There was a time in the Formula One when teams tried anything to earn some extra money. Best example is Minardi who appeared with the F1X2 (M026T), better known as the 2-seater, driving around VIPS at a track to let them experience, for an amount of money, the Formula One. In the early days, they even raced with those cars like at Donington and Rockingham. However, in the early 1990s Arrows had an even more lucrative way to gain some extra money for their adventure in the Formula One. They launched “The Ultimate Dream” at the 1995 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. For just One Million dollar, you could test an Arrows car and eventually keep it.
I never heard about “The Ultimate Dream” project from Arrows before. During the 1995, German Grand Prix the team announced their concept. The idea behind it is that you have a unique way, if you own a company, to promote. Well if you have 1 million dollar spare money somewhere. If you decided to jump into the Ultimate Dream you would be able to attempt a racing school. Arrows would race, with your branding, in any national championship where Gianni Morbidelli would be your expert giving advice where needed. Obviously, you would also receive VIP treatments during a Grand Prix weekend.
Besides the marketing benefits you would get, you would also be able to test with an older Arrows. According to sources Jackie Oliver’s team still had seven Arrows A11, the car from 1989, stored in the corner of their factory. All those cars were still fitted with a DFR engine. Probably the testing with the car would happen on some British circuit. After the test, you could keep the car and use it yourself for some marketing stunt. It was not new at that time there were companies that used F1 cars for commercials.
How many packages were sold is not sure, Global Brands was the first company that purchased “The Ultimate Dream” package. A photo from was taken at Hockenheim. Interesting as well is that Morbidelli was sacked after the French Grand Prix, as the team needed money. During the Pacific Grand Prix that year, he returned in the cockpit from the Arrows FA16. How his role was during that period is unsure.
