Racing legend Nigel Mansell rakes in eye-watering sum flogging memorabilia from his glittering F1 career

RACING great Nigel Mansell raked in £1.3million flogging memorabilia from his glittering F1 career.

Among the 178 items sold off by the moustachioed 1992 world champ were helmets, race suits and trophies.

The most expensive was the ­helmet from his first F1 victory — the European GP at Brands Hatch in October 1985 — which sold for £68,400.

Two “5NM” personalised registration plates fetched £50,400, while a 72cc motorbike he rode in the pits sold for £24,000 at the auction at Sotheby’s, London.

His 1992 French GP trophy sold for £25,200, a race suit, boots and gloves from 1992 for £21,600, and a 1994 steering wheel for £9,600.

Mansell, 70, had 31 Grand Prix wins and 59 podium finishes in his career.

One of his best performances came in qualifying for the 1992 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

A framed time chart from that lap sold for £8,400.

Mansell, who had kept the items in a private museum in Jersey, said: “The collection is the material manifestation of the most significant moments of my career.”

Nearly 150 more lots were due to go under the hammer.