The F1 Garage in the Sky: Sauber auctions off retired cars
Kimi Rakkonen drives the Ferrari-powered 2001 Sauber-Petronas C20
While children ask their parents where people go after they die, gearheads ask what happens to racing cars after they're retired. With a dozen teams on the F1 grid, each building several new cars each season, the retired ones add up quickly. The answer, for all the wide-eyed and curious little racing fans out there, is that most of them remain in the team's possession, either sitting in storage or on display in museums. But once in a while, teams will sell their retired chassis to other teams or to the public. Each one can fetch millions apiece, which can help a constructor generate extra income to help offset its nine-figure annual budget.
They don't come around that often, but for any jetsetters with an extra couple of million burning a hole, try and book next week's puddle-jumper to Zurich, where Sauber will be auctioning off several of its old racing cars – drawn from the team's era as an independent constructor before BMW snatched them up – at the Kloten airport starting February 19. F1 cars with pedigree command serious premiums, and while Sauber never actually won a race, much less a championship, some big names – including Alesi, Salo, Villeneuve, Raikkonen and Massa – drove for the team between 1993 and 2006. The first F1 car which reigning world champion Kiki Raikkonen raced in 2001 is reportedly among those up for grabs, so get your checkbook and call Swiss Air.
[Source: F1-Live]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tpp 4:15AM (2/12/2008)
You know, Noah, if you're going to write about Formula One news, maybe you ought to find out how to spell the current World Champion's name right. You got it typoed in your article. Twice.
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Mobius_1 4:21AM (2/12/2008)
Awesome! I want one! I used to really like Sauber F1 when they had Massa and Fisichella
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ronnie 6:07AM (2/12/2008)
I will look forward to that! One of my dream is to have F1 for my race.
http://cars.ozfreeonline.com
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Galley 7:25AM (2/12/2008)
I'd buy that for a dollar!
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tenfifteen 8:03AM (2/12/2008)
Par for the course. He r also gud at teh maths. 15/125 == 18.75% > "1/5th"
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/31/over-1-5th-of-bugatti-veyrons-are-in-dubai/
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Doug 10:13AM (2/12/2008)
Douche.
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Doug 10:18AM (2/12/2008)
This was meant for tpp at the top.
tpp 10:39AM (2/12/2008)
Thanks Duog.
Who's the Naskar champion this year? Jef Gerdon?
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chris 11:00AM (2/12/2008)
Swiss Air doesn't exist anymore :(
I wonder how much 2006's Super Aguri cars would go for... If Seiko didn't part them to sell gears along with their watches (like with the Honda F1 cars)
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Brendan 4:13PM (2/12/2008)
...and if any of them are still intact, between their two cars they had 19 retirements/disqualifications/DNQ's in '06.
tenfifteen 11:31AM (2/12/2008)
LMAO. Speling is fore looser.s
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Brendan 4:19PM (2/12/2008)
I'm well aware of the illegality and near impossibility (due to the general poor condition of roads and skill required to drive one at even a tenth of full-tilt), but let's just let imaginations run wild here.
Could you imagine hooning around city streets in one of these things? The screaming V10 behind you letting everyone within a several mile radius know you're better than they are? Would cops even try to chase you or would they just wait till you invariably sent the thing into a tree at lightning speed (only to escape with nothing more than a sore wallet)?
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