Each of Ecclestone’s 69 cars is unique, having been stored away from the public, in some cases for more than 50 years. Many of the cars have never been seen since Ecclestone purchased them. Highlights include Ferraris raced in Formula 1 Grands Prix by World Champions such as Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher, and Brabhams raced in Formula 1 Grands Prix by Nelson Piquet, Carlos Pace, and Niki Lauda, among them the one-off Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B ‘fan car’, which raced only once winning the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp in 1978 by more than half a minute.

“This is quite simply the most important race car collection in the world. There has never been and probably never will be a collection like it ever offered for sale again. The collection spans 70 years of Grand Prix and Formula 1 racing, and highlights include Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher World Championship-winning Ferraris, all of Bernie’s [Ecclestone] Brabhams including the famous ‘fan car’, and the Vanwall VW10, the car in which the great Stirling Moss won several Formula 1 Grands Prix on the way to Vanwall clinching the first ever Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship in 1958, plus so much more,” said Tom Hartley Jr.