Return to Le Mans

Artcurial, Le Mans Classic 7 July

A GROUP IV Ferrari 365GTB/4 is to return to the scene of its finest hour when it is sold by Artcurial during the Le Mans Classic festival in July. Chassis 12467 famously came fifth overall at Le Mans in 1971, so you won’t see it in the 1971 Steve McQueen movie, which used footage from the previous year. Even so, that year’s event was notable for being the first to use the safer Indy-style rolling start and for the dominance of Porsche, with 917s occupying the first two places, 30 laps ahead of the 512Ms in third and fourth.

In fifth, first non-sports-prototype home and 83 laps behind the winners but winning the index of thermal efficiency, was the NART Daytona piloted by Bob Grossman and Luigi Chinetti Jr. It was the success of this car that opened Ferrari’s eye to the Daytona’s track potential, prompting it to prepare purpose-built racers.

Converted from a European-spec example, chassis 12467 was one of three development cars and after Le Mans went to the US, where it also ran at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen. It stayed in the States, where it twice failed to sell at auction – at Pebble Beach in 2014 where it was bid to $3.5 million, and at the Keno Brothers’ Rolling Sculpture sale in New York, November 2015, when it reached $4.9 million, just under its lower estimate. Artcurial might have better luck at La Sarthe, where it’s estimated at €6.5-7.5 million. artcurial.com