Barry Sheene's Toyota Supra under the hammer
07/10/2017
Only a few motorcycle racers also enjoyed international success on four wheels. The exceptions were certainly John Surtees, but also Johnny Cecotto. In 1985, the 500cc motorcycle racer Barry Sheene, who had guaranteed Suzuki victories for years, also tried his hand at automobile racing, and not even badly.
He drove a Toyota Celica Supra with the 2.76-liter straight-six engine in the British Touring Car Championship. In pre-tests at Goodwood, he came within 0.4 seconds of the leading Toyota driver Win Percy.
In the opening race of the 85-race season, Sheene managed a fifth place, followed by a podium result in Thruxton with third place. Two races later, however, the car ended up in a huge accident involving six cars. A new bodywork was necessary and with the repaired car (chassis 0056255) he was able to achieve further good results, usually among the top six.
However, Sheene was not granted a great racing career. He died of cancer in Australia in 2003.
However, his car (chassis 0056255) survived and will be auctioned on July 27, 2017 at the" Silverstone Classic Race Car Sale 2017" .
60,000 to 80,000 British pounds have been estimated as the value of the restored Group A touring car. Whether this value can be realized remains to be seen.
