..., although an accomplished amateur racer in his own right, McQueen in the movie Le Mans was an actor playing a racer. And you can can get items owned by real racers for significantly less. They lack the allure of Hollywood perhaps, or maybe the motorsport collectors are cannier with their money. Or plain old less rich. Or both.

Don't get me wrong, I like McQueen as an actor (though I probably prefer The Great Escape to Le Mans), but the recent attention to Le Mans (the movie) memorabilia is interesting.

The cult of celebrity has reached epidemic levels here in the UK, though few of them have anything approaching the genuine stardom of Steve McQueen. In fact, most TV programmes with "Celebrity" tacked on have me scratching my head and wondering just who the hell that is. But this GT40 had significant race history before being chopped about for the film - and it was the film that was the focus of many people's attention and probably what drove the price so high. Bit of a shame for me that its real race history is almost overlooked in the process...