"Two - million. Three - hundred - thousand - pounds. Bid on my left."
The auctioneer rolled the words slowly and gently across his tongue. The room was silent, on-lookers at the back on tiptoes trying to get a glimpse of the would-be purchaser casually nodding in response to each rival bid, either in the room or through Bonham's assistants on telephones to even more mysterious collectors around the globe.
Bidding for Williams FW14B - affectionately known as 'Red 5', the number representing Nigel Mansell in his championship year - had opened at £1.7m and quickly risen to the £2m mark.