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The billionaire former boss of F1's almost unbelievable collection of 69 former race cars including Ferraris, Brabhams and Bugattis is on the market.
An outstanding collection of motorsport history is up for sale as former Formula One boss – and Brabham team owner – offloads a mouthwatering array of racing machinery ever made.
Offered through high-end UK car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr Limited, the collection has been described as ‘priceless’ – though the sale means it will soon be given a price – and comes after Ecclestone’s own time as one of the most controversial figures in the sport.
The outspoken Brit is most famous for establishing the FOCA (Formula One Constructors Association) before becoming the Formula One (F1) commercial rights holder in the late 1980s.
Ecclestone became the most powerful single figure in controlling the sport for almost four decades, wielding his immense power until US firm Liberty Media took over F1 in 2017, with Ecclestone stepping away completely in 2020.
The 94-year-old, worth $US2.9 billion ($AU4.46 billion) according to Forbes, said in a media statement the decision to sell the lot – including 17 Ferraris and 30 Brabhams – is a practical one.
“I love all 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’s why I have decided to sell them.
“After collecting and owning them for so long, I would like to know where they’ve gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around.”
The combined value of the Ferraris, Vanwalls and Bugattis, among others, is almost incalculable given their place in the history of motorsport, but they could easily stretch into the hundreds of millions.
That may help after Ecclestone was fined £653 million ($AU1.2 billion) in 2023 after pleading guilty to tax fraud in the UK – as well as a suspended prison sentence.
“This is quite simply the most important race car collection in the world. There has never been and probably never will be a collection like it ever offered for sale again,” said Tom Hartley Junior in a statement.
“The collection spans 70 years of Grand Prix and Formula One racing and highlights include Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, and Michael Schumacher World Championship-winning Ferraris, all of Bernie’s Brabhams including the famous ‘fan car’ … [and] the Vanwall VW10 in which the great Stirling Moss won several Formula 1 Grands Prix.”
The 69 racers include the world championship-winning Ferrari F2002 driven by Michael Schumacher in 2002, a rare chassis in which two Ferrari drivers posted wins – one for Schumacher and three for team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
The highest publicly known price paid for one of Schumacher’s Ferraris was 14.64 million Swiss francs ($AU25.5 million) in 2022 for an F2003 chassis.
Considered to be one of the most valuable cars of the lot, Ecclestone’s 1957 Ferrari Dino 246 F1 chassis was raced by Wolfgang von Trips, Tony Brooks, Richie Ginther and Mike Hawthorn who drove it to the 1958 World Drivers' Championship.
The former F1 boss’ collection also includes the controversial Brabham BT46B ‘Fan Car’ – withdrawn after a single race which it won.
Ecclestone owned the Brabham F1 team from 1972 to 1988, purchasing the outfit from Australian Ron Tauranac, the legendary designer and engineer who had taken over after three-time world champion Sir Jack Brabham retired.
Winning multiple world titles, it was designed by the now-legendary Gordon Murray, whose work went on to include the McLaren F1 road car.
The Alfa Romeo-powered BT46B arrived at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix in Anderstorp where Niki Lauda won by a staggering 34 seconds.
Its advantage came primarily from the large fan Murray had designed to sit over the engine and suck the car to the ground for more downforce and cornering speed.
While the car was officially declared legal, it was deemed not in the spirit of the rules of the sport – and raced without the fan from the next race in France, before finishing second at the British Grand Prix.
Ecclestone’s amazing collection is book-ended by a 1951 Ferrari 375 F1 – one of only two remaining examples – raced by Italian Alberto Ascari to claim Ferrari’s first world championship that year.
It’s in the same potential league as the most expensive race car ever sold, a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio to his second world title, sold for £19.6 million ($AU38.3 million) in July 2013.
That status could be under threat when another Mercedes-Benz W196R – the first with a streamlined body to be offered publicly – goes under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2025.
