In a video released by VineWiki Previous F1 owner, Bruce Weiner, goes into the detail of the maintenance costs associated with ownership. Now, naturally, you would have to expect that owning a supercar – especially one of the F1’s caliber at that time – would be costly, but we’re talking about the kind of money that fuels divorce, among other things. In the video, Weiner explains that something like replacing the fuel cell, which needs to be done every five years, will set you back roughly $100,000 – a price tag that doesn’t even include transport or specifics. The clutch? Well, that needs to be replaced every few years or at about 3,000 miles and even changing the tires will set you back $50,000. Of course, that money gets you all the bits and pieces that go along with tire changing on a race car – a day at the track, a driver, the mechanics on site, various insurances, and the necessary suspension tuning and balancing.

Now, whether or not it really is so expensive, really remains to be seen. Weiner paid out $1.2 million for his legendary beast. The owner before him had just paid about $300,000 to have it painted Volcano Orange (a nice choice if we do say so ourselves,) but what really raises the question is how well Mr. Weiner actually knew the car. After all, in the video, he says there were 63 road-going examples when there were really 64, and, in case you didn’t notice, that 6.1-liter V-12 built by BMW wasn’t an “off-the-shelf” engine. Sorry, Weiner, but that engine was built specifically for the F1 and wasn’t used in any other car.

With that in mind, even if it did cost that much to own, what can you expect. It was once the fastest car in the world, and its engine bay is lined in gold. This isn’t your wife’s Mercedes, and it’s not your every day BMW 6 Series. We’re talking about a race car built for the road. Nothing about it was going to be cheap. It’s too bad he let the cost of owning such a fine piece of automotive history ruin the fact that he was sitting on top of one of the greatest cars ever built. Check out the video for yourself below!

References

McLaren F1

Read our full review on the 1993 McLaren F1.

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