This four‑cylinder Ferrari 500 TRC won at Le Mans in 1957 and 50 years later

A pair of Le Mans class wins, separated by half a century, is an almost unheard-of feat in the world of motorsport. But it’s one achieved by the 500 TRC of David and James Cottingham, with the striking yellow Ferrari first taking a class win (and a seventh place overall) as an Ecurie Francochamps team car at the Le Mans 24 Hours back in 1957.

Admittedly, the second class win, which came in 2007, was of the Le Mans Legends, an hour-long prelude to the 24 hour meeting featuring cars that would have raced at Circuit de la Sarthe from 1956 to 1968... But still, shared by the father and son duo, it stormed to victory in its respective class.

Following its debut season as an Ecurie Francochamps team car, the 500 TRC was returned to the factory, refreshed and sold to a Sicilian Prince, who raced it twice at the Targa Florio, before a crash in the 1959 edition ruled the end of its racing career.  Fast-forward to the late 1970s and the Ferrari found itself in the hands of David Cottingham, whose Prancing Horse restoration business DK Engineering was then in its infancy. Over the course of 15-years, Cottingham took the car from a damaged, dismantled wreck to concourse condition.