For more than five years now, sightings have racked up of a vehicle that looks like a Ferrari Formula 1 car driving on Czech highways, complete with a mysterious helmeted driver behind the wheel. According to a social media post by the Czech police, though, authorities were finally able to catch the man behind the mask this past weekend, and the 51-year-old driver now faces significant fines and even a potential driving ban.
According to authorities, the man was spotted speeding on the D4 highway, and other motorists called police when they spotted the unusual vehicle. Police tracked the car to a property in the village of Buk, located about 37 miles southwest of Prague.
According to The Sun, the man driving the car was wearing a red racing suit and a racing helmet when he was arrested at his home. The driver reportedly was arguing with the police and refused to get out of his car, claiming that the police were trespassing on private property.
Czech police posted on X that the driver “refused to comment on the entire situation when giving an explanation. The police will forward the whole matter to administrative proceedings, in which he faces a fine in the order of several thousand crowns and a driving ban.”
Not that it makes the incident any less bizarre, but it doesn’t appear to be a real Ferrari F1 car that the man was driving. A 2022 report by Auto.cz described the car as a Dallara GP2/08, used from 2008 to 2010 in the GP2 championship. The car is powered by a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter V-8 that makes about 620 horsepower and revs to 10,000 rpm. But it's not the engine or the performance that's the issue with this replica ride: the car lacks number plates, lights, and many other features required to make a vehicle road-worthy.