghini Veneno to be sold at auction. This sale features cars of the same quality and some incredibly unique sales as well. The first highlight cars include two Bugatti Veyrons, beginning with the 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. Built as a targa-topped version of the Supersport, which was at the time the fastest car in the world at 268mph. The Grand Sport Vitesse features the same 1200bhp output as the Supersport but is electronically limited to 233mph, which still makes it the fastest convertible in the world. With only 92 GSVs in the world this is an exceptionally rare model and deserves the £1.4million to £1.8million price estimate. The next example is a Veyron Supersport and is finished in dark blue exposed carbon fibre with a black and blue leather interior and being one of 48 produced, it is half as rare as its targa topped variety and this one is specified as a one off unique spec. An example of the unique specification is the black badging rather than the silver badging on the standard Veyron. This has the same estimate price as the Grand Sport Vitesse but is half as rare which suggests that the car will exceed the estimate. The next standout car is a lot lower down in the estimate than I was expecting for it. It is a Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Super Veloce, which is number 245 out of the planned run of 350. However, during the production of the Murcielago SVs, the production line was changed to fall in line for the new Aventador model to begin production, therefore only 186 were built. It is the ultimate version of the Murcielago which is one of the best modern V12 cars of the last 15 years and therefore it is surprising for the estimate to be as low as £170,000 to £200,000. This may not sound cheap but when compared to other cars in the auction such as a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and Mercedes SLR McLaren at the same price, it seems a bargain. Even moving away from auctions, in the UK there is not a single Murcielago SV for sale under £350,000 and for the same estimate as the example in the sale, there are only Murcielago Roadsters for sale in the UK. This shows how much of a bargain this example is and that it will definitely sell beyond its estimate. The next highlight is another very rare car, in fact one of the rarest cars of this auctions with only 25 examples being made. The Porsche Carrera GT is a superb car with the massive V10 which roars when pushed to the absolute limit but to have 800bhp coming from the 5.7l V10. This is where Gemballa stepped in and took 25 Porsche Carrera GTs and modified to clients standards often including a roof scoop, an electronic rear wing and a fully redesigned front and rear bumpers and side skirts. This example is finished in satin black with red accents on the rims and the headlights to almost create a devilish look to the car. The car is even rarer than before as earlier this year, a Gemballa Mirage GT was crashed in Los Angeles before being driven off and later abandoned and written off by the owner, creating of Gold Rush Rally US, who was later arrested. This has an estimate of £510,000 to £680,000 which surprisingly is less than most standard Carrera GTs are valued at which could mean there is some growth to this sale.

 This concludes the standout sales of September in the auction world, all there is time to do now is wait for the results.

References

https://www.glenmarch.com/auctions/upcoming

https://www.classiccarauctions.co.uk/auctions

https://www.bonhams.com/departments/MOT-CAR/

https://www.aguttes.com/en/home

Concours D'Elegance - New Car Releases

Today marks the beginning of one of the first major car events in the UK since the lifting of lockdown restrictions being the Hampton Court Palace Concours event. Featuring a selection of the world's latest and greatest cars, this event features 60 cars spread around the beautiful Hampton Court Palace as well as trade stands featuring the latest cars from the most prestige car manufacturers. Although, at the time of writing this, it is only the first day of the event yet there are a few cars that have been unveiled which have changed the face of the performance and rare car industry. 

2020 saw the introduction of the new Land Rover Defender which was a bold move by Land Rover as the old face Defender was one of the most iconic and superb cars ever made and therefore a restyle was always going to be a controversial move and was always going to be met with criticism. However, when the Discovery inspired styling launched with the same, if not better, off-road performance than the previous generation, it was greeted with praise and massive success. It is estimated that over a million people configured a Defender on Land Rover's website in the first week, and although the base list price is just over £40,000, it seems to be a commercial success for JLR. However, what do you do if you prefer the old shape Defender and still want a new car? Well Ineos have come to your rescue. With their new car, the Ineos Grenadier it looks exactly like a 1990 Land Rover Defender. In fact, Ineos have taken the basic shape of the old Defender but made a brand new car with state of the art powertrain and components. The design also takes certain cues from other classic off-road cars such as the Mercedes G Class, Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser, Ford Bronco and the Nissan Patrol. Interestingly this car does not follow the convention of other retromod car manufacturers. Taking Singer 911s and Eagle E-Types as an example, to commission one of those has to require some deep pockets with the cheapest variant of either car being a Singer 911 as prices start at £475,000. Whereas with the Ineos, the list price for commission is £40,000 which is near identical to the current Defender generation. The example shown at Concours seems to be based on the Defender 110 with the long wheelbase 5 door layout and being parked alongside an original Defender 110, the Ineos seems to be wider and taller than the original and the rear of the car is similar to the rear of a Mercedes G55 AMG with the square rear window, showing the influence of other 4x4s. CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe came up with the idea of the Ineos Grenadier after he failed to acquire to designs and tools from Jaguar Land Rover in order to continue the production of the Defender and he plans to begin production in a few years to target 25,000 units per year. 

The next debut comes from Alpine who have excelled since their rebirth with their fantastic A110 sports car, with a new edition of the A110. This release comes on the same day as Renault's restructure that has left Alpine in the hands of F1 team owner Cyril Abiteboul. The Alpine A110 was first introduced in 2017 in homage to the original Alpine A110 from the 1960s and 70s. Although the car only uses a 1.8 litre turbocharged engine, it has been praised as being one of the most fascinating engines and one of the best engines of the last few years. Automotive journalist and Grand Tour star James May owns an Alpine and stated he enjoys the fact it is so small and due to this it has supercar power with sports car looks. It came as the runner up to the Jaguar I Pace at the 2019 European Car of the Year awards too which for a sports car, is a hard to come by achievement. The latest version of the Alpine is called the Legende GT and with only 400 units to be made and a list price over £10,000 more than the base A110, is it worth the extra spend? Well, it has 249bhp which is the same as the base car, accelerates to 60mph in 4.5 seconds which is the same as the base car and a top speed of 156mph which somehow is an increase of 1mph over the standard A110. So far there doesn't seem to be much worth it for the Legende GT but it could be a limited edition similar to Aston Martin's Carbon Black editions in that only visual elements are different. This may be the case with the Legende GT as it features gold badging, 18in wheels and amber coloured interior to resemble the interiors of the vintage Alpine A110 rally car. It can be specced in three different colours being Deep Black and Blue Abyss which can be specced on the standard car and a new colour being the spec it launched in at Concours being Mercury Silver. Although it has little variation from the base car, the fact that this will be rarer than a Lamborghini Aventador SV could make it a future classic.

Aston Martin have a history of creating bespoke one offs such as the crazy Cygnet microcar with the 4.7l V8 from the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the Aston Martin GT12 Roadster and now they have announced a new one created for an unnamed Belgian customer. The Q Division of Aston Martin, named after the character Q from James Bond, is responsible for all these one off models and the latest one is certainly one of the best looking cars of the year so far. It's called the Victor, named after Victor Gauntlett who was responsible for the rebirth of Aston Martins cars in the 1980s. It has also been unveiled to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Vantage nameplate and due to that a lot of the styling cues are taken from Aston Martin Vantage models. The body is finished in carbon fibre and has most of its styling taken from the one off Aston Martin RHAM/1 which was a touring car based on the 1977 V8 Vantage. Due to this the Victor seems very wide and also very very low to the ground to make it as aerodynamic as possible along with the duck tail spoiler. The grill is also from the previous generation Vantage. But the main talking point of this car is what the platform is. It comes from an Aston Martin One-77 prototype body which can be seen in the sleek roofline and the classic Aston Martin silver side intake but the engine is truly masterful. The 7.3 litre V12 from the One-77 was stripped out of the car and taken to Cosworth to be completely rebuilt. This raises the 750bhp power output to a scary 836bhp and this was then attached to a six speed manual gearbox, but some would say the handling platform is even better. The Victor is in fact a One-77 on a Vulcan handling platform, the Vulcan being the 24 only track only Aston Martin, and incorporates elements from the Vantage GT3 race car and the new Valhalla. Before today it was not known about so much that Aston Martin say the Pentland Green paint finished drying mere hours before its public debut. This is certainly a car that will either be highlighted as a masterpiece of automotive design or it will be hidden away in some underground car collection to never see the light of day again, and everyone not at Hampton Court is hoping for the former most likely.

RM Sotheby's Auction Reviews - Online Only Auctions

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the car auction industry has had to quickly adapt to the changes and shift from live auctions to online sales. The whole concept of the auction change is extremely complex as they have had to move from auctions that take five hours to complete and have confirmed sales announced instantly, to auctions that roll over 7 days with bids every day to increase the value. The lots are also mainly offered without a reserve as with no auctioneer to ramp up the bidding, many of the lots would not reach the reserve on the rolling format, leading to little success for the auction house. One of the best auction houses to adapt to these changes have been RM Sotheby's and therefore have had the most success from their online auctions. This piece will cover two of their online auctions being the Driving into Summer auction and The European Sale with the Petitjean Collection . It will cover the standout lots, unique cars and interesting results. 

The first auction is the Driving into Summer auction which acted as one of the larger online sales for RM Sotheby's with 217 lots total compared to the average of 100 in their other auctions. It also varied from the standard auctions as it featured a lot of low priced cars as well as the usual high end sales meaning that they had a lot more bidders than they usual obtain according to RM Sotheby's. The star of the show for this auction also became the most expensive car to sell at an online only auction and was a 2003 Ferrari Enzo. With less than 1250 original miles and two owners from new, this was always going to be a high seller and even though it was an online auction (meaning the top prices were never truly achieved), it still managed to sell for $2.64m and set the precedent for how the rest of the auction was to go. A 1995 Ferrari F50 failed to sell as it was one of a few cars to have a reserve but a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO did sell for $2.31m. Sticking with Ferrari, a 488 Pista Spider retained its reputation as being far more expensive than the price at new with a black and red example selling for $605,000, over double the price at new and nearly the same price as the limited series 458 Speciale Aperta. Two Ferrari 250 GT Coupe's were also in this auction with the Ellena bodied example selling for $671,000 and the Pininfarina example failing to sell. It wasn't just Ferrari dominating the top sellers however as a 2017 Ford GT also crossed the block, with a sale price of $836,000, nearly double the $420,000 price new. However this shows that Ford GTs are in fact an investment much like the previous generations of the GT name. Being an online auction, there were some examples of cars that sold for much cheaper than I expected them to sell for and some much more expensive than I would've expected. The first of which is a 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish S. When this first launched, it was the pinnacle grand tour car with the 5.9l V12 which could hit 200mph but also all the luxury and comfort of a Rolls-Royce at the time. This car was the leading car in the market and therefore the original price of the car was £170,000. Yet 18 years later and with only 33k miles on the odometer, this car sold for $46,200. For context, for the same price in the UK is a second hand Range Rover Velar for the same price as a 200mph supercar. Besides this there were not many cars that had a surprising sale price although many of the lots were classic American muscle cars and I don't fully know their market values. There were however two lots that caught my eye for being interesting and unique beginning with a 1990 Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II which is one of the most interesting cars around. The car was originally developed by Mercedes to challenge the Talbots and Ford Escorts that were dominating the world rally championship and therefore designed the saloon body and went to Cosworth for the 16 valve twin cam competition engine to complete the project. However by the time Mercedes had done all this, Audi had revolutionised world rallying with the four wheel drive Quattro, rendering the 190E useless. It therefore turned its attention to the DTM Touring Car Championship where it would rival the class leading BMW M3.It launched into the championship with incredible drivers such as Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Stirling Moss, Michael Schumacher, Elio De Angelis, Alain Prost and a rookie known as Ayrton Senna. After immense success in the DTM, the 190E didn't translate good in sales with the E30 M3 dominating the market so Mercedes produced a homologated version that used the same engineering as the racing car and called it the Evo 2. With the large rear spoiler and 350bhp produced in only 502 examples, it was a hit due to the German engineering and rarity, and sold at this auction at a snip over $230,000. The other car is the 1939 Delahaye USA Pacific. This car is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cars potentially ever built, and with a very interesting story, because in truth this is not a 1939 car. Delahaye USA is a resto-mod manufacturer who recreate classic body shapes with modern technology and this car is a homage to the Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic with its smooth and sleek body shape and with a modern BMW 12-cylinder engine giving it 300hp. The interior, though styled to look vintage, is fitted with modern air conditioning, heaters, electric windows and other modern conveniences whilst retaining the flair of the 1930s. This car sold for $220,000 compared to the $40m price that the car it is based on holds.

The other large auction that RM Sotheby's hosted was the European Sale which replaced the Essen 2020 auction and featured the highly anticipated Petitjean Collection. This collection is one of the largest to ever be brought to auction with 103 lots crossing the block. Not only was it a large collection, it was also a very eclectic collection, different from many collections sold at auction which typically feature mainstream supercars and vintage cars. The first high seller was one of the most interesting new supercars being the 2020 Porsche 935 Martini. This was a car built to celebrate Porsche's 70th anniversary and to pay tribute to the Porsche 935 racing car which dominated endurance racing and, specifically, Le Mans. The modern 935 is based on the 991 Porsche GT2 RS and resembles the most famous 935 racing car, the Moby Dick, with the longtail bodywork. However it is adapted with Porsche's most successful racing cars such as the LED taillights from the 919 Hybrid LMP car as well as mirrors from the GT3 R. For a car that is track only, this car sold for a massive £1.32m, although this could be due to the fact only 77 units are being made and it is finished in the legendary martini livery. The next highest seller excluding the Petitjean Collection is a 1939 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet by Gangloff which sold for £770,000. It was shown on Bugatti's stand at the 1939 Geneva Motor Show and was a company demonstrator for the Bugatti works team driver Jean-Pierre Wimelle, of whom the famous tank car was named after, as well as the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legend Edition. It is also a one off as it is the only example bodied by Gangloff and it remained in the same ownership for 56 years before its sale. In terms of interesting lots to cross the block, I could use a whole new post to go into depth with all the rare, unique and beautiful cars offered for sale and therefore the detail will not be as thorough. The first car to catch my eye was the 1988 EuroBrun ER188 which was a Formula One team to run in the 1988 season but unfortunately did not meet the expectations of the team owners. Due to it not being a successful team, the car only sold for £89,100 although it is now painted in an attractive Jägermeister livery. The next two cars sold for exactly the same price of $49,500 and I'm torn between which I'd have. The first is a 1978 De Tomaso Longchamp which was a grand tourer from the same manufacturer as the incredible Pantera and Mangusta based on the Maserati Kyalami that it rivalled. It was never a commercial success due to the Maserati based chassis and body and only 395 examples were build. The second of these cars is a 1999 Porsche 911 Carrera Cup car which was the first generation of the Porsche Customer Racing 911s and preceded the first GT3 model. This car is not road legal however it is still an incredible investment. Moving onto the Petitjean Collection for unique cars which is certainly a definition that could be applied to the collection featuring many interesting manufacturers. A first of these is the Apal RSK 1600 Spider which is a Belgian sports car based on the VW Beetle chassis and styled to look like a Porsche 718 RSK hence the name. Following on from this there are cars such as the Bitter CD, Bizzarrini 1900 Europa, Fournier-Marcadier Barquette, Ghia 1500 GT, Ginetta G20 and G33, Intermeccanica Italia Spyder, Ligier JS2, Matra Djet and a collection of classic Lamborghini models including the Islero, Jarama, Espada and Urraco. This shows that the Petitjean collection is one of the most unique and special car collections to ever cross an auction block and there possibly won't be another collection like that to cross the block for a long time.  

Bugattis - Which have I seen?

In the same spirit as the previous posts of listing which cars of a certain manufacturer or model I have seen, we move onto one of the most prestigious names in the business, Bugatti. Founded in France in 1909, Bugatti have had a rollercoaster of a history building some of the most sought after luxury cars around, winning grand prix races and eventually becoming defunct in 1963 due to lack of funding after the deaths of both Ettore Bugatti (the founder) and his son Jean. Reborn from the ashes in 1987 under the ownership of VW, they have become what many believe to be the pinnacle creator of hypercars and supercars holding the top speed record four times in their reborn history and creating a new high for all petrolheads around the world. I have seen only eight Bugatti models of the reborn but all of them have incredibly interesting stories to go with them.

In 2017, I saw my first Bugatti which happened to be a Veyron 16.4. This was the second car Bugatti made under the VW ownership and released it in 2005 after many, many delays by VW to perfect the serum. When the car was shown in production form it created a new type of supercar as people labelled it as the world's first hypercar. It has a W engine layout which is where three or four cylinders use the same crankshaft meaning that it creates a W shape from the front. It is usually used for aircraft engines so a W layout on a car was unheard of. Much like the 8.0 quad turbo layout of this W16 engine producing 1000bhp to all four wheels, this car was revolutionary and even motoring experts such as Jeremy Clarkson and James May ridiculed it at first before realising it was truly a masterpiece. It was the first car since the McLaren F1 to hold the prestigious speed record for highest top speed of a production car at 254mph and could brake from 186mph to standstill in 17 seconds showing it was fast but very safe. Only 252 units of the original 16.4 were made and each of them cost just over £1million new. The Veyron I saw had undergone an even more expensive treatment though. It began as a standard Veyron finished in the classic two tone with blue over silver, however when the owner sold it it ended up in the hands of vehicle modification business, Oakley Design. They took the Veyron and finished it in full black carbon fibre over yellow metal flake and added yellow touches to the front grill, engine bay and rear diffuser. It also received a power upgrade to the specification of the Grand Sport with 1200bhp. It was one of the most expensive custom cars at the show it was attending (Autosport International) and the metal flake on it was simply sublime. It currently resides in Germany as the only Oakley Design Bugatti Veyron in the world as the run of  five specials was cancelled due to cost issues. It was production number 77 of the 282 run.

The next Bugatti came a year later at one of my favourite dealerships, Redline Specialist Cars in Knaresborough. Over the years, I cannot name the number of times I have visited this dealership and seen incredible cars every single time. In mid 2018, they acquired a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and that gave me the incentive to visit the dealership again. At the back of the showroom is where they typically keep all of the expensive models and as I walked in behind a black Mercedes McLaren SLR, 991.2 GT3 RS and a few Porsches under a cover, I spotted it. Once again finished in the Bugatti two tone colour scheme in black metallic over blue metallic with a cognac leather inside. I believe it was for sale for just under £800,000 and was at the dealership for little over a year and a half before it sold. It was the second Bugatti I saw and in the last two years the numbers of Bugattis I have seen has shot up. This was production number 76 of 252.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018 brought two more Bugattis to the roster of cars I have seen beginning with the third Veyron 16.4 featured in the central feature on the lawn in front of the house. In 2018, the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrated its 25th anniversary and because of that they had one car representing each year of the Festival in a gathering. Amongst the Koenigseggs, Alfa 8Cs and McLarens, there was a Bugatti Veyron hidden in the crowds to represent, I believe 2006. Finished in the black and red two tone it is one of the standard Bugatti specs and is a very common spec on a Veyron. It currently resides in London and being perfectly honest was not a very memorable car but that's probably because it was next to a Lamborghini Reventon, Ferrari F50, Pagani Zonda 760 and a Bristol Fighter.

Next is a more unique Bugatti as it comes from a time before the Veyron. In 1993, Bugatti were their own manufacturer after Romano Artioli acquired the Bugatti title in 1987 and in 1990, they unveiled the EB110. Designed by Gandini, Bertone and Giugiaro, the EB110 named after Ettore Bugatti and the fact that it was released at the Geneva Motor Show 110 years after the birth of Ettore. In 1992, the Supersport variant of the EB110 was announced and it became the fastest car in the world with a production top speed of 221mph. The car became a classic supercar of the 1990s helped by the fact Michael Schumacher owned a yellow example of the car, giving Bugatti lots of publicity. However whilst attempting to acquire Lotus and produce the EB112, a four door EB110, Artioli fell on financial troubles and the company was bankrupt before VW bought out the Bugatti brand. The example I saw happened to be the EB110 SS at the Goodwood 2018 Cartier Style et Luxe alongside a red McLaren F1 and the only V12 Jaguar XJ220 in existence. It is owned by the internet famous Tax The Rich who created viral videos such as drifting a Ferrari Enzo around a muddy farm and playing tug of war with two Ferrari F50s. It is finished in Bianco Monaco with light grey leather interior and was originally delivered to Monte Carlo. There are images of this car in Monaco with silver wheels yet when I saw the car the wheels were black meaning that Tax The Rich changed the wheel colour which does look nicer and more unique than the original silver. It remains to be the only Bugatti EB110 I have seen and was production number 27 out of only 31 Supersports.

The next car is possibly one of the best specced Bugattis in the world. At the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed there was a line up of supercars displayed outside the drivers lounge, featuring a Lamborghini Miura, a Ferrari F40, a McLaren F1 and this certain Bugatti. It was my first of the Grand Sport Vitesse models I had seen which was a targa top version of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and had the specifications of the SuperSport such as 1200bhp, 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds and a top speed of 258mph making it officially the fastest convertible car in the world, overtaking the Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722S at 219mph. This however was no ordinary Grand Sport Vitesse as it was the Tiffany one off. This was a car commissioned by Jiang Xin in Hong Kong in the famous Tiffany & Co 'Robin Egg' colour scheme and was therefore specified in black carbon fibre with Tiffany blue accents on the side skirts, grille, wheels and engine bay. When it was owned by the original owner in Hong Kong it only had delivery mileage on it and even when he sold it to Romans International in 2019, it still had no miles on it. The blue elements continue in the interior as many of the seat leathers and stitching is in this exorbitant colour. It was production number 48 of 92 Veyron GSVs and quite possibly the best specced example I have ever seen.

The next car may not seem the most interesting on the surface, but with the information on Exclusive Car Registry, it is one of the most interesting of all of them. It is a Veyron 16.4 which was the third 16.4 I had seen and it was on the stand of a car insurance company at Goodwood 2019 (because no other car would suffice). It is finished in another standard colour scheme of dark blue metallic over silver with a dark blue leather interior and was a very early car. When delving into the history of this car, it turns out it was the first UK delivered Bugatti Veyron and was displayed at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the supercar paddock as a Bugatti representative car. It was then registered in London on the very expensive number plate of B1 (which is now registered on a Smart Fortwo), residing in London for six years before being sent to Monte Carlo for the RM Sotheby's Monaco auction. It had an estimate of €690,000 to €790,000 but it failed to meet its estimate and failed to sell. It was then put up for sale at Tom Hartley Cars where it did sell and then was shown at Goodwood where I saw it. However this isn't the end of the story as since Goodwood it was offered in the Bonhams Bond Street sale in late 2019 when it still failed to sell, not meeting the estimate of £850,000 to £1.25million, with the value increasing due to the low chassis number. It currently is for sale at DD Classics for the asking price of £899,950 and I do not think its the last time I will see this car.

This next car is probably the most meaningful of the cars to me as I have a special memory linked to this car. It is a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport which is was the worlds fastest car with a top speed of 268mph until the Hennessey Venom GT beat it with 270mph. It was pumped up to 1200bhp and was able to do a standing quarter mile in 9 seconds which is dragster fast. This example is finished in a very unique chocolate brown with cognac/brown leather interior. It was originally delivered to Switzerland and for the next 4 years bounced around dealerships in Switzerland, Dubai and Monaco until it finally ended up at the Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction in 2018 , failing to sell at an estimate of £1.4million to £1.8million. It wasn't the only hypercar not to sell at this auction as a LaFerrari Coupe and Aperta both failed to sell. It was later spotted in Paris crossing the block yet again at the RM Sotheby's auction in the capital where it yet again failed to sell with an estimate of £1.5million to £1.7million. It was however auctioned alongside an EB110 SS, a Grand Sport Vitesse and a Chiron. Somehow in 2019 this car ended up at Redline Specialist Cars making it the second Veyron to be at Redline and meaning I could see it. My first visit it was behind ropes cordoned off so I couldn't get close but even so it had a special presence around it that it was the fastest car in the world at some stage and it was at a price that meant it was the third highest price of a car in the UK as it is currently for sale for £1,995,000. It is no longer the third highest priced but its still not cheap. The connection comes when my friend and I were doing a dealership run to celebrate his 18th and the car was out of the corner. We took out photos and spoke to the salesmen who we were friendly with when one of them asked, as it was my friend's birthday, whether they wanted a seat in any of the cars. I was hoping he'd choose the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake but he chose the Veyron. So as he was sat in it, the salesman told me to get myself in it so I sat in a near £2milllion Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, felt the wheel in my hands and felt the power even without the ignition on. It was production number 38 of only 48 cars which makes the experience even more special.

The final Bugatti I have seen is another 16.4 which is a very nice car but one feature about the car doesn't make it as special as the others as some of the prestige is taken out of the car. It was originally delivered to China and owned by someone called JC as that name was stitched into the headrests of the car. It was finished in full pearl metallic, meaning it had no two tone effect, with a dark blue leather interior. The car was then moved to Switzerland before its current owner acquired it from Coutts Automobiles in London. It was displayed at the 2020 Autosport International show in which I attended and saw what the owner had done to it. It is currently fully wrapped in red and black camo which I don't think treats the brand as it should be as it reminded me slightly of BMW i8s and Audi R8s that are wrapped to make people look at them and be envious of them when it looks fairly naff. The reason he had done it however was so that the wrap matched the same wrap that he has on his Brabus Mercedes 700 6x6, which was a modified version of the six wheeled Mercedes G-Wagon that was built in very small numbers. I was fine with the Brabus modification as it gave the car stiffer suspension, massive springs, marbled carbon fibre on the badging (much like ALA on Lamborghinis) and standard carbon fibre absolutely everywhere; and with the car standing at 6ft 8, it caused a massive scene. The wrap on the other hand is questionable as I am not a fan of them unless they look special and to me camo is just plain. This was production number 266 out of the 300 made and is the final Bugatti I have seen.


NOTE -- I have seen more Bugattis than this, however I am using Exclusive Car Registry to find the numbers and the statistics as well as the actual cars and because they do not have sections for vintage Bugattis, I have not included them.