A stunning 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport that raced at Le Mans in 1934 and is expected to sell for 2-2.6million Euros fronts Bonhams' annual sale at the Monaco Historic meeting on May 10 (www.bonhams.com).

The Type 55 Bugatti was built as a road-going version of the Type 54 GP racer and became the ultimate supercar of the early 1930s. Only 38 were built and of which less than 20 were fitted with this flamboyant Jean Bugatti-designed roadster coachwork.

This car's original owner was French amateur racing driver Charles Brunet who entered it in the 1934 Le Mans 24-hour race. The car was running 5^th in the 75^th lap, but in avoiding a collision with a car that had crashed, it spun and subsequently retired.

Proving that a no-sale at auction isn't necessarily the end of business, Bonhams recently announced the successful conclusion of negotiations to sell the 1989 Championship-Winning Sauber C9 Group C car, which was auctioned at Retromobile in February: a price of over £1 million was agreed and the car should be out racing again soon.

Malcolm McKay, Motorbase News Editor