Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale will see three track legends on offer, including the last Alfa Romeo to campaign in the most famous and grueling road race, the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale will be conducted on 9 July as a traditional live auction. Bids will be accepted by clients within the room and is scheduled to be live-streamed via Bonhams and Goodwood websites.
1972 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT3
Estimate: £1,800,000-£2,200,000
Leading a group of historic racing cars is the last Alfa Romeo that Andrea De Adamich and Nino Vaccarella drove at the 1972 Le Mans 24 hours where they finished fourth overall, with the two works Matra-Simcas finishing 1-2 and third-place going to the Siffert ATE Racing team driving the Porsche 908.
The example was one of three works Alfa Romeos used by Autodelta. It has an all-steel spaceframe tubular chassis, matched with a high-revving quad-cam, 36-valve V8 engine, new five-speed gearbox, new safety fuel tanks, and is capable of producing 440bhp.
The example qualified 7th fastest in practice, having obtained a time of 3 minutes 52.6 seconds when it lapped the 8-mile Circuit de la Sarthe.
In the 307 laps of the 1972 Le Mans race, the Alfa duo overcame several incidents including a clutch issue and a spin, requiring the attachment of a new nose cone.
Despite Alfa Romeo retired from Le Mans, the example went on to campaign in a few events under its private owners which included the manager of Pink Floyd, Steven O’Rourke, who was also a Le Man’s racer. It also has been included in three distinguished Japanese collections namely, Yamaguchi Collection, Hayashi Collection, and Takeshi Fujita.
The example has been regularly maintained and restored by Tipo 33/3 specialists and is eligible to join concours events and historic races like the Le Mans Classic race, which it last entered in 2018.
1928 Maserati Tipo 26B 2.1-Liter Sports, Gran Premio and Formule Libre Racing Two-Seater
Estimate: £900,000-£1,300,000
The bright red livery and the 150bhp performance of the example is matched by its history.
The example’s first owner, rancher, and weekend racing driver Juan Augusto (John) Malcolm, an Argentinian with Scottish descent, brought the vehicle to Argentina, making it the first Maserati to be imported into the country. His race career overlapped with the legendary Juan Manual Fangio.
While racing in Northern Italy, Malcolm ordered ‘number 35’. It was originally finished in Scotland’s sporting colors, which were blue and white, instead of the Argentine racing livery being blue and yellow.
Juan Augusto Malcolm immediately took third place in this 2.1-liter supercharged straight-eight Maserati Tipo 26B at the Circuito Primavera race at Mercedes in Buenos Aires province.
At the 1932 Carrasco race at Montevideo, Uruguay, Juan Augusto Malcolm obtained a health lead but unfortuently overturned the Maserati in a crash, though escaped unhurt.
The vehicle was fixed allowing him to race it in two events at Buenos Aires. In the first race, he lead the first 7 laps until he was passed by Vittorio Coppoli’s Bugatti, and ultimately finished second overall. In the second Buenos Aires race he came second to Domingo Bucci’s De Soto-Chrysler.
For the next decade, Malcolm actively campaigned the example, and eventually, it was converted to be used on the road. The family kept the example until the late 1980s.
1957 Ferrari Dino 246/60 Formula 1 Racing Single-seater
Estimate: £900,000-£1,300,000
This Historic racing machine was a project that commenced in 1978 after the acquisition of its frame together with a substantial collection of genuine Ferrari Dino 246-series mechanical components.
The example offered here is powered by what is considered genuine, from-period, 2.4-liter 4-cam V6 Ferrari Dino engine as deployed by the iconic Maranello factory team from 1958-60, and afterward in a rear-engined Dino 246SP sports prototype application during 1961-62.
Other features of this vehicle include a highly adjustable all-independent coil-spring suspension, rear-mounted 5-speed transaxle transmission, and Dunlop disc brakes.
During the 1980s, known Italian classic car dealer Corrado Cupellini campaigned the example in Historic racing like at Monaco, Monza, the Nürburgring, and Imola.
[Source: Bonhams]
