Coins and Historical Medals

“About two o'clock this morning I was going to pack it in and run off but fortunately our crew kept the car out and we are going to come back next year and do better,” Ian Bickerton, talking after the Le Mans 24 Hours, 2005

FRANCE, Les 24 Heures du Mans, oval bronze Pilote [Drivers] Medals, unsigned, for the Automobile-Club de l’Ouest, 2005, 90 x 72mm, 2006, 89 x 67mm, 2007 (2), both 74 x 60mm, all un-named; together with an Entry List for the 2005 race, a promotional colour brochure for the aims of Creation Autosportif, 2005 and a Spark model of the Creation CA06/H-Judd car, no. 9, from the 2006 race [Lot]. Medals virtually as struck, in boxes of issue, Spark model mint and boxed as issued £300-400

Provenance: Gifts of the drivers Nicolas Minassian and Jamie Campbell-Walter to Ian Bickerton, co-founder and team director of Creation Autosportif Ltd.

Creation Autosportif Ltd was established in 2003 to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and other endurance events, at the highest level, LMP 1 (the Le Mans Prototype Class 1). At first using a modified proprietary carbon fibre and aluminium monocoque chassis built by Reynard and powered by a quad-cam 3.4-litre V10 engine from Zytek, the team progressed to its own chassis, the CA06, in 2006, utilising a hybrid 5-litre V10 engine from John Judd, and then to a new chassis, the CA07, in 2007, powered by a 5.5-litre Judd engine. During the years 2005-7 Creation Autosportif was the only privateer team to compete in the top category against the might of the works Audi and Peugeot efforts. The company ceased trading in July 2015.

In 2005 the driving partnership of Minassian, Campbell-Walter and Andy Wallace started 7th on the grid and was running in the top six when Campbell-Walter crashed, but managed to return to the pits where the damage was repaired and the car ultimately finished 14th; in 2006 Minassian and Campbell-Walter, with Beppe Gabbiani and Felipe Ortiz, started 9th on the grid but retired after 240 laps with engine failure; in 2007 Campbell-Walter and Ortiz, with Shinji Nakano, once again starting 9th on the grid, retired after 55 laps with overheating.

Medals of this famous sporting event are much treasured by the drivers and seldom appear on the market. These examples were given to Ian Bickerton as a gift, as Mr Bickerton’s birthday often fell during race week, a small recompense for his hard work. The second 2007 medal in the group was the personal gift of Nicolas Minassian, who that year had competed for Peugeot in the race and started 7th on the grid, but the car was retired with engine trouble after more than 21 hours and 338 laps; Minassian has signed the inside of the box “Happy Birthday Ian, hope your week will be mega, love you, Nic”