Moment that driver crashes an incredibly rare $44 million Ferrari racing at Le Mans – and there’s no guarantee the manufacturer will be able to fix it…or even want to
- Lukas Halusa was behind the wheel when the unthinkable happened
- The Austrian lost control and crashed into the crash barrier with the classic car
- This was no ordinary, it was a one-off creation adored by motorsport fans
- Now Ferrari is unlikely to be able to fix it given its design and history
Like taking a flamethrower to the Mona Lisa or a wrecking ball to the Venus de Milo, a true work of art was destroyed at the last Le Mans Classic race.
The Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan’ is a motorsport masterpiece that has captivated fans around the world since 1962 – and Austrian driver Lukas Halusa drove it into a brick wall.
The one-off vehicle would have grossed more than $30 million [$AU44.5 million] at auction before the accident left a mangled wreck.
Luckily, the 31-year-old driver escaped without serious injury after losing control and slamming the car hard into a tire wall.
To make matters worse, you can’t just send this particular vehicle to Ferrari HQ for repairs.
The standard Ferrari 250 GT was an amazing performance machine in its own right. It won the GT World Championships in 1962, 1963 and 1964 and wrote its name in motorsport history.
The moment of impact when the Ferrari Breadvan crashed into the barrier at Le Mans
Today they’re worth a fortune, as a 1963 250 GTO with a 4153GT chassis set the record as the world’s most expensive Ferrari in 2018 when it was sold in a private sale for $70 million [$AU104 million].
However, this particular 250 GT is truly unique.
The Breadvan was the result of a major feud between company founder Enzo Ferrari and Italian aristocrat Count Giovanni Volpi.
Volpi injected the money into his own private racing team, Scuderia Serenissima, and he wanted to put his own Ferrari 250 GTO on the track.
One problem: Volpi had annoyed Enzo by poaching some Ferrari executives, so his request was denied.
The rear of the one-off Ferrari is badly damaged, but the driver was unharmed
Volpi didn’t take the rejection well, so he set about converting the 250 GT he already had into a bespoke performance machine, hiring ex-Ferrari worker Giotto Bizarrini to work on the vehicle.
The result was a model that sat even lower than the GTO and had a flat, elongated roof, earning it the nickname “Breadvan” after the delivery vans of the time.
Due to its bespoke design, Ferrari does not have the plans or measurements required for a repair. The famous manufacturer will be able to help repair the steering and suspension, but you better believe that this will come at a high price.
