THE REMARKABLE STORY BEHIND AN 80-YEAR-OLD DRIVING MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S FERRARI

Recently fans got to see the Ferrari 310B, the car driven by Michael Schumacher during the 1997 F1 season. Nowadays, an 80-year-old is behind the wheel. This is his story

Alongside David Coulthard’s demo runs, the Ferrari 310B turned out to be one of the main attractions at The Racing Day in Assen. It is the Formula 1 car in which Michael Schumacher won the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix.

Nowadays, the car is owned by 80-year-old Erich Zech. The German was already in Assen last year, but back then the car was not ready for action. Earlier this month, the 310B could finally be seen on track.

“It was phenomenal,” admitted Zech. “What I loved the most and what touched me was the reaction of the fans. They stood up and applauded, which was great to witness.

“What I love most is being able to show this car to the people again. My main goal is to make the experience as close as possible to what it was back in the day with Schumacher.”

Part of that experience includes Zech driving with a replica of Schumacher’s helmet. The combination of car and helmet is very reminiscent of what it looked like decades ago, with the man behind the wheel being the main difference.

Schumacher drove this car at the age of 28. Zech is 80. “Sadly so!”, he laughs while talking to Motorsport.com. “But that’s special, isn’t it? Driving such a car is a challenge, but I still feel incredibly fit. I had to get the official [racing] licence to drive it and, for that, I had to pass a health check. It was also a surprise to me that I am still so fit.”

Even more striking than the age is that until last year, Zech had never driven a single-seater.

“I only started driving race cars in May last year, but I always said: if I buy a Formula 1 car, then I would like to drive it one day. In that respect, I owe everything to Ingo Gerstl,” the Austrian Boss GP driver who holds the lap record at the TT Circuit Assen with his Toro Rosso STR01.

“I started in that car and in May I drove Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari for the first time. Last year, we already presented the 310B here in Assen, but it wasn’t moving back then.

“Many data appeared to have been erased. Ingo Gerstl has great contacts in Italy and thanks to him the car could run in his own workshop for the first time in March. That was a phenomenal moment for all of us. This is the only historic Ferrari that is running without ‘F1 clienti’ support from Maranello.”

There is also a special story behind the purchase of Schumacher’s 1997 Ferrari.

“My daughter has been living in Dubai for 20 years. The following happened there: they were building a completely new Ferrari garage in Dubai. I went there with my daughter to see which cars they had. We were talking German in the showroom and suddenly I was approached by a young man who said ‘Oh, you are German?’ He said that he spoke German as well and was chief of sales for Ferrari Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“He asked if I am a Ferrari fan and which cars I have. When I told him what I have – including two La Ferraris, two SF90s and an 812 – he looked at me with surprise. I invited him to dinner at the Burj Al Arab hotel and during that dinner he told me that five months earlier he had sold a Formula 1 car, one without an engine.

“My response was that I was interested in something like that as well, but not in a car without an engine…

“He knew about a Ferrari collection in Europe, a collection of which the owner had died. All those cars would go to Sotheby’s to be auctioned. He remembered that there was a Michael Schumacher F1 car among them, although I said ‘A Michael Schumacher F1 car? I can’t buy that because it’s way too expensive’.

“Anyway, he would gather information, check whether the car was sellable at all and what the costs might be. Four weeks later, he called me again, reported that it was indeed a 1997 Schumacher F1 car and said he could arrange the deal for me.

“I asked what the car should cost and if he could send me a picture. Based on that photo, so without seeing the car in real life, I bought it. Three days later, Schumacher’s car was in my garage…. That’s how it came about.”

After all the efforts to get the 310B running again, Zech drove it for the first time at the Jim Clark Revival in Hockenheim earlier this year. “That was like Easter and Christmas fell on one day, so beautiful!” he smiles.

“Hockenheim is like a home event for me, as I live only 30 kilometres away. After Hockenheim, we took the car to Spielberg (where the pictures in this article were taken) and then the weekend in Assen was the third time we drove it. I honestly enjoyed Assen, especially the fans.”

Zech would like to come back to the TT Circuit during the Classic GP in September and again next year during The Racing Day. “I hope so! I’ve reached an age at which you can’t say what tomorrow brings, but if everything goes well, I’d love to come back.”

Zech has fulfilled his boyhood dream at a respectable age. “I used to watch Schumacher’s races and also went to the grand prix when it was still in Hockenheim. I remember that well, those were good times in Formula 1, also with the sound.

“When the races were abroad, we would be watching television and keeping our fingers crossed that he would win.” Decades later, Zech himself drives around in a car of one of motorsport’s all-time greats. “It’s quite a cool story…”