The 1979 F1 world champion Jody Scheckter has decided to part ways with his incredible private collection of his racing cars.
The spectacular machines span over a decade of the South African’s illustrious motorsport career and will be auctioned by RM Sotheby on May 11 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, during the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique weekend.
All twelve of his cars will be offered without reserve, but they will sell for a combined upper estimate of a huge 21 million euros (approximately £17.9 million).
The centerpiece of the collection is unquestionably Scheckter’s title winning car from 1979 – the Ferrari 312 T4.
The last car to deliver a drivers’ title to Maranello under the reign of Enzo Ferrari, the 312 T4 is the team’s first ground effect grand prix car, powered by a 3-litre flat-12 engine and designed by the legendary Mauro Forghieri.
The winner of three races in 1979 by Scheckter in Belgium, Monaco and at Monza, the car is estimated to be between 5.25 million euros and 6.5 million euros on its own.
Also featured in the 74-year-old’s collection is two McLaren machines – the M19A, which was driven by Scheckter on his F1 debut at Watkins Glen in 1972 and the chassis M23-2 from the 1973 season.
An iconic six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 is also up for auction, which was recreated in 2008 using a period unused chassis.
Another Tyrrell – a 1975 007 – also features, as well as the 1977 Wolf WR1, which Scheckter drove to a second place finish that season in the drivers’ championship, losing the title to Niki Lauda.
The collection expands beyond just F1 cars however, with two Formula 2 cars – a papaya 1972 McLaren M21 and the 1973 Rondel M1 – and a 1971 Merlyn Mk21 from Formula 3 also included in the sale.
Finally, the collection is completed by Scheckter’s 1970 British Formula Ford title-winning Merlyn Mk11a from 1969, his 1974 Trojan T101, which won that year’s Formula 5000 series, and a 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ sports car, which took place in the legendary Targa Florio road race in 1961 and 1963.
You can check out all of the incredible machines in detail on RM Sptheby’s website here.