ONE of the most important pre-war racing cars to come to the market in recent years will top this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed sale on June 24.

The 1933 Bugatti Type 59 3.3 litre Grand Prix Two Seater, Factory Team Car 'Voiture Moteur No 3' is surely the quintessential French Grand Prix car of its era. Of eight racing cars built, only five have survived and this example is the first ever to come to auction.

'No 3' has been owned by a life-long Bugatti enthusiast for 55 years and during that time has only been seen in public on a handful of occasions. The exquisitely engineered Type 59 Grand Prix Bugatti, initially equippedwith a 2.8 litre engine in essentially a shortened version of the Type 54 chassis, was launched in 1933 in time to participate in the Spanish Grand Prix at San Sebastian on September 24 where a team of four cars was entered.

This car, No 3, driven by Rene Dreyfus and carrying race number 26, finished in a creditable sixth position.

At Monaco in 1934 Robert Benoist drove No 3 spiritedly but, after equalling what was destined to become the fastest lap of the race, he crashed in practice and was unable to drive next day.

In 1935 the team cars were prepared for sale to four British amateur racing drivers. No 3 was sold to CEC 'Charlie' Martin. The car was campaigned with considerable success by him that year and during the following years by the Duke of Grafton, Arthur Baron, George Abecassis and Kenneth Bear before passing into the present ownership in 1949 where it has remained for 55 years.

During that time it was carefully rebuilt, returning to the road in 1982 and appearing in public only on very rare occasions.