Watch a $50M Ferrari 250 GTO’s V12 Grenade Itself Mid Race
The rare Ferrari’s engine failed mid-race while former F1 driver Karun Chandhok was making a charge up the field.
The Goodwood Revival is open for business this weekend, and it’s the ultimate festival for lovers of historic racing and vintage outfits. While the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrates everything old and new, the Revival is all about going to the past in the most complete way possible, which includes racing a field of 18 genuine Ferrari 250 variants. So when former F1 driver Karun Chandhok spun a $50 million 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO after it spectacularly grenaded its V12, you can bet he broke a sweat afterward.
This field of cars is probably as close to a billion-dollar race as you can get in vintage racing. With a strong stack of real Ferrari 250 GTOs, 250 GT SWBs, a pair of 250 LMs, and even a 250 GT SWB Breadvan, almost every car in the field is valued deep into the eight figures. But that doesn’t scare any of its drivers away from a good race, least of which the two former F1 drivers who participated: the aforementioned Karun Chandhok and Emanuele Pirro.
Chandhok started the race in sixth and worked his way up to third place in the opening laps. From there, it was a classic scrap to maintain position, with the Ferraris swapping positions constantly while staying in a tight pack. The Breadvan briefly lost control and almost went into the tire barriers but managed to stay in the race. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Chandhok held fourth place but was suddenly engulfed in a ball of flame and spun while exiting Fordwater.
Without confirmation from the team, it looks as though the Ferrari’s V12 failed, causing the rear wheels to lock up. In the video, the fire clearly originates from the bottom of the car, and piece of flaming debris even flies off of the car mid-spin. The ball of fire was briefly bigger than the car, but quickly subsided before Chandhok stopped and quickly exited the car. Despite a small fire that was quickly put out, the driver and car escaped unscathed.
At the very least, someone has a nice Ferrari Colombo V12 coffee table now.
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