While some of us dream about owning our own race car, we likely wouldn’t be allowed to take the competitive machine out for a spin on local roads. A 51-year-old driver was arrested by police in the Czech Republic on Sunday for driving a single-seater race car on a public highway. The mystery driver initially garnered double takes and the attention of law enforcement six years ago.
Police were aware of videos that the alleged driver was posting on social media, but didn’t have enough evidence of their own to arrest him. According to CNN, officers had to catch the driver in the act because his helmet blocked any chance of identifying him in images captured by speed cameras. Law enforcement became aware that the car was out for a Sunday drive after a caller reported seeing it speeding on a highway and immediately pounced to make an arrest.
Footage of said arrest was surprisingly uploaded to a YouTube channel belonging to the driver and his son. In the middle of a drive alongside a Ferrari F40, a Lamborghini Murciélago, and a Corvette C7 Z06, the video cut to an onboard shot of the car being towed by a Škoda with sirens blaring. The two vehicles were pursued by police vehicles and a helicopter into a driveway. The driver eventually gave himself up after a shouting match, during which the driver incorrectly claimed the police didn’t have the right to follow him onto private property without a warrant.
Imagine getting chased by a helicopter for a year-long driving ban
Deploying a helicopter to track a race car seems like overkill, especially when the potential punishment seems like small potatoes. The driver faces a potential fine of up to $480 and a year-long driving ban. A police release on the incident states:
“Racing cars of this type are not legally allowed to be driven on roads because they do not meet the legal technical requirements. The formula car has sharp edges and does not have lights, turning signal lights, license plates or other important safety features. Driving a formula car or other such racing car is dangerous not only for the driver himself, but also for other road users.”
While the YouTube channel states that its vehicle was a Formula 1 car, that’s not the case. It’s a Dallara GP2/08 painted red and covered in Marlboro decals to be reminiscent of a Ferrari driven by Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s. As the model name implies, it was a spec race car used in the GP2 Series, F1’s feeder series, from 2008 until 2010. Championship rules required every team to buy its cars new from the series organizer, so used GP2 cars are readily available for purchase and still raced in niche European series alongside historic F1 machinery.
