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Greenlight Andretti Green Danica Patrick 1st Win 2008
This is a replica of the racecar used during the 2008 Japan race in which she won her first race ever!
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Formula 1 2009 Calendar
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Written by:
Bud Moeller
12/09/2006 - 07:00 PM
Lakeland, Fla.
Bud Moeller at speed in his ex-Gilles Villeneuve/Jody Scheckter Ferrari 312 T5 at Watkins Glen. (Photo: Steve Snyder) ยป More Photos
Driving a Formula One car is a dream of many aspiring racers-and quite a few motoring enthusiasts. Driving one of the Ferrari F1 cars is the ultimate in car thrills. The experience is impossible to describe in words but , for the sake of enhancing everyone's dreams, let me try. First, some background.
"Modern era" F1 cars can be found as castoffs from many of the teams. In many cases, the teams use the end-of-season cars as test beds during the off season and soon end up with a useless asset, since F1 evolves so quickly. At that point, the team boss usually makes a decision on how to extend its value and that can often mean putting the car into "the market."
Sponsors are the first to claim such offerings, since there is still good "mileage" in the rolling billboards to advertise their products. I have seen used F1 cars in a variety of places (including the Amsterdam airport, various exhibitions, and special sponsor events) to cement the link between sponsor, F1 racing and sales of their products.
Another quite typical route for the cars is into the hands of their drivers. Many cars from the top teams have moved into the drivers' inventories, along with their trophies, driving suits, helmets, etc.
Some teams, requiring cash for the coming season, have sold their older cars to generate income to keep their teams going for another year. Finally, there are donations to museums to display the cars as the art form they are. I even saw an early '90s Ferrari in the New York Museum of Modern Art on special display one summer!
Ferrari
You can usually find one or two Ferraris and eight to 10 other F1 cars advertised during an average year. Cars will range from two to three years old to "vintage" racers (i.e. '60s era Brabham or early '80s Williams). Several Ferraris were available over the past few years although, with a couple of recent world championships, they have become very scarce. In recent years there have been a couple of 312 B3s from the 1974 season. A couple of "newer" cars recently available include an '89 640 driven by Gerhard Berger and a '90 641/2 driven by Alain Prost. I have also seen a couple of turbo era (mid-'80s) Ferraris offered recently in other places, including auctions. The prices for the Ferraris offered have ranged from $250,000 for an essentially unusable turbo car to $1.5 million for a late '90s machine. That, in itself, says a couple of important things about living with a Ferrari F1 car.
First, you have to be willing to use it as your primary residence (given the price). Second, there is no way to tell what the real price of such a vehicle should be. (Note: The asking prices for two identical B3s were $450,000 and $595,000-a big gap to mull over, equivalent to another house somewhere!)
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