Forget 914s, I want one of these!, How an English club racer bought a retired F1 car Options

[TurbOH Brad]

How much does an F1 car cost to make? Estimates are in the MILLIONS.

This dude got a three year old model for about the same money as a clean original 6. Talk about depreciation!

Anyway, the dude is turning it into a trackday car. How awesome is that?

How a man bought a retired F1 car

(In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote this article. If you like it, please link it elsewhere!)

[TurbOH Brad]

Just go buy an old IRL car and drop a SBC crate motor in it.

I guarantee that would be infinitely slower than a retired Formula 1 car.

Honda held a track day in 2006 at Motegi. It was similar to Rennsport, but for Hondas.

The 2006 spec F1 car was 6 seconds per lap faster than the 2006 spec IRL car. IIRC.

The true race engineers see problems with that quasi F1 build. Those cars were designed around specific outputs weight distribution etc. A car that is hacked together is not going to perforrm like a team car. Truly an old Fomula Atlantic car with a boosted motor is going to be a much more enjoyable trackday car for 99% of the people out there. I know it makes good copy to say look at the bargin F1 that this "avg" Joe bought but its just not a bargin and its likely not going to perform up to specs it was intended to in the past. I'm sure for quarter million dollars he will have a car that comes close to the fun of a real F1 car and motor but this is more of a novelty for somone who has far too much money to play with. Still not within the reach of most track day enthusiasts even at this "bargin" price.

When he breaks things he will have extended down times fabricating new parts at great expense. As we all know racing aint cheap and racing a used F1 car is nuts. He will be spending huge dollars to run this thing on a regular basis. Its going to be more of a show and promotional car than a practical track day car. And heaven forbid an off track excursion occurs.

Like I said before bet we will check in a year from now and it will not had a full track day on its tires.

And then there is the obvious question do you have the skill to drive such a car? Most drivers do not have skill to jump in an F1 car and extract potential as easy as they could in a lower powered formula car.

http://youtu.be/gJpURLp4wYI

Obviously it isn't going to be 2007 F1 levels of performance, the guy just doesn't have the budget or factory support to make that happen. However, it will be infinitely faster than an IRL car with a small block chevy shoved in the back. Those Dallara chassis are also "designed around specific outputs weight distribution etc.".

I don't know why you are being such a negative nancy. Luckily it isn't your money and you didn't have to spend it. Let the guy be enthusiastic, and enjoy the hell out of it.

I can think of MILLIONS of examples of cars that are faster around a track than a 914 for less money, but I don't denigrate you for making that choice.