LONDON.- RM Auctions, the world’s largest collector car auction house for investment-quality automobiles, is delighted to announce that it will sell the world-renowned Laidlaw Competition Car Collection, one of the finest collections of sports racing cars ever to be assembled by a single owner. The highlight of the collection is the ex-Works and ex-Ecurie Ecosse, 1955 Jaguar D-Type, chassis no. XKD 504, a long-nose example driven in period by Hamilton, Frère and Sutcliffe. This is unquestionably one of the most important ex-Works racing Jaguars ever to be presented at auction.
RM’s London sale will take place over 7th-9th September, at its established Battersea Park location and in partnership with the exclusive St. James’s Concours of Elegance in Central London. Peter Wallman of RM Auctions, says: "This is unquestionably the finest single-owner collection of 1950s and 1960s competition cars to have ever been offered at public auction. We are honored that Lord Irvine Laidlaw has entrusted his immaculately prepared and highly competitive collection to us, and we are delighted to present the cars at our London sale this September. With such fabulous cars on offer and along with our partnership with St. James's Concours of Elegance, visitors from around the world will be able to enjoy a truly exciting and petrol-fuelled week in London."
Among the other fine sports racing cars in this collection are the 1958 Maserati 250S, chassis no. 2432, an ex-Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall car and the only 250S originally built with a 2.5-litre engine. This particular car is widely regarded as the best example in existence. It is joined by another incredible Maserati competition car, a fabled 1960 Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’, chassis no. 2464, which is an ex-Scuderia Camoradi car, which raced in period in the epic 1000 km Nürburgring race at the hands of Masten Gregory and Gino Munaron.
The Laidlaw collection also includes the stunning 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Berlinetta Competizione, chassis no. 09027, which came in 10th overall at Le Mans in 1966 with the legendary Ecurie Francorchamps and which was also the winner of the 1966 Mont Ventoux Hillclimb. Another extremely rare race car to be offered in the sale is the 1965 Porsche 904/6, chassis no. 906-012, which contested the 1965 24-Hours of Le Mans with the Works team and was driven by Peter Nöcker and Günther Klass to a 6th place finish at the 1000 km Nürburgring race.
Rounding off the collection are the spectacularly beautiful 1970 Chevron B16, chassis no. DBE- B16-4, which competed in the Daytona 24-Hour race, and the 1971 Chevron B19, chassis no. B19-71-3, which participated in the 1971 1000 km BARC.
Irvine Laidlaw, the well-known enthusiast and owner of this incredible collection, who has taken the difficult decision to stop racing, said, “I don’t regard myself as a collector. I am a car enthusiast and as an enthusiast I want to exercise my cars regularly, rather than gloat over them in the garage. So I have decided to sell the remaining competition cars and have consigned them to RM for auction as these are international cars, and RM is able to access buyers from all over the world. Having both bought and sold cars through their auctions in the past, I know that they present cars beautifully, while researching and reporting on history correctly. You know what you are getting when buying from RM.”
RM Auctions’ annual London sale is one of the most successful on the European collector car calendar and will be further enhanced this year by its new association with the prestigious St. James’s Concours of Elegance. In the past, the event has featured the renowned motor car collection of Bernie Ecclestone as well as James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, featured in Goldfinger, setting numerous world records in the process.
