Watch: Ferrari 250 GTO worth $118 million goes up in flames

A Ferrari 250 GTO worth approximately $118 million encountered a spot of bother at the Goodwood Revival race meeting over the weekend after bursting into flames with former Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok at the wheel.

What is arguably one of the world’s greatest vintage motorsport spectacles, the annual event sees hundreds of near-priceless and historic race cars go head to head in a variety of different categories.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that their respective drivers and owners would take it easy on track, but that simply isn’t the case as these cars get driven hard.

It was no different during the Lavant Cup, a race dedicated purely to Ferrari GT cars from the 1960s, 16 of which took to the Goodwood circuit this time out.

One of those cars was a 250 GTO, driven by Chandhok, that suddenly went “bang” and exploded into flames.

Thankfully the former F1 driver wasn’t hurt in the incident, but the same couldn’t be said for the poor old prancing horse.

Footage shows flames billowing out of the bottom of the car for a brief moment before being snuffed by the onboard fire extinguisher.

It is understood that the Ferrari’s 3.0-litre ‘Colombo’ V12 suffered an engine failure which sent a hole through the oil sump, subsequently spitting oil all over the hot exhaust and igniting, reports Goodwood Road & Racing.

Chandhok himself says it was a pinch-yourself-moment to not only be driving his dream car, but racing it. However, he understood the risks involved with going ten tenths in a 60-year-old race car, just as the owner of the 250 GTO did.

“The owners deserve so much credit. They send these cars that were designed 60 years ago out racing, that are worth so much, understanding that things can go wrong and that these things happen,” Chandhok told Goodwood Road & Racing.

“He [the owner] told me, he wants to get the car fixed and get it back on track at Goodwood soon.”

We’re thankful that cars like these are used for what they were built for, especially when you consider how much they are worth.

In 2018, a pristine example of a 250 GTO sold for approximately $US70 million ($NZ118 million), becoming the most expensive car in the world at the time.