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Salon Privé Le Mans Cars Display

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1UL | 28 August - 31 August 2024

Welcome to the spectacular showcase of Wonderful Historic Le Mans Cars at Salon Privé! Step into a world where time-honoured champions reign supreme and where the essence of automotive excellence converges with the spirit of Le Mans’ legendary endurance race.

Nestled within the prestigious Salon Privé Concours, this exclusive display pays homage to the iconic cars that have tackled the revered Circuit de la Sarthe. From the roar of engines to the scent of burning rubber, immerse yourself in the rich heritage of motorsport as we unveil an exceptional collection that spans decades.

Porsche 962 004

962 004 was last of the three new Rothmans factory 962s built in 1985, to debut at the Le Mans 24 hrs. Driven by 1983 winners Al Holbert and Vern Schuppan, with ex F1 star John Watson completing the roster, the car was the lead works car, running strongly behind the winning Joest 956, but retired with 3 hours reaming with an engine issue. A return in 1986 saw Jochen Mass place 004 on the pole at Le Mans, teamed up with Bob Wollek and joined by Vern Schuppan and again ran in second place for more than 10 hours, until hitting fresh oil around 3am at the Porsche curves, resulting in retirement. A return in 1988 saw a fifth place finish, ahead of the second works Shell Dunlop 962. A record eight Group C Le Mans winning drivers: Bell, Holbert, Ickx, Ludwig, Mass, Schuppan, Stuck and Winter remarkably all raced this chassis in period, across four consecutive seasons.

Porsche 962 200

962-200 was the second of the three Richard Lloyd Racing bespoke 962s campaigned by the team. It featured a unique honeycomb and carbon chassis designed by Nigel Stroud. Built new for the 1988 season and specifically for Derek Bell to lead his championship assault for RLR. The car scored a 4th place on debut, recorded the fastest lap at Spa and also scored a podium finish at the Tampa World Challenge. In the 1989 season, it scored a strong second place at Silverstone in the hands of Tiff Needell. Needell also joined Derek Bell and James Weaver for the 1989 Le Mans 24 hours, running very strongly until an oil leak forced retirement from a creditable 7th place against the might of the works teams and with just two hours remaining. A strong 4th place was achieved by Bell and Needell at the final world championship round in Mexico that year.

Jaguar XJ220C #002

The last Jaguar to “win” at Le Mans. In 1993 three XJ220 competition models were built by Tom Walkinshaw racing to FIA/IMSA Le Mans specifications in order to contest in the GT class at the Le Mans 24 hours. TWR pulled together a star driver line-up of David Coulthard, David Brabham and John Nielson. The # 50 car looked very strong after qualifying second in class, behind the Works Porsche of Hans Stuck, Walter Rohrl and Hurley Haywood. During the race, two XJ220s were running first and second 3 hours in and all was looking bright for the British team.  The two Jaguars maintained consistent race pace out front until the sister car experienced a high speed blow out and then overheating engine as it tried to limp back to the pits. This left one XJ220 in the race, this car, which crossed the line 1st in class and two laps ahead of their nearest class rival. However, a technicality regarding the lack of fitment of catalytic converters had been raised pre-race – not required for the IMSA class in which the car was entered – however, although the FIA upheld the appeal by TWR, the appeal was ruled to be “out of time” by the ACO and the car controversially disqualified.

Porsche 993 GT2 R

The Porsche 993 GT2R is the customer race version of the highly regarded 993 GT2 homologation car. Manufactured by Porsche Motorsport at Weissach in 1995 to race specification and delivered new to French lawyer Jean-François Veroux, today permanent Chairman of the panel of stewards for the FIA WEC.

Veroux was a privateer driver who, with sponsorship from Sodimail, participated in the iconic 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, partnered with Didier Orton and Eric van de Vyver. In a race, which was dominated and won by the McLaren F1 GTRs, with rain until mid-morning, the French trio were the second Porsche home, finishing a very creditable 16th overall and 5th in class. It continued in the BPR series, finishing at the Silverstone, Le Mans and Paul Ricard 4 hour races.

The car was retired in 1996, to return to successfully contest the Spa 24 hour races in 2001 and 2002. It was then sold privately in 2012 and road registered in France, then Belgium and now the UK, to make it both an incredible road or race car.

Ferrari 458 GTE #2826

This wonderfully original 458 GTE sits alongside the Le Mans winner as one of the most successful Ferrari GT2 Works cars in existence. Works drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni scored six wins in this 2011 debut year of the fully works-backed new 458 GTE, including 1,000 KM of Spa, 6hrs of Silverstone and the challenging 12 hours of Petit Le Mans,  achieving 9 podiums from a total of 11 races entered, helping to secure a double Championship win in both the Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in the 2011 season, with this car really at the top of its class. Included was the 2nd in-class finish at Le Mans 24 hours, joined by Toni Vilander and finishing on the same lap as the winning Corvette, after a race-long battle and wearing the now iconic # 51 race number. 2012 saw a second full season, wearing the # 61 for GTE Am, recording a 6th-in-class finish at Le Mans and the second-highest-placed Ferrari.

Image credit: https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/

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