Cars for sale. Job lot

Bernie Ecclestone is selling this astonishing collection.

- JOHN EVANS

It takes one to know one, they say, and in Tom Hartley Jr, Bernie Ecclestone believes he has found the right man to sell his dream collection of 69 historic grand prix and Formula 1 cars. "I'm a second-hand car dealer and proud of it," Hartley Jr tells me from his dealership, Tom Hartley Jnr, in Leicestershire. Ecclestone, too, is a deal maker and proud of it: selling old car parts and motorcycles from the age of 15 before moving into property and investment and then, following some years as a driver manager, acquiring the Brabham race team in 1971. The rest is history.

Part of that history is his collection of rare and significant race cars, which, in December last year, Ecclestone declared would be sold. Gathered over more than 50 years and kept in a warehouse at Biggin Hill, many of them haven't been seen since they were last raced. Among the highlights are Ferraris raced in F1 grands prix by legendary world champions including Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, and Brabhams raced in F1 grands prix by Nelson Piquet, Carlos Pace and, again, Niki Lauda.