This bright crimson camper was originally the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team’s operations coach, used to have meetings with drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello between 2001 and 2005 – but now it’s a UK-registered luxurious motor home kitted out with a double bed, cooking amenities, a hotel-style bathroom and a home cinema system. The race-team camper is one of the lots at the upcoming Bonhams auction in Paris next month and is estimated to sell for between £110,000 and £130,000.
The steering wheel might be on the right-hand side, but take note of the UK number plates fitted to this F1-inspired caravan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a fire-breathing Ferrari V10 in the back. Instead this Iveco Orlandi HDH motor coach is powered by a 380bhp diesel linked to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission – not exactly a race-winning formula, but what it lacks in speed in makes up with luxuries.
The Italian transporter is 12 metres long, which means there’s plenty of room to make it into the ideal home away from home. When Schumacher used to sit in the coach to discuss his qualifying performance, it had two separate apartments with independent access, each of which was equipped with an LCD television, computer table, satellite telephone, internet connection, enclosed shelving, and wardrobes. In addition, each had its own physiotherapy table for post-race treatment.
But when the coach was decommissioned by the Formula One team, a buyer decided to make it into the ultimate family getaway motor. That resulted in an overhaul of the specification, including a complete hotel-style bathroom with ceramic lavatory, enormous leather sofas, independent heating and air-conditioning systems, onboard 220-volt diesel generator and a Bose home theatre system. And when you have had enough of watching F1 races and films on the enormous televisions you can get your head down in a Hastens Luxuria double bed situated at the back of the near-40 foot bus.
Bonhams has described it as: ‘An intimate and unique piece of Ferrari’s Formula 1 history dating from a period when the Prancing Horse enjoyed almost unprecedented success.’ The bus last sold at auction in 2011 for £134,400, suggesting the estimate for it today might be a little modest.
It had covered 85,000 kilometres (52,800 miles) when it last went under the hammer and the current owner hasn’t been doing much globe trotting in it since with just 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) added in the last seven years. While the coach has been heavily modified on the inside, the outside still displays the original Scuderia Ferrari logo and the famous prancing horse.
Finished in Rosso Corsa, it still displays its distinctive Scuderia Ferrari branding and is surely the perfect motorised accommodation for the anyone looking to follow the F1 paddock around Europe. Accompanying documentation consists of a UK V5C Registration Certificate, sundry expired MoT certificates, various invoices relating to the motor home conversion, and a Ferrari Certificate of Authenticity signed by the Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali.
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