Race Tempered Machines and Pure Classics for The Driving Enthusiasts Who Demand the Best! Offered at Iconic Auctioneers Race Retro Sale, Saturday 24th February, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire

Be it a rally legend or the best of breed collectors’ car, the Iconic Auctioneers sale at Race Retro Show at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire on Saturday February 24th 2024 promises to have both on offer. Leading this year’s pack are; two cars from the Historic Sport Car Club (HSCC) Motor Racings Legends series, a highly desirable Maserati Sebring and a Mitsubishi EVO VI RS Tommi Makinen 'Monte Carlo' Edition.

Last year’s Classic and Competition Car sale at Race Retro saw Iconic Auctioneers establish no fewer than six new auction world records, in front of a huge crowd of saleroom bidders with many more joining on the phones and online. This next sale promises to be equally trend setting given the line-up of crack cars listed below. So, if you are looking to buy or sell a competition car or one of the best classics on the market, this is not a sale to miss!

Let’s start with the 1988 Rouse Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth 'Group A' Car - one of the two legendary Kaliber 'Group A' Sierra Cosworth’s built by Andy Rouse Engineering for the 1988 British Touring Car Championship. Chassis #ARE KAL 0988 was built and used during the 1988 season and driven predominately by Guy Edwards to four podium finishes. Throughout the season, the Kaliber Sierras were the cars to beat and, in a golden era, the spectacle of these seriously powerful touring cars belching flames helped define a magnificent chapter of saloon car racing.

At the end of the season, these winning cars were very much in demand with one being sold to Peter Brock and #0988 was purchased by Adrian Fu who took it to the Far East and raced it at Macau and in various rounds of the Asia Pacific Series. #0988 then left Asia bound for Australia where it was entered in the 1992 James Hardie at Bathhurst for drivers Ken Matthews, Rod Jones and Mike Newton. After the race, it remained at the circuit and was displayed in the Bathurst Museum for a while until purchased in 1993 by its previous owner, an accomplished Kiwi racing driver and businessman.

After some re-engineering by Peter Brock, he raced the Sierra in the New Zealand Endurance Championship with wins at Timaru International Motor Speedway and Teretonga, helping him, and co-driver Murray Cleland win the Championship in 1996. Remaining within the same ownership, the Sierra enjoyed a period of retirement until 2016/17 when it was decided that the car should be totally rebuilt and returned to its original UK livery with the possibility of running in Archibald’s Historic car series in NZ, which it later did most successfully.

Its New Zealand owner decided that the Sierra should be offered for sale in the UK and was sold in 2019 by Iconic Auctioneers, then Silverstone Auctions, to a well-respected UK historic race team who have carried out extensive work to ensure this RS500 is race-ready and competitive. The work included a top-specification Harvey Gibbs engine that has only done three laps of Silverstone. It has a rebuilt Getrag gearbox and differential, a new heated front screen is fitted, all of the safety equipment is in date and the car is complete with fresh FIA/HTP papers.

This iconic Kaliber Sierra RS500 is ready to race or test and is accompanied by a basic spares package and wheels. A further inventory of spares will be available by separate treaty to the next owner.

Next up is another tried and tested race car - the ‘Lairy Canary’ as it is fondly known, a tough race winning competition car.

This Aveley-built, 1971 RS1600 is undoubtedly one of the best FIA Mk1, Group 2 Escorts in Europe with an HTP valid until 2028. Totally reliable, extremely competitive - a stunning, turn-key package, built by the Jordan Racing Team in 2021 - build number 31.

This car is an original, Aveley-built, Ford Escort RS1600 sourced by the late Mike Bell in Belgium in 2011 as an original road car which he converted to a full-spec, Group 2 race car. Mike was an experienced and much liked circuit racer who wanted to build a special race car finished in the colours of Norwich FC but to a genuine period Zakspeed design. This car eventually became known as “The Lairy Canary”. It was a much admired and distinctive race car from the start, and he ran it very successfully in FIA saloon races all over Europe until his sad passing.

It was subsequently acquired by Iconic Auctioneers Chairman, Nick Whale, during 'lock-down' in 2020, and immediately entrusted to the renowned, Midlands-based, Jordan Racing Team for a professional rebuild. Mike and his team stripped the car completely and invested many hours of detailed work in the bodyshell, including seam-welding and lightening and strengthening where required. A welded-in, FIA-specification, roll-cage was fitted and all the running gear components, including the brakes, suspension and drive train, were either rebuilt or replaced. The engine/gearbox were sold and a new, ultimate-spec, 2-litre BDG was ordered from Jondel Race Engines and mated to a new ZF five-speed gearbox. The car was completely repainted by the long-established competition car painting specialists,

Normandale in Daventry. When finished, the car was set-up, driven and tested by both Mike and Andrew Jordan and then raced successfully by Nick and Harry Whale in the Motor Racing Legends series in 2021 and 2022 with class wins and top-ten finishes every time out.


The car also competed in the 2023 Mallorca Rally, finishing 1st in class and 5th overall and is road registered with all the necessary parts to run highly competitively in both races and rallies to FIA Group 2 Saloon spec. The FIA HTP paperwork was renewed when JRT rebuilt the car and is valid until 2028.

After the Mallorca event, the engine was sent for a complete refresh, as was the gearbox, and a new clutch was fitted at the same time. Its next outing was the 2023 Silverstone Classic driven by Touring Car legend, Matt Neal, partnered by Harry Whale, once again achieving a class win and a very strong 5th overall in an ultra-competitive FIA Saloon grid with Motor Racing Legends. The car has not been used since and is sold as it finished, with a fresh engine and gearbox and an undamaged racing history. It is both demonstrably reliable and extremely competitive with a genuine reason for sale. The Lairy Canary is undoubtedly one of the best Mk1, Group 2 Escorts in Europe and is sold with spares and 12 wheels as a full turn-key package with help and guidance if required.

As additional incentive these first two cars highlighted here are eligible to enter into the new Historic Sport Car Club (HSCC) historic racing series - ‘ Touring Car Legends’. Both cars have already competed in the HSCC Motor Racings Legends series.

If it’s a Japanese race bred true collectors piece you lust after, what better car than this one, number five of five, a Mitsubishi EVO VI RS Tommy Makinen 'Monte Carlo' Edition has covered just 3,497 miles from new in the hands of its one and only owner.

Launched at the peak of rally mania, Mitsubishi experienced huge success in Lancer Evolution sales, reportedly selling 6,000 Evolution IVs in the first three days of its launch! The 1996 WRC season brought Mitsubishi its first World Rally Championship drivers’ title, with thanks to a blisteringly quick driver named Tommi Makinen.

In quick succession, the Lancer Evolution VI came to be, and, in the latter-half of 1999, Mitsubishi unleashed a special edition to celebrate its favourite driver’s four consecutive WRC drivers’ titles from 1996-1999; the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI 'Tommi Makinen Edition (TME). The Evolution VI was already a technological tour-de-force but the TME came equipped with a more responsive titanium turbocharger, uprated and lowered suspension, quicker steering, an upgraded exhaust, a new ECU, beefed-up transfer case internals, a redesigned front bumper for improved cooling and authentic 17-inch WRC Enkei alloy wheels. The interior featured embossed Recaro seats, a MOMO steering wheel and red stitching. The performance upgrades saw 0-60mph despatched in 4.4 seconds and a maximum top speed of 150mph. Power was rumoured to be north of 300bhp, rather than the 276bhp 'Gentleman’s agreement'.

Offered here is the rarest of all the Tommi Makinen derivatives and often regarded as the last of the true homologation specials. Ralliart UK planned to produce a limited run of twelve cars to celebrate Tommi Makinen’s unprecedented third win on the Monte Carlo Rally but, in fact, only five cars were built, this being Number #5.

The RS Monte Carlo edition started life as a standard competition RS model before the Ralliart Technical Team, headed by WRC Mitsubishi Works principal Toney Cox, applied their extensive knowledge to produce the ultimate Mitsubishi Evo. It was fitted with the renowned Ralliart UK Stage 1 engine performance pack providing stunning acceleration, improved throttle response and overall drivability. The uprated suspension was enhanced with specially developed Eibach springs which, with revised geometry, provided improved handling and the 'Monte Carlo' was equipped with the competition close-ratio gearbox and a Group N rally-specification front helical differential. The interior benefitted from Recaro SR front seats with the rear seats and door fabrics trimmed in a matching fabric.

First registered to Ralliart UK Ltd. on 11th July 2001, it was subsequently sold to its one and only owner on 17th August 2001 with only 71 miles indicated and today the odometer reads just 3,497 miles. The history file contains a copy of the original RS Monte Carlo press release from Mitsubishi Motor Sports and Ralliart and the original invoice to our owner. Essentially still factory fresh. Monte Carlo #5 has recently been checked over by a renowned rally preparation business and represents the final opportunity to own this pristine example of what, in our opinion, is the ultimate Evo.

Whose heart does not beat faster at the thought of having your own Maserati sitting in the garage? Here is an opportunity to make that dream a reality and what a Maserati it is, with racing history built into its DNA!

Having spent extravagantly on their motor racing program over the years, Maserati's coffers were a little depleted and their survival strategy for the 1960s centred on establishing the company as a volume producer of road cars. The Modena marque's new era began in 1957 with the launch of the Touring-bodied 3500GT. A luxury 2+2, the 3500GT drew on Maserati's competition experience, employing a tubular chassis frame and an engine derived from the Alfieri-designed 350S sports racing car unit of 1956. Suspension was independent at the front by wishbones and coil springs, while at the back there was a conventional live axle/semi-elliptic arrangement. Power output of the twin-cam six was around 220bhp initially, but later examples produced 235bhp on fuel injection. Built on the shorter wheelbase but otherwise similar chassis of the Vignale-bodied 3500GT Spyder, the Sebring 2+2 coupé arrived to much acclaim in 1962, and is now widely considered to be one of the most elegant and understated of the Sixties' Grand Tourers.

Introduced in 1965, the Series II (Tipo AM 101/10) featured redesigned headlamps; modernised bumpers; new front indicators; and new side grilles replacing the lower extraction vents used hitherto. At the rear, apart from the squared off bumpers, the taillights were now mounted horizontally rather than vertically and the boot lid opening was narrower. A 3.7-litre version (lengthened stroke which enlarged it to 3,694 cc) was offered later in production and eventually a 4-litre (4,012cc) car towards the end of the model's life. Known as the 4000GTi, the 4-litre car produced 252bhp with an uplift to 261bhp right at the end. There are no more than a handful of these 4-litre cars currently in the UK.