They may have been battered and bruised in the hands of celebrities and sports stars, but the fleet of 28 Lexus CT200h hybrid cars used in the 2011 Qantas Australian Grand Prix celebrity race will be returned to their former glory and sold to the public.
Lexus Australia will remove the roll-cages and repair the vehicles to as-new condition and sell them with the remainder of the three year/100,000km warranty. Most cars have travelled less than 1000km and are expected to be sold for between $5000 and $10,000 less than the $48,990 RRP of the F Sport model.
Although few cars emerged unscathed from a week of practice and racing, a post-race post-mortem revealed there was no major structural damage.
"It was mostly panels, bumper bars and maybe one headlight," said Lexus Australia corporate manager of marketing and aftersales, Peter Evans. "Those will all be fixed and there will be the chance for people to buy them."
Evans said Lexus would fully disclose the history of the cars. "Each car will come with a certificate saying what it was used for and who drove the car," he said.
The other giveaway will be the two, race-style bonnet latches (that prevent a bonnet from flipping open during a crash); they will be left on the aluminium bonnet.
The Lexus CT200h hatches raced in relatively standard condition. The brake pads were changed but the cars ran standard suspension and road tyres.
"There are no plans to even change the tyres, they've worn quite evenly over the whole week," Evans said.
In an attempt to make some noise, the rear muffler was removed for the race – but the cars were still eerily quiet. Indeed, on the start line most of the petrol engines switched themselves off as the cars waited for the green light in electric mode.
Most cars on the grid got away silently until the petrol motor kicked in above 40km/h. Drivers also reported that the petrol engine switched off momentarily during heavy braking (as is normal for petrol-electric cars).
AFL football player Sav Rocca won both five-lap races ahead of champion skateboarder Corbin Harris.
Retired Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney finished third in Sunday's race after a daring passing move on the last corner of the last lap, where she picked up two places. She also scored the highest position using the least amount of fuel.
Retired rugby league player Luke Ricketson finished third in the first race.
The Lexus CT200h is the world's first luxury hybrid hatchback. It shares much of its engine, underpinnings and hybrid system with the Toyota Prius and has an average fuel consumption rating of 4.1L/100km, marginally higher than the Prius (3.9L/100km).
Lexus has the option of signing for a further two years as the supplier of celebrity cars at the Australian Grand Prix, but was yet to make a decision. "We'll assess it and go from there," Evans said.
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