Gulf Blue, Home Turf: A GT40 Finds its Next Home in the UK

Gulf Blue, Home Turf: A GT40 Stays in the UK

A Gulf-liveried GT40 crossed the block on BIDR yesterday and didn't have to leave the country to find its next garage. The car sold to a fellow enthusiast — but the more interesting part of this one is who was on either end of the deal.

The car itself is a 2010 Superformance GT40 MKI, chassis GT40P2278, built under license from Safir GT40 Spares LLC and registered in the official GT40 Registry that Safir maintains. It's finished in the powder-blue-and-marigold-orange scheme that Gulf Oil made famous — the same livery worn by the GT40 that won Le Mans outright in both 1968 and 1969, chassis P1075, driven by Pedro Rodríguez and Lucien Bianchi the first year and Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver the next. Few liveries in motorsport carry that kind of weight, and this continuation wears it well.

The sale itself isn't the headline — around here, that's the expectation, not the exception. What made this one worth writing up is the logistics behind it: the seller is UK-based, the buyer is UK-based, and BIDR handled the whole thing without either side having to think about a shipping container, an ocean crossing, or an import form.

The Car: Gulf Racing, Done Right

This GT40 MKI is a licensed continuation, not a kit-car interpretation — Superformance builds these under authorization from Safir GT40 Spares LLC, with a monocoque chassis replicated to the original spec, registered in the GT40 Registry Safir maintains, and, per the manufacturer, over two-thirds of its parts interchangeable with an original 1960s GT40. Under the rear clamshell sits a Roush 342SR V8 — a Dart Sportsman block, aluminum heads, forged internals, and a hydraulic roller cam — dyno-documented at 435 horsepower and 395-plus lb-ft, run through a 5-speed manual transaxle with a GT40-specific 10-spline clutch and a BGT aluminum flywheel.

The rest of the car is built to match: independent front and rear suspension on Bilstein coil-overs, Wilwood 4-piston vented disc brakes, and a curb weight of just 2,400 lbs. Inside, it's Alcantara racing seats with silver rivets, a 4-point harness, Smith gauges, a removable steering wheel, a center-tunnel shifter and handbrake, twin stainless steel fuel tanks, and — for anyone planning to actually drive it — concealed air conditioning. Mileage sits at 5,856, with the odometer replaced along the way and the original unit included with the car; recent work included an ice-blast cleaning and undercarriage service.

The Gulf scheme it wears isn't just a paint choice. That powder blue and marigold orange became motorsport shorthand for winning after JW Automotive Engineering ran it to back-to-back Le Mans victories, and it's stayed one of the most recognizable liveries in racing ever since — on GT40s, on Porsches, and later on Formula 1 cars. Wearing it well matters, and this one does.

The Deal: UK to UK, No Passport Required

The seller stayed close to the auction the whole way through, watching the bidding alongside our team in real time. As it climbed, we talked through where things stood together, and agreed to release the reserve so the car could close at a fair market value. That kind of collaboration is what a good auction partner should look like — everyone reading the room and landing on a number that works.

On the other side, the winning bidder was also UK-based, sourced through BIDR's own audience rather than a regional classifieds listing or word of mouth. That meant no cross-border shipping, no customs paperwork, no import duty to negotiate — just a straightforward transfer between two enthusiasts in the same country.

It's also a good reminder for anyone outside the US watching from the sidelines: BIDR isn't a US-only marketplace. We work with sellers and buyers overseas regularly, and we're just as comfortable connecting a UK seller with a UK buyer as we are moving a car across an ocean when that's what the deal calls for.