It is a treasure valued at several hundred million dollars which is about to be put up for sale by Bernie Ecclestone. The former president of Formula One Management (FOM) and major financier of the discipline will auction off his incredible collection of 69 single-seaters, all from various eras and teams. “I have been collecting these cars for over 50 years, and have only purchased the best of each example. I love all my cars, but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them if I’m no longer here.”declared the 94-year-old businessman.
Among these 69 cars, some Formula 1 cars have marked the history of the discipline. Ferraris include Alberto Ascari’s 375 F1, which won the Italian Grand Prix, the very first 312 F1, which won several Grands Prix and is considered by the Scuderia to be the most successful F1 car original of the time, but also world champion cars, such as those belonging to Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda or Mike Hawthorn.
Several Brabhams, which Bernie Ecclestone kept when he was president of the team, are also for sale. The collection includes champion cars from Nelson Piquet, one of which was used for testing with Ayrton Senna at the end of the 1983 Formula 1 season. Unique and iconic cars from the 1970s such as the BT44B, BT45C and the famous BT46B, a single-seater equipped with a rear fan in which Niki Lauda won the Swedish Grand Prix by more than half a minute ahead and who has only competed in one race.
© Tom Hartley Jnr.
Other highlights of the collection include an early Maserati 250F, the monstrous BRM 16-cylinder Mark II and the famous Vanwall VW10, which, in the hands of Stirling Moss, achieved multiple Grand Prix victories during the 1958 championship season of F1 and clinched the first ever constructors’ championship for Vanwall.
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