With the green light for the Historic racing season about to kick off in a major way, we took to the classifieds to pick out five competition cars that caught our eye, ranging from Formula 1 superstars to more humble rally heroes.
Now’s the time to buy – there’s just about time to get some late pre-season testing done, and iron out any kinks for this year’s event schedule. Which one would you choose?
Endurance/GT
Let’s kick off our list of five competition cars with a slice of pure racing history. Not only is this one of only 12 Jaguar E-type Lightweights, but it’s one of the three sold to Briggs Cunningham as part of a Works-backed assault on the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours. This car was driven by Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst, but gearbox issues called time on their race after only an hour. Hansgen would then team up with Paul Richards at the Road America 500, finishing third in class and 11th overall.
A week later, Cunningham himself would get behind the wheel for the Bridgehampton 500, before the car was retired to the Cunningham Museum later that year. In the time since it has been owned by collectors such as Sir Paul Vestey and Sir Anthony Bamford, and it has been extensively researched over the years. Today it retains its original aluminium body and alloy engine. It has its US taxes paid and is available via William I’Anson.
Touring car/saloon car
If you’re a fan of the swashbuckling touring car action at the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meetings, then the Lotus Cortinas will be firm favourites. This particular car was built by the Jordan Racing Team for the 2020 season, and it competed in various Masters Historic races and Goodwood Speedweek, where it was driven by ex-British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington. In the time since it has been driven in selected Masters and HRDC races, and it returned to Goodwood for the Revival in 2022 and the Members’ Meeting in 2023.
When the car was built, the shell was blasted to bare metal and checked on Jordan Racing Team’s jigs, before being fitted with a T45 roll cage and finished in original Lotus livery by Normandale. It has valid FIA HTP documentation until 2030, two extra sets of wheels, a spare diff with an option of final drive and a Vbox data-logging system. There’s also a heated screen, Neil Brown engine, alloy body panels, BTB exhaust system and JRT-specification dampers and springs. It’s available via the Jordan Racing Team here for £118k.
Rallying
If you fancy some filthy sideways action this 1980 Toyota Celica Group 2 rally car might just do the job, considering it weighs just 950kg and packs 170bhp. Built in Finland, the car was inspired by the 1983/1984 Team Toyota GB Corolla TE71 car driven by Per Eklund and Dave Whittock to two British Open Rally Championships. It was imported to Belgium in 2018, and competed in just a handful of road rallies before Covid stopped play.
More recently, it’s received a fresh engine built by former Toyota Team Europe technical director Gerd Dicks, and has covered just 600km on the VHRS 65 Spa Rally in 2023. It’s been inspected and serviced by Motorsport International in Theux, Belgium, and a spare engine is available by negotiation. It costs €39,500 and is available via Machines With a Mission.
Formula 1
This Williams FW18 was used by Jacques Villeneuve for the second part of the 1996 Formula 1 World Championship. Chassis no. 3 finished second on its debut at the French Grand Prix, before taking victories at the British, Hungarian and Portuguese Grands Prix. In eight races, the car failed to finish on the podium only once.
The Patrick Head/Adrian Newey-designed FW18 was retained by Williams for many years before entering a private collection a few years ago. It has been maintained by Williams F1 and is in running condition, having benefited from a complete recomission by the Williams Heritage department, which included a rebuild of the Renault V10 engine. It comes with all the running equipment and newly made spare wheels. The price hasn’t been announced, but it’s available via Speedmaster Cars.
Something a little different
For the last of our five competition cars, here’s a bit of a personal choice as I’m an avowed fan of this era of Maserati, and own the road car inspired by it. This is one of 25 Maserati Ghibli Open Cup cars built for the short-lived one-make series run by Adolfo Orsi’s Historica Selecta organisation. The 2.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 pumps out 330bhp in a 1295kg body. Put into place to inject some dynamism into the new cars following Fiat’s very sudden acquisition of Maserati following Alejandro de Tomaso’s stroke, these models were prepared with the aid of Alfa Corse.
The race series largely followed the DTM season as a support race, with extra Italian and Spanish rounds; it attracted guest drivers such as Tiff Needell, Paul Radisich, Miki Biasion, Markku Alén and more. The cars were enhanced with a bigger aero kit, larger brakes and extra strengthening for the 1996 season (six further cars were also built), but the championship was called off due to Fiat Group politics – it has long been rumoured that a certain near neighbour and fellow Fiat Group member was somewhat irked that the Open Cup was faster than its own monomarque car. Following the cancellation of the series, many examples were converted to road cars.
This particular machine, which wears the livery of 1995 champion D Zardo, is one such car – it was registered for German roads in 1996. It’s covered just over 7000km, and is available for €59,800 via Fuchs Motorrad.
