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Auction archive: Lot number 134

The Ex-Jean-Louis Schlesser/Jochen Mass 1989 Group C World Championship Winning 1989 Sauber-Mercedes-Benz C9 Chassis no. C9-05

Estimate
€1,500,000 - €2,500,000
ca. US$2,212,257 - US$3,687,095
Price realised:
n. a.
Auction archive: Lot number 134

The Ex-Jean-Louis Schlesser/Jochen Mass 1989 Group C World Championship Winning 1989 Sauber-Mercedes-Benz C9 Chassis no. C9-05

Estimate
€1,500,000 - €2,500,000
ca. US$2,212,257 - US$3,687,095
Price realised:
n. a.
Beschreibung:

This fabulous Group C car is a rare bird out of captivity and it offers tremendous promise as potentially both a surefire front runner and star attraction in present day Historic Group C racing. Swiss enthusiast Peter Sauber wanted to be a racing driver and after early competition in a modified Volkswagen Beetle he decided to build a prototype hillclimb car. He called it the Sauber C1 and he won the 1970 Swiss Hillclimb Championship. Further hillclimb cars followed before Sauber decided to enter sports car racing. His Sauber C5 was a BMW-engined Group 6 car with which Herbert Muller won the Interserie Championship in 1976. The following year the C5 was raced in the Le Mans 24-Hours by Eugen Strahl and Peter Bernhard and in 1978 the team returned to Le Mans with Marc Surer driving. Through 1979 Sauber prepared Lola Formula 3 cars for the Swiss Championship, drivers Beat Blatter, Eddy Kobelt and Max Welti finishing 1-2-4 in the series. Max Welti would become the team’s sporting director for many years. After running cars in Group 4, Group 5 and the Procar Championship, Sauber built a new sports car for 1982 and commissioned composite company Seger & Hoffman to mould his C6. When it proved troublesome Sauber sought a new engine for Group C racing, deciding that the 5-litre Mercedes-Benz V8 showed promise. In 1983, Mike Thackwell/Henri Pescarolo won the Nürburgring 1000km in the Sauber-Mercedes, prompting formation of a Mercedes-Benz Competition Department in 1988 supporting Sauber. The joint team then won five races and Jean-Louis Schlesser finished runner-up in the World Championship. Sauber’s beautifully built and exquisitely prepared cars then became official silver liveried Mercedes-Benz ‘works’ entries in 1989 after the marque had officially retired from international competition in 1955. The result was that they dominated the World Championship, winning seven of the eight rounds and scoring a 1-2 finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 1990 season was another ‘tour de force’, with eight wins in nine races and a second World Championship title, before Sauber moved into Formula 1. The team remains there today, as the core of BMW’s factory Formula 1 effort with drivers Heidfeld and Kubica. The Sauber C9 design was launched as early as 1987 with bonded aluminium panels stiffening the monocoque chassis, much improved ground effect aerodynamics – water radiator in the nose, better cooling and improved weight distribution. The C9-88-Mercedes model for 1988 featured a honeycomb aluminium monocoque with carbon fibre reinforcement, designed by Leo Ress. Mercedes M117 90-degree V8 engines displaced 4,937cc and featured twin KKK K27 turbochargers. Sauber-Mercedes chassis C9-05 has been listed as being the J-L Schlesser/Jochen Mass car with which Schlesser clinched the FIA World Sports Prototype Championship of Drivers title that year, with co-driver Jochen Mass in second place. Results for this chassis C9-05 for the 1989 season were: • Le Mans 24 Hours 5th Schlesser/Jabouille/Cudini • Jarama 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Nürburgring 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Donington 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Spa 480km DNF Schlesser/Mass • Mexico 1st Schlesser/Mass • Suzuka 1st Schlesser/Mass It should be noted that fastest laps were both set on the Nürburgring and in Mexico by C9-05 that season. At Le Mans Jean-Louis Schlesser, heading up the all French driver lineup gained the pole with a special qualifying chassis and engine in C9-02 thanks to a loophole in the regulations. This special chassis had been officially entered in the race and was replaced after qualifying with a record 407km/h top speed by chassis C9-05, designated for this occasion as the T-car. The only race in which this chassis had white rear view mirrors rather than the usual yellow ones. In recent correspondence with Peter Sauber on this matter he confirms that the car with white mirrors can even be clearly identified as chassis 05 in the film ‘Radio Le Mans, The Video, 1989’. We are a

Auction archive: Lot number 134
Auction:
Datum:
9 Feb 2008
Auction house:
Bonhams London
Paris Expo
Beschreibung:

This fabulous Group C car is a rare bird out of captivity and it offers tremendous promise as potentially both a surefire front runner and star attraction in present day Historic Group C racing. Swiss enthusiast Peter Sauber wanted to be a racing driver and after early competition in a modified Volkswagen Beetle he decided to build a prototype hillclimb car. He called it the Sauber C1 and he won the 1970 Swiss Hillclimb Championship. Further hillclimb cars followed before Sauber decided to enter sports car racing. His Sauber C5 was a BMW-engined Group 6 car with which Herbert Muller won the Interserie Championship in 1976. The following year the C5 was raced in the Le Mans 24-Hours by Eugen Strahl and Peter Bernhard and in 1978 the team returned to Le Mans with Marc Surer driving. Through 1979 Sauber prepared Lola Formula 3 cars for the Swiss Championship, drivers Beat Blatter, Eddy Kobelt and Max Welti finishing 1-2-4 in the series. Max Welti would become the team’s sporting director for many years. After running cars in Group 4, Group 5 and the Procar Championship, Sauber built a new sports car for 1982 and commissioned composite company Seger & Hoffman to mould his C6. When it proved troublesome Sauber sought a new engine for Group C racing, deciding that the 5-litre Mercedes-Benz V8 showed promise. In 1983, Mike Thackwell/Henri Pescarolo won the Nürburgring 1000km in the Sauber-Mercedes, prompting formation of a Mercedes-Benz Competition Department in 1988 supporting Sauber. The joint team then won five races and Jean-Louis Schlesser finished runner-up in the World Championship. Sauber’s beautifully built and exquisitely prepared cars then became official silver liveried Mercedes-Benz ‘works’ entries in 1989 after the marque had officially retired from international competition in 1955. The result was that they dominated the World Championship, winning seven of the eight rounds and scoring a 1-2 finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 1990 season was another ‘tour de force’, with eight wins in nine races and a second World Championship title, before Sauber moved into Formula 1. The team remains there today, as the core of BMW’s factory Formula 1 effort with drivers Heidfeld and Kubica. The Sauber C9 design was launched as early as 1987 with bonded aluminium panels stiffening the monocoque chassis, much improved ground effect aerodynamics – water radiator in the nose, better cooling and improved weight distribution. The C9-88-Mercedes model for 1988 featured a honeycomb aluminium monocoque with carbon fibre reinforcement, designed by Leo Ress. Mercedes M117 90-degree V8 engines displaced 4,937cc and featured twin KKK K27 turbochargers. Sauber-Mercedes chassis C9-05 has been listed as being the J-L Schlesser/Jochen Mass car with which Schlesser clinched the FIA World Sports Prototype Championship of Drivers title that year, with co-driver Jochen Mass in second place. Results for this chassis C9-05 for the 1989 season were: • Le Mans 24 Hours 5th Schlesser/Jabouille/Cudini • Jarama 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Nürburgring 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Donington 480km 1st Schlesser/Mass • Spa 480km DNF Schlesser/Mass • Mexico 1st Schlesser/Mass • Suzuka 1st Schlesser/Mass It should be noted that fastest laps were both set on the Nürburgring and in Mexico by C9-05 that season. At Le Mans Jean-Louis Schlesser, heading up the all French driver lineup gained the pole with a special qualifying chassis and engine in C9-02 thanks to a loophole in the regulations. This special chassis had been officially entered in the race and was replaced after qualifying with a record 407km/h top speed by chassis C9-05, designated for this occasion as the T-car. The only race in which this chassis had white rear view mirrors rather than the usual yellow ones. In recent correspondence with Peter Sauber on this matter he confirms that the car with white mirrors can even be clearly identified as chassis 05 in the film ‘Radio Le Mans, The Video, 1989’. We are a

Auction archive: Lot number 134
Auction:
Datum:
9 Feb 2008
Auction house:
Bonhams London
Paris Expo
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