Let’s go Bargain Hunting! Yes! So starts almost every single episode of the seemingly endless and popular BBC antiques themed television show. If you have never seen it the idea is simple, two teams head off to an antiques fair or market and try to pick up the best three items they can to sell at auction within a limited budget. In other derivative shows like ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ the expert advisors from Bargain Hunt actually buy things at auction and then try to sell them on as best they can else where.

What exactly does any of this enjoyable television programming have to do with the motorsport industry" Well other than the involvement of Charlie Ross and Philip Serrell not a lot. However the motor sport industry has caught a bit of the auction fever bug so prominent in shows like Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. Not all that long after the collapse of Caterham and Marussia and the resulting auctions history is repeating itself.
The first big auction of the year came during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, though it was hosted in Indiana, USA. It was the sell off of the entire Level 5 Motorsports operation from GT Ferrari’s and obsolete LMP2 cars to pit equipment and a huge amount of car parts, as it was all sold without reserve bargains could clearly be had. Curiously though some used items sold for more than they would cost new, a phenomenon seen in both the Caterham and Marussia auctions of 2015.

Meanwhile the hi...