RM Sotheby’s will offer the 1991 Honda NSX used regularly by three-time Formula 1 Drivers’ World Champion Ayrton Senna at The London Auction at the Peninsula Hotel on October 31.
The car, estimated to sell for £500,000–£800,000, was personally allocated to Senna by Honda Portugal for his exclusive use in Europe. It will sit alongside a carefully curated selection of significant automobiles at the flagship UK sale at the Peninsula London.
“Senna’s legacy runs far deeper than his three world championships. His style and elegance are everlasting, and when you think of Senna – nonchalantly dressed in jeans, white socks and brown loafers behind the wheel of a road car – you think of an NSX. This is a wonderful opportunity to own a genuine piece of sporting and cultural history” said Sholto Gilbertson, director of sales, UK at RM Sotheby’s.
At the start of 1991, Senna already counted two F1 Drivers’ crowns with the McLaren Honda team and was about to embark on a campaign that would yield his third.
As a small token of gratitude, per an agreement between Honda Motor Company and the driver, Honda would provide three NSXs to which Senna had access for personal use.
Alongside a pair of black cars, there was chassis number T000233. Configured in Formula Red with a contrasting black roof over a black leather interior, it was imported by Honda Automobil de Portugal and registered on 22 March 1991 with the number “SX-25-59.”
The NSX was stored in Lisbon and delivered to Senna every time he arrived in the country. He made good use of the car during the European leg of the 1991 season, having bought a property in the Quinta do Lago resort. He drove to the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, a race for which he would qualify third and finish second, aboard chassis T000233.
It would feature in the 1992 documentary Ayrton Senna: Racing Is in My Blood, with Senna dumping the clutch and spinning up the rear wheels on camera. Perhaps most famously for “SX-25-59,” Senna was pictured in jeans and a button-down shirt washing the car with a hosepipe.
Ten months after Senna was killed at Imola, according to the accompanying certificate of records issued by the Lisbon Automobile Registry Office, the car was registered in the Portuguese capital city in February 1995 by Laboa Etablissement.
A fax from Honda confirming this car’s Senna provenance, which has been reaffirmed by Honda Motor Europe, further notes that the NSX was under the care of its own dealership, Nipomotor, come September 1997.
It was next bought by the owner of MSCAR Comércio de Automóveis SA, based in the Algarve city of Faro, in November 2009, prior to being purchased by Mr. Robert McFagan in 2013. He had the car freighted to the United Kingdom, where it was registered for use on the road in May 2016.
The NSX made a poignant visit to Imola in 2019, marking 25 years since Senna’s fatal crash at the Italian venue, with Minardi F1 team founder and circuit boss Giancarlo Minardi in the driver’s seat. The car subsequently returned to its home country, having been acquired in 2024 by the consigning owner in Nagoya, Japan.
It is accompanied by a warranty book, Portuguese ownership history documentation and a copy of the Honda fax confirming the car’s Senna provenance.
