Bonhams held its first Monterey Car Week sale under The Laguna Seca Auction name on 13 August 2026, moving from its longtime Quail Lodge slot to WeatherTech Raceway. The house sold 43 of 56 offered lots for a combined $11,875,910 including premium, a 76.8 percent sell-through. But the total was heavily concentrated: a 2024 Bugatti Chiron Super Sport and a 2000 Lamborghini Diablo GT alone produced 58.9 percent of it, and 39 of the 43 sold lots hammered below their low estimates.
Modern icons carried the room
The Chiron Super Sport topped the sale at $4,570,000 including premium. The Diablo GT followed at $2,425,000, hammering at $2.2 million against a $2.1–2.6 million estimate — one of only three lots all day to hammer within range. This example, GT number 74, showed roughly 14,208 kilometers and had one owner since 2007. Bonhams' own catalogue is inconsistent on production, headlining the GT as one of 80 while noting 83 cars were delivered; a single confirmed figure is still pending.
A podium chassis without its engine
The sale's sharpest reversal was Lot 53, a 2019 Toro Rosso-Honda Formula One chassis driven in period by Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly — Gasly finished second at that year's Brazilian Grand Prix in it. Estimated at $625,000–825,000, it hammered at $200,000 and closed at $224,000, 68 percent below the low estimate at hammer. Honda retained the original power unit; the car sold on a bill of sale with a fabricated structure in its place. Bonhams also titled the lot "STR19/STR19-04," though its own history and contemporary F1 reporting identify the 2019 car as the STR14 — a discrepancy still unresolved.
Rarity that didn't clear reserve
Two significant no-sales showed the limits of provenance alone. A 1993 Jaguar XJ220-N — the third and final TWR Group N conversion, built for Italy's 1993 Supercar GT series but never raced in period — was bought in against a $675,000–725,000 estimate, hampered by an inoperative odometer and rough idle. A 1987 Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R, described by Bonhams as the first Skyline in Calsonic livery and the sole known survivor of its type, also failed to sell against a $200,000–275,000 estimate.
Value discoveries
A 1960 Flying Caduceus jet-powered land-speed car, built by Dr. Nathan Ostich around a General Electric turbojet, sold for $67,200 against a $70,000–90,000 estimate — Bonhams notes a 359.7 mph run in 1963 but confirms the car never set an official record. A 2002 Picchio SRP II, a BMW-powered Grand-Am prototype with Rolex 24 and Mont-Tremblant class results, brought just $61,600 against a $125,000–150,000 estimate, sold on a bill of sale as a purpose-built competition car.
A selective market, not a soft one
Bonhams' no-reserve lots — 32 of them, all sold — kept the sell-through rate respectable. Reserved consignments told a different story: only 11 of 24 sold. The pattern across the sale is consistent — recognizable modern icons drew real bidding, while cars carrying complications, whether an absent engine, an unraced history or an unresolved survivor claim, were priced hard or didn't sell at all.
