A 1993 Benetton-Ford Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater driven by Riccardo Patrese and Michael Schumacher is the lead car for the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022.
A 1993 Benetton-Ford Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater, estimate £1,100,000 – 1,600,000 ($1,400,000 — $2,000,000), is the most expensive car on offer in the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022 classic car auction. The Benetton was raced by Riccardo Patrese in five Grand Prix races while Michael Schumacher qualified third for the British GP race in this chassis. It is in running condition and frequently seen at amongst others Goodwood. Further top lots include British cars from the prewar era and modern supercars including a rare 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 S Roadster.
Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022 Auction
Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022 Auction: 24 June 2022 in its traditional setting of the private gardens of Goodwood House, Chichester, West Sussex, UK.
The annual Bonhams sale takes place during the Goodwood Festival of Speed, one of the most important motoring events in Europe, which sees a large gathering of motoring greats, former and current racing drivers, and industry leaders in the south of England. Tickets are sold only online in advance and generally sell out well in advance of the event.
Top Cars at the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022
Although no car on offer at the Bonhams Festival of Speed 2022 auction will come near the Goodwood auction record holder — a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196 Formula 1 single-seater racing car sold for £19.5 ($30) million in 2013 — several interesting cars will be on offer:
1993 Benetton-Ford Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater
The 1993 Benetton-Ford Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater, chassis B193B-04, estimate £1,100,000 – 1,600,000 ($1,400,000 — $2,000,000), is the most expensive car on offer in the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022 classic car auction. This Benetton was driven in period by Riccardo Patrese and the seven-times Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher. It is one of only two Benetton B193B Formula 1 cars running in the world and is frequently seen at demonstration events including Goodwood.
Chassis B193B-04 contested five races in the 1993 Formula 1 season with Patrese at the wheel. The pair achieved their best position – third – at the British Grand Prix, behind race winner Alain Prost’s victorious Williams-Renault FW15C and Michael Schumacher, second, in the sister Benetton-Ford B193B.
Schumacher himself had notably used this Benetton-Ford – chassis B193B-04 – in qualifying for that Grand Prix when he set the third fastest time. The car was extensively tested by both drivers throughout the season.
Designed under the direction of celebrated Formula 1 engineer Ross Brawn, then Benetton’s Technical Director, and Chief Designer Rory Byrne, the B193B was the result of Benetton’s intense period of high-tech development over the preceding winter. In a spirit of ‘can do’ the work embraced automatic gearboxes, active-ride suspension, and traction control, all of which featured on the car, assembled around the very first carbon-composite monocoque chassis to be manufactured in the Benetton team’s then brand-new Enstone factory.
Offered from the ownership of a Formula 1 connoisseur and Benetton enthusiast, the Benetton has been painstakingly preserved and prepared and is ready to run in demonstration mode. Its original 3.5-liter naturally aspirated (non-turbocharged) Cosworth Ford HB V8 engine has been slightly de-tuned for practical purposes and reliability. It is also equipped with passive suspension and a Motec electronic management system, rather than the original, for ease of maintenance.
Completing the specification is a choice of advertising and livery ‘suits’ produced for the various international markets, plus the seat mouldings and original seat belts for both drivers – the latter marked with the respective racers’ initials.
The Benetton returns to Goodwood where it has been a welcome and familiar sight, as recently as this year’s Members Meeting, having completed more laps of the motor circuit and more climbs of the renowned Goodwood hill, than almost any other contemporary Formula 1 car.
Recent Formula 1 Cars Auction Prices
Modern Formula 1 cars have sold in high numbers and at high prices at recent auctions. Two of Nigel Mansell’s Formula 1 racing cars sold at RM Sotheby’s Monaco 2022 auction: his 1991 Williams FW14 that won five races (and taxied Ayrton Senna after the British Grand Prix) sold for a marque record $4,222,060, while the 1989 Ferrari 640 in which he won his maiden race for Ferrari achieved $3,753,520.
The 2010 McLaren MP4-25A Formula 1 racing car, the first-ever Lewis Hamilton Grand Prix winning car offered for sale, sold for a record $6,741,384 at the RM Sotheby’s Silverstone 2021 Grand Prix auction.
The estimate for the Benetton on offer at Goodwood 2022 of £1,100,000 – 1,600,000 ($1,400,000 — $2,000,000) is quite a jump from the marque record €1,058,000 ($1,200,618) paid for a 1991-92 Benetton Ford B191/B191B Formula 1 racing car at the Bonhams Monaco 2016 sale. (The pre-auction estimate for that car was only €220,000 – 280,000!) Three-time world champion Nelson Piquet drove his final Grand Prix in that Benetton car. It was subsequently raced by Martin Brundle before a young Michael Schumacher drove it to third place, and his first ever podium finish, at the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix, and to a second third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Prewar British Cars at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022
Another familiar Goodwood car offered in the sale is a 1931 Invicta 4 ½-Litre S-Type ‘Low Chassis’ Sports ‘Seagull’, £700,000 – 800,000, which was named the ‘Ultimate Rakish Sports Car 1929-1940′ Class at the 2004 Cartier Concours d’Elegance. Fully restored in the 1980s and 1990s, the Invicta has been owned by the vendor for almost a half-century and has a fascinating history, with its first custodian being a German aristocrat spy.
While 21st-century drivers and the latest hypercars will be tackling the Goodwood hill climb, the Bonhams saleroom will honor former racing aces such as the late Peter Blond, a much-loved and successful privateer racing driver who campaigned in period at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, as well as at Le Mans and the Nürburgring.
The Peter Blond Collection, comprising three Rolls-Royces and a Bentley, all with their own tales to tell – reflects his hobby of collecting and restoring pre-war road cars – to award-winning standard – which he took up after he stopped racing to get married.
The quartet is led by a 1936 Bentley 4¼ Litre All Weather Sports Tourer, (estimate £120,000 – 140,000). The Olympia Show car for that year, featuring particularly rare ‘Four Door, Four Light’ coachwork, this Bentley was also Peter’s first foray into collecting road-going sports cars and was retained by him for more than 60 years.
Completing the set are a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Sports Coupé, with coachwork by James Young and owned by Peter for 40 years, estimate £85,000 – 115,000; a 1923 Rolls-Royce 20hp Barrel-sided Tourer, estimate £60,000 – 70,000, the final Rolls to be acquired by Peter and a 1932 20/25hp Close Coupled Sports Coupé, with coachwork by Gurney Nutting, estimate £85,000 – 115,000.
Modern Supercars at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale 2022
Bonhams is presenting its own Supercar Paddock at Goodwood featuring a 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 S Roadster, £550,000 – 750,000 and a 1993 Jaguar XJ220 Coupé, estimate £375,000 – 425,000.
The SLR McLaren was so-called after the 1955 Mille Miglia-winning Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, driven by British motor-racing legend Stirling Moss, which had the starting number 722. Powered by a hand-built AMG engine, the Formula 1-inspired carbon-fiber supercar has a top speed of 208 mph. Only 105 cars were produced, the majority at the McLaren factory in the UK – the car offered is the very first, Number One.
Mercedes-Benz prices have been hot all 2022 — not only for the most-expensive car ever sold, the $143 million 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé — but also for other desirable models with further top results expected at Monterey 2022.
Two decades earlier, the 1993 Jaguar XJ220 Coupé was also reaching speeds in excess of 200 mph, making it the fastest supercar of its time. On track, the mid-engine Jaguar, with its Tom Walkinshaw Racing chassis, campaigned at Le Mans, like its spiritual ancestor D-Type, winning the GT class of 1993. This UK-supplied example has covered circa 7,500 miles from new.
