24 replies to this topic

[Indian Chief]

I found an old (February 1999) issue of Car and Driver and I was surprised to find an article about the Sultan of Brunei's huge supercar collection which is said to number 5000 cars.

Here's the bit that amazed me the most.

BRUNEI'S BURIED F1 TREASURE

Under the grandest of the garages at House No.5 lies a secret collection that even senior members of the royal household are barred from visiting.

Every Championship winning Formula 1 car since 1980 is displayed, herringbone fashion, along a central walkway in an underground museum beneath garage four. As you walk between the cars, a computerised lighting system spotlights the car you are approaching, and a giant video screen at the far end plays selected footage of the cars in action. All the F1s are in running condition, except a handful from the early '80s (when Renault, in particular, refused to supply up-to-date engines because track technology was so secret). They are kept running by two full-time former team mechanics.

The collection is also said to hold both Jacques Villeneuve's and Michael Schumacher's cars from the last race of the 1997 Grand Prix season, Villeneuve's Williams still bearing the scars of Schumacher's effort to run him off the track at Jerez.

In fact, Williams boss, Frank Williams was a royal guest of the Bruneian royals before and after the Australian Grand Prix in March last year.he was even suppied with a customised golf cart with a rack on the back for his wheelchair, in which he was chauffeur-driven around the sultan's complex by his ever-present nurse.

-Chris Rosamond

Quite amazing....

[Ross Stonefeld]

I bet the price for those cars is massive. You see old Tyrrells and stuff in Autosport for several hundred thousand, I bet Villeneuve's 97 car went for several million

[NOvene]

His wealth is bottomless. But I think he scale down a little after his younger brother was found guilty of corruption.

[vroom-vroom]

Originally posted by NOvene
His wealth is bottomless.

Well, I heard that the Brunei oil fields are drying up fast. There might be some cheap old F1 cars on Ebay soon...

[Ross Stonefeld]

Yeah but the Sultan wont run out of money any time soon, even if oil production ceases

[Williams]

Apparent current worth of about 39 Billion (with a 'b'). That'll buy a Williams or two.

[JPMCrew]

I wished one day my diecast collection reached at least 10 percent of that total

[Caronte]

Actually The sultan of Brunei is recognized as the richest man on earth, even richer than Bill. That would explain his collection.

[scokim]

It's a fact not rumour. His oil reserves will last only about another 30 years.

The people will still be as poor as ever, of course.

[Schumi Fan]

Scokim, which people? The citizens of Brunei? The sultan provides them with free medical care, minimal taxes, and he has built them an amusement park that rivals Disney Land. There aren't many poor people in Brunei.

[mono-posto]

Yes, but you would think that since the country is very small in square area, has a population of a mere 250,000 and absolutely Billions of dollars in worth, they would get more than just free health care and an amusement park!

Have you seen his palace? There is no doubt that the Sultan is the beneficiary of 80% of the nations GNP. (just a figure, but could be true).

I've never fancied monarchies. His saving grace is that he's a car lover...

By the way, a 4.5% unemployment rate is pretty bad for such a small and wealthy nation!

[Williams]

mono-posto I'm surprised it's not a lot higher. Why would anyone bother to work ?

[Ned Dorsey]

A friend of mine is from Brunei ( and is back there now ). He says the country is fantastic...

BUT

The Sultan is apparently quite insecure. Insecure enough to hire spies to find any citizens, whether home or abroad, who speak badly of the monarch. They are then apparently arrested.

As for the oilfields, all oilfields will pretty much dry out in 30 years time ( it's not just limited to Brunei ). Then we may get to see all the nifty little energy saving products that the oil companies had to bury. Oil companies will never be poor though: once the oil dries up, the energy sources they have patented will allow them to keep their monopoly.

Ned "Paranoid" Dorsey

[Dents]

Roughly thirty years ago, during the gas shortage, I was a kid in school, and I remember being told that the worlds oil would run out in thirty years.

This seems to be some sort of urban legend or something.

[scokim]

Schumi Fan, that's the impression I got from visiting Brunei. Like mono-posto menntioned, you would have thought they would live better than a few free benefits. I mean how many times would you want to visit an amusement park ?
I live in singapore, a small island with no natural resources, and they have a better standard of living than those in Brunei.

[Schumi Fan]

No, I did not visit Brunei. A friend of the family did once and he said the standard of living is a lot higher than that of surrounding countries.

[bleakuzs]

If the residents like to live there, what does the standard of living have to do with anything. There is an Iranian that I go to school with who would rather be in Iran, with no running water and toliet paper, than I the US.

[mono-posto]

I'm not trying to be overly critical of Brunei, but as I said, I just have an inherent dislike for Monarchies.
Born in part, I'm sure, from the fact that I'm a bit of a Autonomist/Libertarian.

I'm sure Brunei is a beautiful place and I doubt there are many people who live there complaining! It's just sometimes disgusting to see one individual with absolutely so much wealth.

To attempt to bring this topic back to something F1 related, how instrumental do you think the Sultan was in getting a Maylasian GP? It is conviently close for such a wealthy F1 fan. (Not that he would have any problems getting to ANY F1 race, but it must be nice having one right next door!).

[WKAYE]

If he's that big of a F-1 fan , why didn't he bail out Minardi ? I'm sure they would have loved to have had an unlimited budget .

[andy_bee]

He has sponsored teams before. Asprey was a deal signed when the Sultan owned them, organised by the Sultan and the little orange eyelet things on the McLaren drivers visors a few years ago is also identical to the Derudong Park which is the free Disney x2 park in Brunei. An awesome awesome park

[SchuMic]

Wow! A what collection and what a private hi-tech museum.

Concerning the oil shortage, it is difficult to put precise figures. It has been said for years that oil reserves will dry out in "30-50 years". So as the years go, this "deadline" stays quite the same.

Sure world oil reserves are decreasing and the arabian countries will face some difficult times but we can hope that (as the Norway does) they spare much of that money for the future.

but that won't mean that there won't be any oil left. Oil companies are still discorevering major oil fields in many part of the world (Elf had discovered few years ago major offshore oil fields in Gabon, Africa). The problem is that most of these fields are offshore and then the exploration/exploitation costs are much higher then "onshore" fields.

There are many discovered oil fields that are not exploited because too deep under the sea. But as technologies should evolve so...

[scokim]

They have not discovered any new oilfields in Brunei recently because they simply have explored very inch of the country. They are now scrambling to develop an alternative economy for the country.

[Vunz]

Is this the same Sultan who did destruction derby's with his old Ferrari's? It's a curious kind of interest, I wonder when he looses his interest in the F1 machinery and starts tearing those up...

[andy_bee]

yeap, and wrote off a Jaguar XJ220 in a street race late one night (against a Mac F1)

[100cc]

Apparentaly his brother only recieved roughly $10-30million a month from the sultan after the charges, damn I'd hate it if I'd get such a minute amount of cash=(

"I want to be thr sultan in the place of the Sultan", heheeh

Some arabian dude had a pretty hefty car collection as well, like an old pickup, "oil-searcher", only about 15 times the size of a real one and with a house in it, and it had to be assembled at the desert, but it actually moves, almost as fast as one can walk=) ("you want to spend the night in my mansio...uhm....car?")