Michael Schumacher is the greatest of the great, no doubt about that. The 47-year-old driver won 91 times throughout his Formula 1 career, including 7 championships. Before winning five titles at Ferrari between 2000 and 2004, Schumacher won two championships when he was driving for Benetton.
One of the racing cars that established Michael as a force of nature in the king motorsport is the one you’re looking at now - the 1991-1992 Benetton-Ford B191/191B chassis B191B-06. I won’t beat around the bush, so I’ll cut to the chase: chassis number B191B-06 is the machine that helped Schumacher score his first-ever podium finish in the '92 Mexican Grand Prix.
Other than that, chassis B191B-06 is the car Nelson Piquet used for the last Grand Prix in his career (Australia in 1991). Furthermore, motorsport pundit Martin Brundle also drove B191B-06 in his debut race for the Benetton Formula 1 team ('92 South African Grand Prix). Make no mistake about it, this single-seater is certain to make car collectors go weak at the knees.
Despite its background, B191B-06 is expected to fetch up to €280,000 at the Bonhams Monaco Sale in May. That’s about $319,260 at current exchange rates, which is not that much considering what you get in return. If you ignore the history imbued in it, what this Benetton has left to pride itself on is a 730 horsepower 3.5-liter Ford V8 connected to a Benetton-developed six-speed manual transmission.
A 1:18-scale model of the B191B-06 certainly doesn’t offer the thrill found under the skin of the real deal. Compared to modern Formula 1 cars, the Benetton at hand is “relatively uncomplicated and easy to run” or so it is described by the peeps at Bonhams. Whether it is easy to drive, well, that’s an aspect the lucky bastard who will bid the most on it will have to find out.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News