'Hundreds of millions' - Ecclestone to sell car collection

Former Formula 1 leader Bernie Ecclestone is to waste his postulation of title cars driven by motorsport legends including Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet.

Ecclestone, who was successful complaint of the athletics for astir 40 years until 2017, assembled the postulation of 69 iconic F1 and Grand Prix cars complete a span of much than 5 decades.

The postulation includes Ferraris driven by world champions Schumacher, Lauda and Mike Hawthorn, arsenic good arsenic Brabham cars raced by Piquet and Carlos Pace, among others.

"All the cars I person bought complete the years person awesome title histories and are uncommon useful of art," said 94-year-old Ecclestone.

Among the cars up for waste is besides Stirling Moss' Vanwall VW10, that became the first British car to triumph an F1 title and the Constructors' Championship successful 1958.

"I emotion each of my cars but the clip has travel for maine to commencement reasoning astir what will hap to them should I nary longer beryllium here, and that is why I person decided to waste them," added Ecclestone.

"After collecting and owning them for truthful long, I would for illustration to cognize wherever they person gone and not time off them for my woman to woody pinch should I not beryllium around."

The erstwhile Brabham squad leader has appointed master sports and title cars sellers Tom Hartley Jnr Ltd to negociate the sale.

"There are galore eight-figure cars wrong the collection, and the worth of the postulation mixed is good into the hundreds of millions," said Tom Hartley Jnr.

"The postulation spans 70 years of racing, but for maine the item has to beryllium the Ferraris.

"There is the celebrated 'Thin Wall Special', which was the first Ferrari to ever hit Alfa Romeo, Alberto Ascari's Italian GP-winning 375 F1 and historically important championship-winning Lauda and Schumacher cars."

Also included are the Brabham BT46B, dubbed the 'fan car' and designed by Gordon Murray, which Lauda drew to triumph astatine the 1978 Swedish GP and the BT45C successful which the Austrian made his debut for Ecclestone's squad the aforesaid year.

Billionaire Ecclestone took complete the ownership of the commercialized authorities of F1 successful the mid-1990s and played a cardinal domiciled successful turning the athletics into 1 of the astir watched successful the world.