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A rare piece of Le Mans history is about to cross the auction block. Iconic Auctioneers will offer a 1990 Spice C1 Group C racer, chassis SE90C-021, as Lot 106 of The Iconic Sale at the BRDC Classic 2026, set for Friday, July 24, 2026, at Silverstone's The Wing. Carrying an estimate of £300,000 to £350,000, this is the only Spice chassis to have won the C1 class outright at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and it comes to market wearing its original, evocative FEDCO livery.
Group C was the FIA's premier sports car category from 1982 to 1993, an era remembered for radical aerodynamics, closed-cockpit prototypes, and a level of horsepower that turned circuits like Le Mans, Silverstone, and Spa into showcases for the most advanced racing technology of the day. While manufacturer teams from Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota grabbed the headlines, a handful of British constructors built genuine giant-killers, and none more successfully than Gordon Spice's Silverstone-based Spice Engineering.
Spice's Cosworth-engined cars dominated the smaller C2 class through the mid-1980s, winning ten of eleven rounds and the class at Le Mans during a title-winning 1988 World Sports Car Championship campaign, with Gordon Spice sharing driving duties with Ray Bellm. When new regulations lowered the minimum weight for naturally-aspirated 3.5-litre cars, the larger C1 class suddenly became viable for a small independent constructor, and Spice seized the opportunity, first with the SE89 and then, for 1990, with the SE90C offered here.
Chassis SE90C-021 was shipped new to Japan in 1990 for the Japanese FEDCO team, by which point Spice Engineering itself had gone through bankruptcy and been acquired by the FEDCO corporation. After a DNF at the Fuji 1,000km, the car was flown back to Europe for its date with destiny: the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driven by experienced SARD-Toyota veteran Naoki Nagasaka alongside FEDCO Team rookies Yokoshima and Misaki, and supported by the Spice semi-works Euro Racing squad, SE90C-021 took the C1A class win in a race where only twelve cars made it to the finish, one of the toughest editions of the French classic in memory.
A month later, back in Japan, the Spice notched a credible seventh overall at the Fuji 500km, its final in-period race before being put into storage. SE90C-021 stayed dormant for several years until its current, long-term UK owner brought it back to Europe and acquired it in late 2003. A full rebuild by Alan Howell of Weylock Racing followed, and from 2004 the car embarked on a proper historic racing career, collecting multiple wins, pole positions, fastest laps, and lap records along the way. Preparation specialist Pete Gretton rebuilt the car again in 2008, and a further body-off rebuild in 2016 brought a new bag tank, a crack-tested engine, and a freshly rebuilt five-speed gearbox with a new crown wheel and pinion.
The car has seen relatively little use since that 2016 rebuild, limited to three test days, the most recent in April 2017, and it has not turned a wheel in competition since. It comes with a fuel cell certified until August 2029 and is described as mechanically on-the-button, though a refresh of its Cosworth 3.5-litre DFR V8 is recommended before any serious track time, along with replacement of the out-of-date seatbelts and fire extinguisher. A useful spares package accompanies the sale, including two wheel sets, a spare nose section, gear ratios, a spare crash-box, and a wheel gun.
Beyond its auction outing, SE90C-021 remains eligible for a full calendar of historic Group C events, including Masters Historic Racing's Group C series, the Group C Le Mans Classic Series run by Peter Auto, and Motor Racing Legends gatherings such as the London Historic Trophy. Few Group C cars offer this particular combination: a genuine Le Mans class win, a well-documented ownership history, and the kind of spares package that makes continued historic racing straightforward.
Bidders will be able to compete for Lot 106 in the room, by phone, online, or via commission bid at Iconic Auctioneers' Silverstone sale on July 24. Given the rarity of a genuine Le Mans class-winning Group C car at this level, and an estimate that looks relatively accessible next to some of its rivals, SE90C-021 is likely to draw plenty of interest from collectors looking to add real endurance racing pedigree to their stable.
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