We've seen Formula 1 cars for sale on the open market before, but usually, the ex-racers available to the highest bidder are long-out-of-commission veterans, safely obsolete in their technology.
Which makes this Marussia yard sale that bit more interesting. Because although the now-renamed backmarkers didn’t score so much as a championship point during their first four years of eating Vettel and company’s dust, they are actually quite modern cars. The most recent car raced in 2013, and features the electro-boost KERS system and DRS wing-flap. All the mod cons.
The 2013 Marussia MR02 is one of four F1 cars--two Marussias and two Virgin Racing examples--going under the hammer as part of an assets sell-off, hosted by John Pye Auctions. The 2013 car carries an estimate of £200,000 (about P13,700,000), with its older and equally uncompetitive predecessors expected to fetch £150,000 (about P10,300,000). You can’t even get a Porsche 911 Turbo S for that these days.
And let’s face it: A slick-shod, circa-700hp V8 carbon missile with enough downforce to stick it to the proverbial tunnel roof is going to make you much, much more competitive at this year’s track-day season than the Audi R8 V10 Plus or the Ferrari 488 you could spend the same windfall on. Feeling talented?
NOTE: This article originally appeared on TopGear.com. Minor tweaks have been made.
