Bernie Ecclestone puts ‘greatest collection of GP cars’ on auction

Former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone is selling off what has been billed as the greatest collection of grand prix cars ever assembled.

The 69 cars date from the start of the Formula One championship in 1950 and include examples raced by champions Alberto Ascari, Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Michael Schumacher.

A highlight is the one-off and controversial Brabham BT46B “fan car”, named after the huge downforce-generating fan in the back, that Lauda raced to victory in Sweden in 1978 before it was withdrawn.

“I love all of my cars, but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them should I no longer be here, and that is why I have decided to sell them,” said Ecclestone, 94, in a statement.

“After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around.”

The collection will be sold through classic and historic sports and race car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr rather than at auction.

Hartley said it was the most important collection of race cars in the world.

“For me, the highlight ... has to be the Ferraris. Bernie has assembled a collection of Ferrari Formula One cars that today would be near-impossible to repeat,” he added.

“This collection is the history of Formula One.”

The Ferraris include the 375F1 that Ascari drove to victory in the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, Hawthorn's title-winning 1958 car and Schumacher's 2002 car.

Ecclestone, who once owned the late triple champion Jack Brabham's now-defunct Brabham team and who left the helm of Formula One in 2017 when Liberty Media took over the sport, said he had only ever bought the best.

“I have now decided to move them on to new homes that will treat them as I have and look after them as precious works of art.”

Ecclestone tried his hand at racing in the 1950s and then managed drivers including Austrian Jochen Rindt, who became the first and only driver to win the championship posthumously in 1970.

The Briton became a billionaire after taking over the commercial side of Formula One in the 1980s.

Reuters