F1 drivers, teams and even Bernie E. rally for Zoom charity auction

Got a little money left over from Christmas? Or did you get money for Christmas and haven’t decided what to spend it on?

Have we got a deal for you.

Formula 1’s drivers, team principals and its boss Bernie Ecclestone have joined together to support the 2015 annual Zoom charity auction. The event, held in association with Nikon, is the third running of the event to benefit the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

“The F1 Group has been supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital for many years and we are proud to be able to help with the tremendous work they do,” Ecclestone says. “Every year the hospital treats nearly 200,000 sick children and you are helping them keep it up. You are also getting a glimpse into a side of F1 that isn’t shown on television and as you will see, it isn’t all about fast cars and champagne.”

Indeed, the Great Ormond Street Hospital is a London facility that traces its origins to 1852, since then dedicated to children’s healthcare and to finding new and better ways to treat childhood illnesses. Most of the children they care for are referred from other hospitals throughout the UK and overseas.

The details

And here are the details on the Zoom auction, which takes place Friday night in London, and continues online. “Throughout a memorable and tense 2014 season, the stars of the sport were each asked to take a photograph that represented a snapshot of their world. The results – all exclusively signed by the participants – will be auctioned by Coys (www.coys.co.uk) during a star-studded gala evening at London’s InterContinental Park Lane on Friday 16 January. The Zoom initiative gives fans a unique insight into the lives of those most closely involved in the sport.

“All F1’s drivers and team principals take part including leading figures from Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to Adrian Newey and Christian Horner. The result is a set of stunning images, covering subjects as diverse as Jenson Button’s view of his ‘office’ to Toto Wolff’s on-the-grid selfie in Bahrain and the unusual art occupying Bernie Ecclestone’s back garden." Some are simple slice-of-life pix, such as teh one above from last year taken by Adrian Newey as he drove through Sardinia.

“In addition to these original photographs, bidders will find nine Nikon Coolpix S9700 cameras amongst the lots donated by the event sponsors Nikon, each signed by a legendary Formula 1 World Champion including Niki Lauda, Jacques Villeneuve, Mario Andretti and Sir Jackie Stewart.”

Half and half

Half the merchandise will be sold at the event, and the other half in an upcoming online auction.

The first Zoom auction took place in September of 2012. Prior to that, noted motorsports journalists Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid, authors of Formula 1’s industry monitor Formula Money, “realized that although there are many charity auctions in sport they all tend to follow a similar pattern. The items on offer are usually signed photos of the athletes or signed kit that they use. They often raise a great deal of money but despite carrying an autograph, the items tell the buyer little new about the sports star who signed them. Zoom was put in motion to rectify that by turning the tables and asking all the drivers and team principals in F1 to take photographs which would then be signed and put up for auction.”

Says Sylt: “Once again we would like to thank the teams and drivers, Bernie Ecclestone, the other participants and all our partners for their support. We are looking forward to building on the success of the two previous events to raise more money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity through the auction of these unique images and the cameras which Nikon has kindly donated.”

For more information, and to get an up-to-the minute look at some of the photographs, check out the charity's Facebook site here.