For many enthusiasts the Group C and GTP era is considered the golden hour of sports car racing. Fortunately, these cars are still raced today and this year there was also a Group C and GTP support race at the Le Mans Classic.
Today we take a look at five machines that had not been raced for quite some time. The most spectacular of these was this Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis. It was raced to two World Championship victories in period and after a spell in England has now been repatriated to France. For this season, chassis EV16 was prepared by specialists Equipe Europe using engines developed by Oreca.
Porsche was the leading manufacturer in Group C. In addition to the cars built by the factory, cars from other companies also used Porsche engines. Among them was this Cougar C26S built by Yves Courage. It was raced in the guise presented today at Le Mans in 1991 but chassis chassis C02-02 actually dates back to 1983. In the intermittent period, the car was continuously updated to the latest specifications. It raced at Le Mans no fewer than six times. Porsche also allowed others to build complete cars following the 962's design. One of these is this 962 BM, which was one of eight built by hugely successful privateer Brun Motorsport. It was raced at Le Mans in 1989 and 1990, and more recently formed part of the formidable Historic Porsche Collection. Now in new ownership, 962-003BM returned to the track.
Another car not seen racing for many years is this Jaguar XJR-12 that originally competed at Le Mans in 1991 where it placed fourth overall. The following year, J12-C-891 finished second at Sebring.
One of the most interesting cars to return to racing is this Spice SE89P. It was raced originally by Jim Miller of Pratt & Miller fame and as such helped in the development of the mighty Intrepid racing car. Used into the 1991 season, SE89P-003 sports the same works livery as the Intrepids raced later in the year.

As we have entered the final month of 2018, it is time to start looking back at the many highlights of the year. One of the most spectacular was certainly this Porsche 917 K. Chassis 008 was originally one of the works cars and was raced at Le Mans in 1969, where it led for 18 hours. It was subsequently used for the famous test at Zeltweg where the Kurz or Short tail version of the 917 design was created with the help of the John Wyer Automotive team. Although it served as a Gulf JWA spare but it was not raced again and was eventually dismantled. The frame was later sold to Freisinger and built up to a complete car again. Not seen for many, many years, the rebuilt car finally resurfaced this year and was shown at the Le Mans Classic and raced at the more recent Imola Classic.
This weekend, Bonhams staged their annual flagship Bond Street Sale at the company's headquarters. Topped by the ex-Graf Albrecht von Goertz BMW 507, the results were disappointing. One car that more than lived up to the expectations was this Vauxhall 30/98 OE Velox Tourer. Originally sold to the Maharajah of Jammy and Kashmir, it now found a new owner for GBP 437,000, which was well above the top estimate.
Another car originally owned by Indian royalty currently available is this striking Bentley Speed Six Mulliner Sportsman's Saloon. Its first owner was the Maharajah of Jaipur and remained in India until 1937. In 2012, it was shown at Pebble Beach as part of a display of cars owned by Indian royalty, where it placed second in class and won two special awards. Chassis LR2778 is currently being offered by RM Sotheby's private treaty department.