Leading the world’s premier motorsports competition comes with some serious perks.
A collection of rare grand prix cars belonging to former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has gone up for sale in the U.K. through Tom Hartley Jnr. The vehicles, which do not have to be bought together, are said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Outside of a select number of drivers, there’s no one is more responsible for Grand Prix racing becoming what it is today than Ecclestone. From his time as the Brabham team owner in the 1970s until 2017, when he sold the championship’s commercial rights to Liberty Media, the godfather of F1 controlled the sport like no one else. That made the controversy-prone business tycoon a lot of money—he made $4.7 billion in the Liberty Media deal alone—a chunk of which he spent on cars for his personal collection.
Some of the grand prix cars from Bernie Ecclestone’s collection
Tom Hartley Jnr
Ecclestone’s collection has a narrow focus—grand prix cars, specifically those with either rich racing pedigrees or those that are considered works of art. In total, 69 vehicles from the collection are being made available, many of which have never been seen publicly since the former F1 executive acquired them. Among those going up for grabs are the first Ferrari to win a Formula 1 race and championship-winning cars driven by Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda, and Mike Hawthorn. There is also the famous Brabham BT46B “fan car.”
Ecclestone turned 94 at the end of October and this would seem to be the reason why he has chosen to part ways with the vehicle now. The sale represents the first time that half the cars have been made available publicly.
Tom Hartley Jnr
“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,” Ecclestone said 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.”
Estimates for the total value of the collection are around $400 million, according to Car and Driver. The cars won’t be hitting the auction block, though. Instead, they will be sold via deals overseen by Tom Hartley Jnr.
