Ecclestone hosts mother of all garage sales

F1 Supremo Bernie Eccleston is selling his collection of Formula 1 race cars.

Not sure why, when he’s reported to be worth $2.9 billion — not million dollars.

Eccleston, is 94 years old, however, and maybe just wants to see them go to a good home.

The fantastic collection of cars includes those driven by ex-world champions such as Michael Schumacher, Mike Hawthorn, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Carlos Pace.

The Ferraris are a highlight of the collection of 69 cars which encompasses some 70 years of Formula 1 racing.

They include the the famous Thin Wall Special which beat Alfa Romeo, Alberto Ascari Italian Grand Prix-winning 375 F1 and the Mike Hawthorn World Championship-winning Dino.

Never far from controversy, the always interesting Eccleston was removed from his position as head of Formula 1 in 2017.

Last year, he agreed to pay £652 million to avoid gaol after he failed to declare assets that he owned overseas.

He is adamant, however, that the decision to sell his car is not financially-motivated.

“I would like to know where they have gone and not leave them for my wife to deal with should I not be around,” he said.

“Whilst many other collectors over the years have opted for sports cars, my passion has always been for Grand Prix and Formula 1 cars.

“A Grand Prix and in particular a Formula 1 car is far more important than any road car or other form of race car, as it is the pinnacle of the sport, and all the cars I have bought over the years have fantastic race histories and are rare works of art.”

As of February 2024, Forbes World’s Billionaires List estimated Ecclestone’s net worth at $2.9 billion.

In 2002, he was listed as the fifth-richest person in the United Kingdom on the Sunday Times Rich List.

In early 2004, he sold one of his London residences in Kensington Palace Gardens, never having lived in it, to Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal for £57.1 million.

At Grand Prix venues, Ecclestone used a grey mobile home, known as “Bernie’s bus”, as his headquarters.

In 2005, Ecclestone sold his £9 million yacht Va Bene to his friend rock musician Eric Clapton.

Terry Lovell published a biography of Ecclestone, Bernie’s Game: Inside the Formula 1 World of Bernie Ecclestone in March 2003 after legal issues had delayed its publication from its original date of November, 2001.

Ecclestone turned down a CBE in 1996, and later turned down a knighthood in the early 2000s as he did not believe that he deserved it.

In a 2019 interview, he stated that if he had brought some good to the country, he was glad, but he did not set out with this purpose in mind, so did not deserve recognition.

The sale of the collection is being handled by car dealer Tom Hartley Jnr.

“There are so many highlights it’s hard to know which of the 69 cars we should pick out,” Hartley said.

Within the Ferraris there is the Alberto Ascari Italian Grand Prix winning 375 F1, the Ferrari Thin Wall Special, which was the first Ferrari to beat Alfa Romeo, the very first 312 F1, which is a multiple Grand Prix winning car and considered by Ferrari to be the most original surviving Formula 1 car of that era.

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Plus Championship winning cars from the likes of Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda and Mike Hawthorn whose 246 F1 was incredibly campaigned by the Works team over three seasons, raced by all the great Works drivers of the period and was the last front-engined car to ever achieve a podium finish.

Bernie’s Brabhams have barely ever been seen as he has retained ownership of them since their final races. Included within the collection are championship winning cars from Nelson Piquet, one of which was used for testing with Ayrton Senna at the end of the 1983 Formula 1 season.

Unique and iconic cars such as the BT44B and BT45C, both considered within the best designs of Formula 1 history and of course, the famous BT46B ‘fan car’ in which Niki Lauda won the Swedish Grand Prix by over half a minute and which Bernie subsequently withdrew from racing following the conclusion of the race.

Other highlights within the collection include an ex-Works Maserati 250F, the monstrous 16-cylinder Mark II BRM and the famed Vanwall VW10, which in the hands of Stirling Moss achieved multiple Grand Prix victories in the 1958 Formula 1 Championship season and clinched the first ever Constructors’ Championship for Vanwall.

In doing so it was also the first ever British car to win a Formula 1 race, the Championship and opened the floodgates for British based teams ever since.

“This collection is not just the most valuable Grand Prix and Formula 1 car collection in the world, it is regarded as the most important race car collection,” Hartley said.