Over 20 Grand Prix and Formula One racing cars from the private collection of Formula One Management CEO Bernie Ecclestone will provide a stunning exhibition throughout this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix meeting. This rare and exclusive collection has never before been seen in public and underlines the relationship which the Bahraini people and the Grand Prix organisers have with Mr Ecclestone.
In his youth, Bernie Ecclestone competed in two-wheeled motocross before graduating to four-wheeled motor racing with 500cc motorcycle-engined Formula Three cars in 1949. Many years later, as the man behind the world-wide popularity of Formula One racing, he began discreetly to accumulate a remarkable personal collection of landmark cars that charted the history of Grand Prix racing.
Click Here For More Formula 1 Photos
A dazzling selection of 24 of these cars is to be displayed at the Bahrain International Circuit during the sixth running of the Bahrain Grand Prix and will be open throughout the weekend to race spectators. It includes some of the most famous racing cars ever built during Grand Prix racing’s 103-year history.
The 1937 Mercedes-Benz W125 is one of the rarest cars on show. This car represented the pinnacle of the sport and was known simply as the ‘Silver Arrow’. This pre-Second World War decade of racing was dominated by such German giants. Belying its 70 years of age, this missile-shaped machine’s supercharged 5.66-litre straight-eight cylinder engine developed over 640 horsepower in its day. The car was capable of over 190mph and remained the most powerful in Grand Prix history for 45 years.
The classic Mercedes’ main rival was the Auto Union conceived by Dr Porsche, the supercharged 6-litre ‘P-Wagen’. Uniquely at that time, its V16-cylinder engine was rear-mounted, behind the driver’s cockpit (it was a number of decades before this configuration became the accepted norm for Grand Prix racing car design). The unit developed such colossal torque that these cars could lap the entire Monaco street circuit in top gear.
| 
|