It's nice to be king (or rich)! | FerrariChat

It's nice to be king (or rich)!

Discussion in '308/328' started by mike996, Sep 16, 2019.

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  1. mike996

    mike996 F1 Veteran

    Jun 14, 2008
    6,685
    Full Name:
    Mike 996
    Was at the Goodwood revival for three days and there were three Ferrari 250 GTOs racing. What surprised me is that they were seriously being raced, not just being paraded around the track. That was true of all the classic cars in all the races at Goodwood but the fact that there were three original GTO's doing this was impressive.

    I talked to the "handlers" of these cars in the pits and they confirmed that, like virtually all the cars participating in the Goodwood Revival races, the owners want the cars to be raced since they were built to be a race car (Did you know that "race car" spelled backwards is "race car?");)

    Anyway, they told me that the owners are all high level millionaires or billionaires and they are not concerned about any damage. If they get damaged, they get repaired; the price for that is of no consequence at all. These particular owners are a bit contemptuous of the "buy it and put it on display" collectors. I found that very refreshing though, of course, having essentially unlimited funds pretty much makes it a non-issue.

    There were a couple of early 60's F1 Ferraris as well as a bunch of 250 GT SWBs, and three late 50's Testa Rossas. Again, all these cars were being seriously raced, not treated like some sort of "do not touch" diva kind of thing! COOL! :)
     
  2. Hannibal308

    Hannibal308 F1 Veteran
    Rossa Subscribed

    Jan 3, 2012
    6,269
    Kahuku / Cottonwood / Prescott
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    Will
    Too bad us lowly mortals can’t race our cars footloose and fancy free because losing or trashing our car isn’t a financial nothingburger. Maybe those contemptuous racers think we shouldn’t even have our cars if we can’t afford to use them correctly and fix them when they get fd up?

    I think those races are awesome. The attitudes against the rest of he world by elites, however, is contemptuous.
     
  3. ferrariowner

    ferrariowner Formula 3

    Feb 21, 2014
    1,109
    Mansfield, TX
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    Ron
    The attitudes against the rest of he world by elites, however, is contemptuous.

    I agree but, what's worse is trying to make everyone equal.
     
    Hannibal308 likes this.
  4. topcarbon

    topcarbon F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Nov 3, 2006
    2,579
    It’s all a matter of perspective.
    The guy that takes the bus because he has no car, what does he think of us?
     
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  5. Vonbarron

    Vonbarron Formula 3
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Aug 26, 2014
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    Westside Mofo
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    S B
    The guy on the bus is thinking cats taste delicious and judge Wapner is on at 4
     
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  6. JuLiTrO

    JuLiTrO Formula Junior

    Nov 2, 2017
    383
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    Julio Saiz
  7. dflett

    dflett Formula 3

    Jun 24, 2005
    1,603
    NY
    Full Name:
    David
  8. JuLiTrO

    JuLiTrO Formula Junior

    Nov 2, 2017
    383
    Full Name:
    Julio Saiz
    No incidents with Ferraris this year
     
  9. Brian A

    Brian A F1 Rookie

    Dec 21, 2012
    3,079
    SanFrancisco BayArea
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    1983 US 308 GTS QV
    I attended the Ferrari Clienti races at Laguna Seca a couple of months ago. Mostly FXX Ks and 599XXs, but Ferrari Corp also flew out a few of the privately owned 1990s era F1 cars that they maintain for the owners who wanted to drive them at Laguna Seca that weekend. I am not exaggerating to say that Ferrari sent 20 technicians to tend to each car.

    I inquired as to the approximate price to race a vintage F1 car that weekend. The answer? … about $250,000.
     
  10. mike996

    mike996 F1 Veteran

    Jun 14, 2008
    6,685
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    Mike 996
    One of the GTOs there had provenance that it raced in 1963. Don't know about the other two I saw. OTOH, it seems only logical that a race car gets damaged and parts - most frequently body parts - are going to have to be repaired/replaced. Over the years then, the car becomes "not original" because it has parts that are not what it had when it left the factory. But one could say the same about any car that's been damaged. If a fender is replaced, I guess it is no longer "original," whether it's a 1963 Ferrari GTO, a 1971 Hemi Barracuda, or a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe. ;)
     
  11. dflett

    dflett Formula 3

    Jun 24, 2005
    1,603
    NY
    Full Name:
    David
    I am not talking about repaired damage. Photographic evidence appears to show the GTO I mentioned appears to come in two versions... both with the same serial number, both with the same license plate, same colors, both with same owner but some subtle, consistent differences. The two cars do not appear together and only one of them ever races. Hmmmm, which do you think is the real one?

    Everyone understands why this is done. People got upset because it was done in secret and Goodwood had made a big fuss that this did not happen at their meet when evidence strongly suggested otherwise.

    As I said, maybe it’s different now...


    Regards
    David
     
    Jaguar36 likes this.
  12. cheesypeas

    cheesypeas Karting

    May 28, 2008
    70
    england
    These cars have been raced, crashed and repaired before. They are so old that many of them have been repaired many times. The original bit is the chassis number. :)

    And if the car is worth £ millions the repair cost would only ever be a fraction of that.
     

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