Collectors & Aficionados
Business F1 Top 20 Petrolheads: Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President, driver and great collector
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, renowned rally driver, and classic car collector, shares his deep passion for automotive art, notably the Mercedes 600. His impressive collection of 21 of these luxury classics reflects his dedication to preserving automotive history.
A renowned rally driver with a special talent for desert races, and a collector of classic cars with a particular fondness for the Mercedes-Benz 600, Mohammed Ben Sulayem is now the President of the International Automobile Federation - the FIA, which governs Formula 1, World Rally, and World WEC, to name just a few. Born in Dubai sixty-three years ago and educated in the United States, he was elected by a large majority to lead the FIA. His passion for cars is a crucial prerequisite for his challenging role, where he must make strategic decisions, create regulations, and ensure they are enforced.
Despite his demanding role at the FIA, Ben Sulayem’s near-obsessive passion for classic cars remains as strong as ever. His collection, described by someone close to him as “where elegance meets performance,” mirrors his love for automotive art. His fascination with the Mercedes 600, a luxury car from 1963 and popular in his region, is rooted in his childhood memories. In a conversation with Business F1, Ben Sulayem highlighted the car’s pioneering yet flawed technology. “The engineering capabilities of Mercedes engineers back then were incredible, but the materials available couldn’t keep up with their ideas. The 600’s hydraulic system and air suspensions have about 500 seals that often fail. For my 600s, I had them remade in a more modern material that didn’t exist when the cars were built. The air suspension valves required incredible precision that they couldn’t achieve back then. So, we had them remanufactured. It took a year to find a Japanese camera and camcorder manufacturer capable of such precision.” Knowing the rigour of the Japanese, it is not surprising that they asked him what those valves were to be used for. “I told them it came from a 50-year-old Mercedes, and they thought I was crazy. Fifty years ago, they said, no one in the world could have made a part with this level of precision. This gives you an idea of how advanced this car was at the time.”
