NOVEMBER 11, 2004

The bargain of the F1 century

Prospective Formula 1 team owners would be well-advised to take a look at the details of the forthcoming auction of Minardi items, scheduled to take place between November 17-20 by auctioneers Bache Treharne as Paul Stoddart's team is putting up for sale not only memorabilia and old cars from Stoddart's collection. The sale also includes the entire Arrows A23 Formula 1 car programme, including five cars and the intellectual property rights. This would allow a buyer to enter the FIA Formula 1 World Championship as a new team in 2006. The cars may not be as competitive as the frontrunning teams but for a purchase price of $2m, compared to the tens of millions that would be needed to start from scratch, this is a very interesting option.

The entire A23 programme is one single lot which includes the five cars, the IPRs, all the spares, all pit equipment, the electronic systems needed to run the cars, all the drawings.

The only problem is the engines but it seems that Cosworth Racing will soon be sold and that a supply of CK engines would be available from Cosworth on normal commercial terms.

According to the auction house, "the above lot will enable a prospective F1 team entrant to run a very competitive test programme in preparation of an F1 team entry in 2006".