Schumacher’s First Title Car

Posted on November 25, 2013 by classiccarweekly

1994 Benetton B194 Ford

Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 1, 2013

The Benetton Formula One team began competing in the top tier of world motorsport in 1986. The team was founded by the Benetton family, owners of the Benetton fashion brand, when they purchased the Toleman team at the end of 1985. In 1991, they hired a young driver named Michael Schumacher who took the team to the pinnacle. Michael won his first two drivers championships with Benetton before departing for Ferrari.

Schumacher won his first title driving a B194 – winning eight races (half of them with this chassis), despite being disqualified from two races and banned from two more. It was a very controversial season to say the least. This car uses a Cosworth-built, Ford-badged 3.5-liter V-8. The race history of this car includes (but is not limited to):

1994 San Marino Grand Prix – 1st (with Michael Schumacher)
1994 Grand Prix of Monaco – 1st (with Schumacher)
1994 Canadian Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)
1994 French Grand Prix – 1st (with Schumacher)

This car won four races with Michael en route to the season driver’s title. Benetton became Renault F1 for 2002 and Renault sold off many of the Benetton team cars that had been left behind. This one found its current home in 2008. A restoration was completed in 2010 and features the original 1994 Mild Seven livery. This is one important race car and it comes with a host of spares. No estimate is available, which is auction house code for “a lot.” You can read more here and check our more from Bonhams in London here.

S/N: B194-05

Update: Sold $1,009,281.

Ferrari 512TR

Posted on November 15, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1994 Ferrari 512TR

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Birmingham, England | November 17, 2012

The Ferrari 512TR is the second iteration of the Ferrari Testarossa. The Testarossa was produced from 1984 through 1991, when the 512TR was introduced. It lasted until 1994, and was replaced by the F512M, which lasted through 1996. In the four years it was in production, 2,280 512TRs were built.

This is one of my favorite Ferraris, for reasons I can’t really explain. It has that classic Testarossa style, but it’s smoother, less boxy and squared-off – and it has some of the best wheels Ferrari ever put on a car. It uses a 4.9-liter flat-12 making 428 horsepower. It can hit 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and a top speed of 195 mph.

This is a 17,000 mile car that was serviced about 9 months ago. The car is in great condition and the rear-mounted flat-12 looks almost clean enough to eat off of – almost. This would be a fun, good-looking, Ferrari to own. It is expected to sell for between $80,000-$96,000 – down from its $212,000 as-new price. You can read more here and check out the rest of the auction line up here.

Update: Sold, $83,700.

Bugatti EB110

Posted on April 13, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1994 Bugatti EB110 GT

Offered by RM Auctions | Monaco | May 12, 2012

If someone offered me the choice between receiving one of the two most recent Bugatti models: an EB110 or a Veyron (and I wasn’t allowed to sell them for cash) – I would take the former. I would then dictate that the car be blue and have a spoiler. And then I would wake up from that dream.

For whatever reason, the Veyron, in all of it’s 1,000+ horsepower, 250+ mph glory, doesn’t seem quite as wild or supercar-ish as does this EB110. Maybe it’s because the Veyron is a Volkswagen and this was produced by a company always on the verge of financial ruin – the true supercar-manufacturing way.

Ettore Bugatti founded his company (in France) in 1909 and when he died in 1947 it was on its last leg, building only one more true Bugatti in the mid-1950s before succumbing to the times. Enter Romano Artioli who bought the Bugatti name in the late 1980s and set up shop in Italian supercar territory near Modena. The EB110 was born shortly thereafter, entering production in 1991, 110 years after Ettore Bugatti’s birth (hence the car’s name).

In GT trim the car makes 561 horsepower from its quad-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-12. A top speed of over 210 mph was possible as were 0-60 times in the sub-four second range. It is seriously quick, even in today’s terms. There was also an SS (SuperSport) model making 603 horsepower and a top speed of 216 mph. Both models feature four-wheel drive and a carbon fiber chassis making them quite advanced for the early 1990s. They also had scissor doors – as in straight up and straight down – no faux gullwing stuff here.

In 1993, Artioli bought Lotus and tried to make headway with both brands in North America – which was experiencing a recession and was in no mood for over-the-top supercars. Artioli’s fortunes waned and Proton got Lotus during liquidation and Bugatti production ceased in 1995. Dauer Sportwagen bought the remnants of the EB110 project and built additional, slightly more refined cars. When Dauer went bust, the leftovers were acquired by B Engineering for their Adonis supercar.

The car offered here is one of 84 EB110 GTs built and one of only 115 EB110s built in total. It has covered only slightly more than 10,000 miles in its life and was recently serviced at a cost roughly four times the retail value of my current daily driver. Yikes. But I still love these cars – the 90s were a great time for ridiculous supercars and this is among the best. The estimate is $290,000-$340,000. For the complete catalog description, click here. And for more on RM in Monaco, click here.

Update: Not sold.