Ayrton Senna’s Honda NSX sets new record
A Honda NSX once loaned to Brazilian Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna is now the most expensive example of the marque sold at auction.
More than 30 years on from his tragic death, Ayrton Senna is still having an impact on motorsport and car culture, after one of two Honda NSXs closely associated with the three-time F1 championship set a new auction record.
Auctioned by RM Sotheby’s in London, the Formula Red Honda NSX sold for a hammer price of £871,250 (AU$1.675 million), well above its price guide of £500,000 (AU$961,350) to £800,000 (AU$1.538 million).
It also eclipsed the previous record for the most expensive NSX sold at an auction, after a 2003 Honda NSX-R sold for €934,375 (£779,605/A$1.498m) last year.
Senna’s connection to the NSX is well known, as the F1 legend helped develop the mid-engined V6 sports car, as Honda was the engine supplier to McLaren at the time.
He was famously filmed driving one around Suzuka in loafers, before being loaned another example by Honda’s Portuguese division throughout 1991, which is the car which now holds the auction record.
Recognisable with its Formula Red paintwork and black roof, the NSX became Senna’s to use when he was in Portugal, notably driving it to that year’s Grand Prix at Estoril, while the car itself became an icon after featuring in the 1992 documentary, ‘Ayrton Senna: Racing Is In My Blood’.
After living the majority of its life in Europe under multiple owners, the NSX later found its home in the UK in 2012, where its then-owner subsequently took it on a road trip to Imola in 2019 to mark 25 years since Senna’s passing.
This also led to Minardi F1 team founder and circuit boss Giancarlo Minardi driving the sports car.
It was most recently sold in 2024, having been listed on the UK’s AutoTrader for £500,000, purchased by a Japanese owner, who later returned it to the UK for the recent auction.
Ben Waterworth
It’s not the only ex-Senna car going to auction this year, with RM Sotheby’s announcing it will be selling the 1994 Williams FW16B-01 in New York.
Driven by Senna at the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix during the warm-up, it was later piloted by him at a test at Jerez in April, less than a month before he was killed in a crash at Imola while leading the San Marino Grand Prix, albeit in a different chassis.
The car heading to auction was gifted to the Senna family at the end of 1994, who kept it until the 30th anniversary of his passing in 2024, with its new owner selling it just two years after purchasing the F1 racer.
