Four unique BMW racing motorcycles are to be sold by Bonhams in January. Each of the quartet – all 1950s machines – would seem a perfect entrant to the recently revived ‘Mint 400’ desert race, made famous by the 1970s book ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’.
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John Surtees remains the only man ever to attain World Champion status on both two and four wheels; so, when he notes that the headline lot of Bonhams’ auction “rightly deserves a place as being one of the all-time greats of motorcycle Grand Prix racing”, we’re inclined to believe him. The subject he talks of has a 1939 RS 255 Kompressor (supercharged) engine, which is mounted in an authentic 1951 frame – a common practice with factory racing machines of a similar era, Bonhams assures us. Surtees describes the power delivery (he owns one of the same model year) as “very deceptive... this is a real racing machine.”
The motorcycle is accompanied by a trio of 1950s descendants: two 1954 RS 254s (one with a sidecar), and a 1956 RS 256. Significant interest is expected and, indeed, it was Bonhams which sold a very rare, factory prepared 1939 BMW RS R51 for $130,200 in 2010.
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