As old warbirds whizzed overhead and classic racers thundered around the historic circuit, two collections sold out with all an important quartet of Maseratis from the Anthony Hartley stable  making a collective £2.88m led by a unique Tipo 26M 4-seater sports-racer with Brooklands Double Twelve, Irish GP and RAC Tourist Trophy race provenance valued by a new owner at £1,681,500. Whilet all three classics that have been regularly tour-evented by motoring writer Ray Potter went to new homes headed by a nicely presented 1937 SS100 Jaguar 2½ Roadster which cost a new keeper £219,900.

Yet another strong performance under the gavels of International MD Collectors Motor Cars Jamie Knight and CEO Malcolm Barber came from the £1,289,500 Lagonda V12 Team Car, which was borne out of the desire of a pair of enthusiastic Lords Selsdon and Waleran to go racing at the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours before WW2 interrupted play. Whilst doubling the pre-sale estimate of £500,000, the ex-Leonard Headlam 1929 Tourist Trophy and Irish GP Alfa Romeo Team 1750SS Competition Tourer motored on to a storming £1,099,100 result.

Ferrari prices recorded here included a 1965 275 GTS Spyder in yellow at £400,000 and a 1968 Ferrari 330GTC in blue knocked down to a very high profile celeb collector in the front row for £230,000. Also in the posh seats was a member of a major motor car manufacturing dynasty who acquired a late entered and extensively restored 1943 Willys Jeep in US Navy Bluey-Grey for a mega £33,350. Both of these bidding battles were marked by more applause from a markedly larger audience than in previous years when the sale was held after practice on the Friday evening.

There were also buyers in the tent for all the post-war ex-works competition cars with ‘ARX 91B’, the 1964 Austrian Alpine Rally winning and 1965 Targa Florio raced Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII beating its pre-sale estimate to go for £242,300, a new auction record for a rally Healey 3000. Whilst the ‘GPH 1C’ registered and now super-mint 1964 Austin Mini Cooper 1275S, much campaigned by the Cooper Car Company in the mid-1960s, made a mid-estimate £64,220 and ‘MKV 23’, the 1953 Sunbeam Alpine driven on the Coupe des Alpes by Peter Collins, also sold for a within forecast £52,900.

The star turn during the automobilia warm-up was a unique piece of auto-art inspired by the ‘Airfix’ kit concept built by generations of car enthused youngsters. The life-sized model of the Aston Martin DBR1 that won the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour Endurance Race, measuring a side of a house 6.35m wide by 3.3m tall, was snapped up by a telephone bidder for £27,500. The glue was not included.

Indeed, by close of play, and after the last of the big boys toys at the circuit had been put back into their boxes and hangars for the night, 65 or 76% of the 85 cars auctioned by Bonhams had sold for a premium-inclusive £13,334,668, the overall total for the day coming to more than £13.53 with automobilia and the combined total for the two Goodwood auctions in 2012 amounting to a record £35.6m.