This blue Ferrari just sold for £4.9m

Of all the 69 cars that sold at the annual RM Auctions' London sale, held in Battersea, this was the big one - the absolute top banana, if you like. It's the eighth of only nine ever made, ladies and gents, feast your eyes on the Ferrari ‘Tour de France'. All £5 million of it. Well, nearly five million.

This particular example boasts top 10 finishes at the 1956 and 1957 Tour de France Automobile, is a matching-numbers example certified by Ferrari Classiche (that's a big tick), comes complete with the original user manual (simple: turn on, press right pedal, hold it there), spare parts catalogue, and even a comprehensive history file. Oh, and a 225bhp 3.0-litre V12.

It's also the predecessor for some of Maranello's most iconic sports cars; things like the California Spider, 250 GTO and the 250 GT SWB. So, not only is it an achingly marvellous thing to behold, its also seriously important.

Click on to see the rest of the top ten London stars...

Think 1960s, and you think Ferrari. There's no doubt the Prancing Horse enjoyed a whirlwind of success in those heady times, not least thanks to this 275 GTB.

It's one of only 60 alloy 275 GTBs built - that's right, an aluminium bodied Ferrari - has been fully restored with only 13 kilometres since completion, is a matching-numbers example and gets that 3.3-litre, 280bhp V12 mounted to a five-speed gearbox.

0-60mph? Just over six seconds, with a top speed of 160mph. A lovely, lovely thing.

A Shelby Cobra. In red. With a Ford V8 churning out a very healthy 400bhp. Got your attention? Thought as much. This one was previously owned and restored by Bill Murray (the respected Cobra authority, not the Ghostbu-sorry, actor).

The third car that fetched above the million pound mark, the Cobra CSX chassis is a classic of American GT racing from the middle 60s. It resided in the Shelby American Collection for 25 years, was once campaigned by Tom Payne in 1964 and 1965, and is apparently ideal for historic racing. Driving gloves and goggles at the ready.

A 660bhp 6.0-litre V12. An F1-derived six-speed F1 gearbox. 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds, 0-400m in 11 seconds and 0-1000m in 19.6 seconds. Oh, and a top speed of 218mph. Safe to say the numbers speak volumes about the Ferrari Enzo.

This car is a one-owner example, delivered and driven in Italy, and has covered less than 1900km since new. It's also been certified by Ferrari Classiche, too. A snip then, at just under a million quid.

What else do you need to know about the Ferrari F40 that you already don't?

Originally released in 1987 as a celebration of Enzo's 90th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his first car, the F40 was the fastest road car ever built at the time. It's twin-turbo 3.0-litre V8 engine whacked out a scary 478bhp, and could crack the 0-62mph sprint in just 4.1 seconds. But that was only half the story, of course.

This one's covered just 18500km since new and boasts single-family ownership. Nice.

Funny to think that the Miura - the statement Lamborghini - was cooked up by seven young Italian engineers in their spare time.

This particular example, in 'Miura Green' and with that 4.0-litre, 350bhp V12 stuffed in the middle, was originally owned by a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, is a four-owner car from new, and has just 28,000 original kilometres on the clock.

A big, pretty and important car this. Also, did we mention it's pretty?

Surely a car that requires little introduction. One of the most technologically advanced and fastest road-legal cars of its day, the 300 SL is a milestone Mercedes; that 3.0-litre straight-six with 215bhp, design lines that are still referenced to this day and unquantifiable levels of elegance.

This one gets a matching numbers engine, was delivered new to France in '58, was originally painted in Ivory before redone in 'Fire Engine Red' sometime around 2001 and shows just over 90k on the clock.

This is the first Type 57C ever sold, built for 'great' Bugatti customer Dr Jacques Kocher. It was more recently bought by a French collector who gave it a proper restoration, refinishing the Bug' in its present colours.

Upgrades were made to the brakes and shocks, though the engine - a 3.2-litre straight-eight with 160bhp - remains original.

A few decades before Lancias were destroying all comers on World Rally stages, the Italian company was busy knocking out things like this Aurelia Spider.

This one gets a 2.4-litre V6, 118bhp, a four-speed manual 'box, some drum brakes and 'racing-inspired' features. It's also achingly pretty, hence the price.

Marc Bolan (him from T-Rex) used to own this 365, complete with its 320bhp 4.4-litre V12. Before that, it was shown at the London Motor Show in 1970, before Bolan got his hands on it. Fitting then, that it's been sold in the capital.

It was restored between 2009 and 2012 - at a cost of €250,000 - and gets a 'continuously known history' since new; something to treasure for cars like this.