F1 cars among items for sale

Formula One cars once raced by current championship leader Jenson Button will be among items auctioned off by Brackley-based team Brawn GP at a special sale at Silverstone race circuit next month. Cars from the team's memorabilia collection driven by Button, his teammate Rubens Barrichello and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve will be included in a sale at the Silverstone Classic weekend in July.

The chassis, which will be sold without engines, will feature alongside race overalls and other merchandise at the sale, and are expected to fetch between £7,000 and £22,000 each.

James Knight, of auction house Bonhams, said the sale would be an opportunity for fans and enthusiasts to buy a piece of F1 history.

He said: "During the 1990s and 2000s some F1 teams were building 12 chassis a year for all the different races and testing they had to do. Once a season ends these cars are effectively obsolete, as the following year's car is either performing better or the regulations have changed.

"Teams can only have so many of these cars in their permanent collection. They might give some to engine manufacturers and some to sponsors but over the years they start developing a stockpile and really, with the best will in the world, don't have the space or the resources to keep them all."

The cars on sale at the auction, which will feature items from Brawn GP forebearers British American Racing and Honda Racing, are expected to fetch between £14,000 to £22,000 for a race chassis and £7,000 to £10,000 for a full-size mock up, with merchandise starting at about £40.

Mr Knight said he expected the sale to attract a large amount of interest from overseas, as well as from the UK.

He said: "These items will appeal to collectors, as well as owners of motorsport and F1-themed restaurants and bars who might want to put them on the wall or suspend them from the ceiling.

"Then, of course, there are those who feel Jenson may be the next world champion and like the idea of buying a car he once owned. I think anything Jenson has sat in and competed in is going to be the most collectable lot and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out why."

Mr Knight said the auction house was still working on the catalogue for the sale but that a full listing would be uploaded to the website at www.bonhams.com/silverstone in the next few days.


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