Easier to drive than a truck?

PROST VS SENNA was still very much on everybody’s mind at the beginning of the 1991 F1 season With Senna remaining at McLaren and Prost mounting another Championship assault with Ferrari, it was all to play for

Starting the year with the previous season ’ s car immediately put Ferrari on the back foot, but a heavily developed replacement – the Ferrari 643, as seen here – was intended to level the playing field when it was introduced halfway through the 1991 season

Powered by a 3.5-litre 710bhp V12, revving to 13,800rpm and driving through a sevenspeed semi-automatic gearbox, it remained the most distinctive-sounding car on the grid Even so, despite a relatively promising start at the French Grand Prix, Prost struggled to get on with the 643 for the rest of the season Its poor performance eventually resulted in his famous quote: ‘A truck would be easier to drive than this car ’ He was fired from Ferrari before the season came to an end, leaving Senna to take his third World Championship

This car, chassis 127, was actually driven by Jean Alesi at the French and British Grands Prix, and he seemed to gel with the car a little better than Prost It then served as the team’s spare car in Germany, Hungary and Belgium –

Up Periscopio! Artcurial, Paris, France 3-4 February

ALTHOUGH THE ‘Periscopio’ nickname given to the earliest Countach models suggests a roofmounted rear-view mirror set-up, this very cool (but ultimately flawed) feature never made it to production The reason the name stuck is because these early cars retained the original prototype’s distinctive roof window.

Artcurial has consigned this very early car, ninth off the production line and the first sold new in France by Etablissements Thépenier. Although described as abarnfind,thatdoesthecondition of this Countach a disservice It was bought in 1983 by the current owner,whocaredforitthroughout itsregularuse Forthepastdecade, however,ithasremainedinstorage at his property, on an island in the Atlantic facing La Rochelle.

It certainly looks to be in good shape, and is described as being exceptionally well-conserved both inside and out. Complete with a full set of matching numbers and 87,558km, it will be offered at the Paris Rétromobile auction, where it is estimated to sell for €800,0001,200,000. artcurial.com before being wheeled out in Australia for Prost’s replacement, Gianni Morbidelli

Following the 1991 season, chassis 127 was refurbished by the factory and sold to a South African collector It remained well-maintained and was sold in 2010 – then raced at Kyalami with Ian Scheckter behind the wheel Sold to Germany in 2016, it was fully restored and has since been raced in several Historic events

Not only is this Ferrari 643 to be sold in running condition, but the buyer will also get all of the specialist equipment required to run it. RM Sotheby’s estimates that it will fetch €2.9-3.4million rmsothebys.com