Silverstone Auctions has announced early highlights from its Competition Cars sale, which takes place as part of the Silverstone Classics event at the world famous race track.
"The Silverstone Classic Sale is one of our most exciting and high profile auctions in the calendar and I’m delighted that we’re once again playing an important role in this amazing event which has continued to grow over the years," said Nick Whale, managing director of Silverstone Auctions.
The auction house hosted its first-ever dedicated sale of competition cars at the 2015 Silverstone Classic, achieving a total of more than £1 million, and look set to build on the success of that inaugural sale at this year’s event.
A leading highlight from the sale is a recently discovered 1958 Lotus Elite race car, owned and raced personally by the legendary jazz musician Chris Barber.
This early example of Lotus’ first production car, chassis number 9, is currently undergoing an expert restoration by Ant Anstead and Philip Glenister and will feature in an episode of the Channel 4 series ‘For the Love of Cars’. It will then cross the auction block at Silverstone, before immediately heading for the track to compete in one of the event’s many races.
Further early announcements include a pair of Ford Mondeo Super Tourers, two of just five original examples built by Prodrive for the 2000 British Touring Car Championship.
The team found overwhelming success in the competition that year, claiming 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall with drivers including Alain Menu, Anthony Reid and Rickard Rydell. At a cost of £1 million per car, these were the fastest touring cars ever produced, and helped the team dominate what many regard to be the "golden era" of the BTCC.
“The provenance of these particular cars is a clear indication of the quality of motorcars that will be on offer in our auction this year,” commented Whale.
The Silverstone Auctions Competition Car sale takes place on July 28, followed by the Classic Car sale on July 30-31.
