Bertil Roos Racing School for sale

[wesley]

A rare and unique opportunity to purchase the complete assets of one of the oldest and most celebrated Racing Schools in the country located in the beautiful Pocono Mountains. Some of the world's best drivers have started out here and everything needed to continue is here, and it is all for sale. Trucks, trailers, 15 race cars with spares, slide cars, helmets, driving suits, EVERYTHING. Interested principals contact Steve Fox for details at foxfc2000@outlook.com.

[Mike B]

All classified ads require an asking price.

[John Nesbitt]

Last thing I heard about Bertil Roos School was a couple years ago. It was going to morph into something called Formula Racing Academy.

I guess that did/did not happen? Or, did, and failed to prosper?

[E1pix]

I suspect many who ever saw Bertil drive hates seeing his namesake school without his name.

The guy was Magic in Atlantic. He invented “Slideways” even before Villeneuve.

[stonebridge20]

I suspect many who ever saw Bertil drive hates seeing his namesake school without his name.

The guy was Magic in Atlantic. He invented “Slideways” even before Villeneuve.

I had the "pleasure" of riding shotgun with Bertil in a Sports 2000 at Pocono in 1987
while taking his 3 day school. He was much better in the S2 than he was on a barstool that night. He got sideways on the barstool doing a shot, over corrected and ended up a drunken mess on the floor.
I ended up with Tiquila burns in my nostrils.
He was a good man.

[E1pix]

“Overcorrected…”


Hilarious, Mike, and Sorry about your burns…

Think I was there at his one GP attempt, but am vague… in a Wolf-Williams?
(Whoops, remember now that was Warwick Brown)

Also saw him win a Pro Super Vee race in 1976… appropriately, at Pocono, and his only start of the year, IIRC — in a year-old car.

[wesley]

Price for everything is $ 100,000. US

[Craig71188]

Price for everything is $ 100,000. US

Is that price maybe missing another "0"?

[Gordy]

Racing School for sale. Bertil Roos - business/commercial - by owner - sale - craigslist

[Lotus7]

Is that price maybe missing another "0"?

... or possibly one too many zero's ?

Not sure it would be possible to market these 1970-ish cars against the current carbon tub and/or sequential gearbox schools out there.

[John Nesbitt]

I did the school during Dennis Macchio's tenure. Another larger-than-life character. A good teacher, and a raconteur with an endless fund of racing stories, many featuring Bertil's car control skills. And not shy about expressing his opinion to your face.

[wesley]

There is a LOT more for sale here than the 15 “ 1970-ish “ racecars. Anyone interested I can provide a detailed inventory of everything that goes with this deal

[Craig71188]

... or possibly one too many zero's ?

Not sure it would be possible to market these 1970-ish cars against the current carbon tub and/or sequential gearbox schools out there.

IDK, $1M is a bit over the top, but at $100K for 15 cars (roughly $6700 per car - I know HARD use) plus "trucks & trailers" and all the misc., it would seem there may be some value there if one wanted to take the time to piece it out....

[Lotus7]

IDK, $1M is a bit over the top, but at $100K for 15 cars (roughly $6700 per car - I know HARD use) plus "trucks & trailers" and all the misc., it would seem there may be some value there if one wanted to take the time to piece it out....

Agreed. Seems my earlier comment came across too harsh, but ANY viable currently active business of any kind is going to sell for WAY more than 100k, so surely this is a part-out deal at best. And then, as many other threads on Apexspeed point out, the demand for Formula cars is waning at best. I've spent my whole life curious about the business side of racing, and maybe I'm completely wrong :-)
Be very curious to see how this turns out if the seller and/or buyer are willing to comment afterwards.
Cheers

[bassracer]

I went through their school and racing series in '15-16. I was disappointed to see the way things went in the following years.

From what I remember, the roos cars were 100% designed to be durable, reliable, and cheap school cars. I don't know what value they could have outside of the school setting.

[FVRacer21]

Buying assets might be a good deal - but who owns the name. After Bertil's passing the name was changed if I remember correctly.

After the Skip Barber auction a few years ago - the rolling (and not rolling) stock was sold but the name was held back. Might be the most value, although maybe only us older guys remember Mr. Roos......

ChrisZ

PS - I see the Bondurant Racing School site seems frozen in time. Seems to be the Radford Racing School school now - I think the family is fighting over the ?Bondurant name....

[Lotus7]

I went through their school and racing series in '15-16. I was disappointed to see the way things went in the following years.

From what I remember, the roos cars were 100% designed to be durable, reliable, and cheap school cars. I don't know what value they could have outside of the school setting.

that’s the better way I should have worded my first post.

[Lotus7]

There is a LOT more for sale here than the 15 “ 1970-ish “ racecars. Anyone interested I can provide a detailed inventory of everything that goes with this deal

For sale of discussion, what chassis components might be common to other cars?
What engine is in the car?
MK9, LD200, or…?
Rough list of trucks and trailers make and age?
cheers

[stonebridge20]

For sale of discussion, what chassis components might be common to other cars?
What engine is in the car?
MK9, LD200, or…?
Rough list of trucks and trailers make and age?
cheers

If memory serves me correct and they're the same tanks I drove back in 87, they're 2L Pintos with Mk9's

[wesley]

The name is not included in the sale of these assets and is currently not for sale. The 15 school cars are constructed of square tubing, most of them built by Craig Waldner, some of you may know him. Along with the 15 cars there are 2 complete spare chassis and all the jigs to produce more plus a lot of spare bodywork. 2.0L Ford engines & MK 9 gearboxes are used in all cars with various spare heads, blocks, cranks, gearboxes etc. 2011 Chevy dually, 2018 Dodge dually, 5 slide cars, 24' classroom trailer, 55 racing suits, 50 helmets, and all the contents of the office and garage that was used to support this operation.

[Rick Iverson]

OK, this made me laugh

I had the "pleasure" of riding shotgun with Bertil in a Sports 2000 at Pocono in 1987
while taking his 3 day school. He was much better in the S2 than he was on a barstool that night. He got sideways on the barstool doing a shot, over corrected and ended up a drunken mess on the floor.
I ended up with Tiquila burns in my nostrils.
He was a good man.

[Lotus7]

The name is not included in the sale of these assets and is currently not for sale. The 15 school cars are constructed of square tubing, most of them built by Craig Waldner, some of you may know him. Along with the 15 cars there are 2 complete spare chassis and all the jigs to produce more plus a lot of spare bodywork. 2.0L Ford engines & MK 9 gearboxes are used in all cars with various spare heads, blocks, cranks, gearboxes etc. 2011 Chevy dually, 2018 Dodge dually, 5 slide cars, 24' classroom trailer, 55 racing suits, 50 helmets, and all the contents of the office and garage that was used to support this operation.

Interesting, that's a lot of stuff for 100k. The Pinto's and MK9's alone might be worth that much if one thinks there's sufficient demand.

Sounds to me like the school is going to reappear reincarnated in the near future, maybe using a fleet of more modern cars, say prior-generation F4's?

[John Nesbitt]

Interesting, that's a lot of stuff for 100k. The Pinto's and MK9's alone might be worth that much if one thinks there's sufficient demand.

Sounds to me like the school is going to reappear reincarnated in the near future, maybe using a fleet of more modern cars, say prior-generation F4's?

Given that those cars/engines/gearboxes were used (and abused) every day by students, I doubt that the engines are in FC trim. The MK9s would be worth something, maybe after refresh/rebuild.

Several owners have failed to make a go of the school in its present configuration. The Bertil Roos name, goodwill, and intellectual property might be worth something if one were planning to start a school from scratch. (I see that Barber uses F4 cars.). But I wonder whether that would be financially viable. Is there room in the present racing world for another open wheel school?

[Jayeff]

When I went thru the school in 2017 at NJMSP, the engines were 2.3 litre dodge 4 cylinder with a torque peak at about 4500 and red line about 5600. Not a Pinto and hardly a race engine.

[bassracer]

I *think* that was when they (not sure correct business term) expanded/acquired/partnered some of the skippy stuff and was able to have dedicated cars at different regions to improve logistics.

The Scanda cars had pintos mounted 4" high for a wet sump pan and a 5200rpm limiter . Nothing wrong with that for school duty.