Part of Ralph Lauren’s Vintage Collection to Display at Lime Rock

As if you needed another reason to attend Lime Rock Park‘s Historic Festival 32 over Labor Day weekend, Murray Smith, chairman of the event, has confirmed that five cars from Ralph Lauren’s private collection will be displayed over the four-day Labor Day weekend. The event comprises historic and vintage racing competition surrounding a concours d’ elegance. Mr. Lauren’s private collection is spectacular and it is very rare for his cars to be made available to the public at large.

So which five will it be?

1953 Morgan Flat Rad Ralph Lauren’ first car was a Morgan. This perfect example of a Morgan Flat Rad (radiator) is one of just 750 built and was purchased by Lauren in 1986.

1964 Ferrari 250 LM The Ferrari 250 LM was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in October, 1963 to great fanfare. In the LM, Pinninfarina presented a great case-study in how form following function can be beautiful. Unable to obtain the necessary homologation for GT racing, the 250 LM raced in the prototype category; a 250LM won Le Mans in 1965. Between 1965 and 1968, chassis 6321 – 31 of 32 built – was campaigned extensively and successfully in 19 Australian racing events, winning 13. Among those victories was the Surfers Paradise 12 hours in 1966, co-driven by Andy Buchanan and a young driver just beginning a brilliant career… Jackie Stewart.

1929 Birkin Blower Bentley The concept of the 4½ Liter, supercharged Bentleys (The Blower Cars) originated with Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, privileged son of a wealthy family whose resources allowed him to pursue his ambition of becoming a race car driver. Birkin developed a friendship with W.O. Bentley and given Birkin’s connections, Bentley realized that Birkin could help the struggling car maker (which was going bankrupt) to win important races. This car’s best finish was a second at the 1930 French Grand Prix (Pau) at the hands of Birkin.

1956 Jaguar XKSS When it comes to performance, the Jaguar XKSS was in a league of its own, likely the world’s quickest and fastest production car in 1957. The XKSS was a road-going version of Jaguar’s incredibly successful D-Type race car; factory run D-Types won Le Mans in 1955, 1956 and 1957 while privateer D-Types won many other races, too. Jaguar was convinced by Briggs Cunningham that it could win in American SCCA production car racing, where the rules required 50 street-legal cars be built. So Jaguar changed the model number of 25 XKDs to XKSS, with 25 more to be built to meet the minimum 50.

1959 Porsche RSK Porsche’s first outright victory in a manufacturer’s championship came in the 1959 Targa Florio, as the new RSK led three other Porsches across the finish line for a clean sweep. This car, 718-009, was used for practice in that event and was sent into battle for the remainder of the season. The most significant race for 718-009 was the Tourist Trophy on the Goodwood Circuit in England on September 5, 1959.

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