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This F1 simulator is as close to the real thing as you can get

How would you like to (literally) sit in the same way Max Verstappen did for the 2022 season?

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you—that is the nose of the 2022 RB18. PHOTO FROM THE MEMENTO GROUP

Owning a real Formula 1 car or even just driving one is not something us mere mortals are normally lucky enough to do in our lifetime. You either have to be mega-loaded or be a super-gifted athlete to get behind the wheel of one of these machines, which is why simulators present such a great alternative to having a real multimillion-dollar F1 missile in your garage.

What a company in the UK is selling now, however, comes pretty close to owning and driving the real dealat a fraction of the cost. Northamptonshire-based The Memento Group is offering an official team-licensed F1 simulator that can make you feel like Max Verstappen in the comfort of your living room.

This was made using actual CAD diagrams of the car, down to Max Verstappen’s driving position. PHOTOS FROM THE MEMENTO GROUP

The simulator setup you see here not only looks like the 2022 championship-winning Red Bull Racing RB18, it kind of is oneor at least as close to one as you can get without cutting a real car in half.

In what the company calls a first, the shell has been created using exact CAD data from the F1 team, meaning it really is an exact replicationright down to the seating position of Verstappen during the season. Technicians use processes similar to those of real F1 cars to create each shell in its specialist workshop, which is just down the road from the actual F1 team.

You can build the rig for a fraction of the cost, but you’ll never be able to assemble a faithful replica of the RB18 for cheap. PHOTO FROM THE MEMENTO GROUP

You can even connect multiple ones to race against friends. If you order one today, you’ll be getting behind the wheel in around three months’ time. But before that, you’ll have to send a check for at least £74,999 (P5.195 million) for the Race Edition or £99,999 (P6.926 million) for the Champions Edition.

That’s not exactly a bargain, but a heck of a lot cheaper than a real Formula 1 car. The only question we have to answer now is how we can persuade our editor-in-chief that we need one of these for the office?



Frank Schuengel

Frank is a German e-commerce executive who loves his wife, a Filipina, so much he decided to base himself in Manila. He has interesting thoughts on Philippine motoring. He writes the aptly named ‘Frankly’ column.



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