1991 Benetton Ex-Michael Schumacher B191-Ford Cosworth
Chassis Number: B191 05 – Having taken the European Formula Two Championship in 1980, the British Toleman Motorsport team moved up to Formula One the following year. Headed by eponymous owner Ted Toleman, initially it struggled to produce good results and it didn’t figure in the points standing until finishing ninth in the World Championship in 1983 with its turbocharged TG183B-Hart machines driven by Bruno Giacomelli and Derek Warwick. For 1984 British F3 champion and future World Champion Ayrton Senna replaced the departing Warwick and with the Toleman-Hart the brilliant Brazilian made his mark with a string of top six finishes and a best place of second in Monaco. The following season Toleman attracted sponsorship from Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton, a previous backer of first Tyrrell and then Alfa Romeo. But Toleman was again struggling both financially and with results and in 1986 the concern was taken over by and renamed Benetton.
The team was gradually transformed and by the end of the decade it had established itself as one of the leading constructors, finishing in third place in the 1988 World Championship and in fourth and third places in 1989 and 1990. For the 1991 season the Benetton B191-Ford Cosworth was driven by Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno but after Michael Schumacher’s sensational practice performance in his Jordan for the German Grand Prix, Benetton boss Flavio Briatore controversially signed the German for the team before the next Grand Prix at Monza, much to the surprise of Moreno.
Under design chief Rory Byrne and technical director John Barnard, Benetton’s Ford Cosworth HB powered B191, producing 730bhp – built around a brand new monocoque with all round pushrod suspension and with a six speed Benetton transaxle – had made its debut in the third round of 1991, the San Moreno Grand Prix, at once proving highly competitive and, two races later, at the Canadian GP, Piquet won.. Halfway through the season, however, Barnard left the team and Tom Walkinshaw Racing acquired a shareholding which led to Ross Brawn replacing Barnard and marking the beginning of a long and successful association with Schumacher; on his Benetton debut at Monza driving chassis B191 05, the German scored his first ever World Championship points by taking fifth place, and he went on to finish sixth in both the Portuguese and Spanish Grand Prix.
At the end of the 1991 season, B191 05 was retired from the Benetton team, the engine removed and the car repainted in Mild Seven livery, thereafter being used as a show car until 1995. Purchased from storage by the factory by Cars International, it was subsequently fully restored and race=prepared by a leading British Formula One specialist.; the car has also been returned to exact 1991 Benetton specification as when raced by Schumacher, including the Ford Cosworth HB engine. B191 05 has since appeared at the both the 2003 and 2006 Festival of Speed at Goodwood, the latter year being reunited for the second time with GP ace and ITV F1 presenter Martin Brundle – in 2002 he and the car appeared on the programme from Donington Park – who had first tested the car at Estoril in 1991; after last driving B191 05, Brundle declared the car “fits like an old pair of trainers. It was always such an easy car to drive”, he added, “it would step out a little bit at the back, but it would go no further….it was really stable”.
Offered in excellent race-ready condition, chassis B191 05 comes complete with Pi dashboard, a data acquisition system and all equipment necessary to run and drive the car, including a spare set of wheels and assorted spare components; also included is a comprehensive file documenting the car’s history, restoration and its most recent race-preparation last year. Notably, for its first subsequent event, a Euroboss race at the Jim Clark Revival at Hockenheim this year, the car proved highly competitive by recording a podium finish.
The very car in which seven time World Champion Michael Schumacher scored his first ever Grand Prix points, and a direct derivative of the B194 in which he took his first title in 1994, this stunning and fine handling Benetton Formula One car would be highly competitive in any historic Grand Prix events for which it is eminently eligible. A fantastic racing car, B191 05 represents a highly important piece of both Benetton and Michael Schumacher history. An opportunity not to be missed.
Dies ist das erste Formel1 –Auto, mit dem der mittlerweile legendäre 7-malige Weltmeister Michael Schumacher seine ersten Formel1-Weltmeisterschaftspunkte eingefahren hat. Nach Angaben des Einlieferers ist dieser Benetton im rennfertigen Zustand und wurde erst gerade erfolgreich auf dem Jim Clark Revival in Hockenheim eingesetzt. Sicherlich ein wettbewerbsfähiges Auto für zahlreiche Grand-Prix Rennen und ein Schlüsselfahrzeug in der Laufbahn Schumachers.
