With last year’s sale of the remarkable Baillon ‘barn-find’ collection that included a $16.3m Ferrari California Spider, few would have expected the 2016 fixture to offer such rich pickings. However, auctioneer Matthieu Lamoure and his colleagues look to have trumped their own record-breaking success story in a single swoop, with the consignment of a bluer-than-blue-chip Ferrari sports-racing car. Built in 1957, the 335 S Spider (chassis 0674) was clothed by Scaglietti before being sent by the Scuderia to compete in the Sebring 12 Hours with Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant at the helm, ultimately placing sixth.

However, Sebring was a mere practice run: two months later at the Mille Miglia, the car was handed to Wolfgang von Trips, who drove it to second place behind a stablemate driven by Piero Taruffi. It was then returned to Maranello for an enlarged engine (4.1 litres, up from 3.8) before being entered in that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, now with more than 400bhp. With this new-found potency – not to mention a driver pairing of Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso – the 335 S set a fresh lap record, with an average speed of more than 203km/h. It sadly retired with mechanical problems, but went on to race at the Swedish and Venezualan Grands Prix, with respective fourth- and second-place finishes helping Ferrari to take the Constructors’ title.

If that’s not enough provenance for you, stay seated. The factory then sold the car to Luigi Chinetti Jnr in January 1958, and before long it was back in action at the Cuba Grand Prix, where Stirling Moss and Masten Gregory took the chequered flag. After more competition exploits that season it was sold to an architect, who kept it for a decade before passing it on to collector Pierre Bardinon. For those unfamiliar with the latter, this namecheck should explain all you need to know: when Enzo Ferrari was asked about the lack of a collection at the Maranello factory, he replied: “No need. Bardinon has done it for me.”

Photos: Artcurial