Photograph Courtesy caterhamf1.co.uk
The ultimate race car restoration? An original GTP racer? A pre-war racer with a 20+ liter engine?
How about a Formula 1 car, circa 2014?
On lap seven of the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, driver Marcus Ericsson crashed his Caterham-Renault F1 car into the wall exiting turn 3.
Following the race, the wreckage returned to Caterham’s HQ, where it was stripped of parts. What was left–pretty much just a tub–was stashed in a corner until the F1 team entered administration in October 2014.
Later that same year the team’s assets would go up for auction–including the previously wrecked chassis.
That’s where the story of this restoration begins. The owner and restorer of this unique project placed the winning bid at that auction and acquired the chassis in May 2015.
Fast forward to September of this year, and the Caterham-Renault is running and driving once again:
In addition to the Caterham F1 Restoration YouTube channel, progress on the restoration of the car can be seen at caterhamf1.co.uk, which also catalogs the history of the Caterham F1 team.
Kudos to the new owner restoring an 'old' F1 car like this. It must be a labor of love, because I cannot help to wonder about the money, time, and resources involved in a project like this....and to what end? Historic racing? Don't get me wrong, I really like what they have done here, but I'd love to know more without watching the video (it's a time thing).
In reply to DavyZ :
Recently saw this video on an ex-F1 car that was being run in hillclimbs and was put up for sale just because the engine had accumulated the number of running hours at which a rebuild was recommended. So far it seems the new owners' plans are to stay away from high revs and cross their fingers:
GameboyRMH said:In reply to DavyZ :
So far it seems the new owners' plans are to stay away from high revs and cross their fingers:
To be fair, that's how I drove my first car.
That Integra had around 200,000 miles and just about everything was starting to fall apart.
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