Grab your wallet, log into your 401K, take the hit on your kid’s 529b, or maybe even ask your parents for a loan; something very special is coming up for sale, and you’ll want to do whatever it takes to bring it home. Honda is auctioning a used V10 Formula 1 engine raced by none other than Ayrton Senna during the 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Once attached to the back of a McLaren Honda MP4/5B, serial number V805 was used by the three-time F1 champ during the last two race weekends of the 1990 season. Specifically, the warm-up of the Japanese GP at Suzuka Circuit in October and the race at the Australian GP in Adelaide in November.
Look up stats for the Japanese GP, and you’ll notice that Senna placed third during the warm-up session with this very engine, and he went on to qualify first, ahead of his former teammate Alain Prost. Presumably, the engine was swapped between the warm-up and qualifying, as Honda’s release specifically states it was only used in the former. Or, perhaps, the same engine was used for the rest of the weekends, but it technically did not race because Senna crashed into Prost on the first corner of the first lap, ultimately resulting in DNFs for both the McLaren and Ferrari—though it gave Senna his second drivers’ title.
The Australian GP didn’t fare much better for Senna, as he started from pole but failed to finish the race due to a gearbox issue. Fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet went on to win both of these GPs.
The fact that this isn’t a race-winning engine hardly takes away from its magic, as ultimately, it is the last V10 engine Senna ever raced. During this era, all engines were sent back to Honda in Japan for disassembly and inspection, and most of them were ultimately discarded. However, being the last V10 before the series transitioned to V12s, it was left alone and put into storage. It was never disassembled until recently, when it was meticulously taken apart to be placed in its new display case that’s headed to auction.
HRC, Honda Racing Corporation (and HRC US in North America), has embarked on a rather aggressive mission to grow the business side of its operations over the last year, so it’s no surprise to see it bringing special stuff like this to the public. It does make me curious what else Honda is hiding in its many warehouses, though. It feels like this is just the beginning.
Hosted by Bonhams, the auction will take place on Aug. 15 during Monterey Car Week, so make sure to have your bidder number ready when the action kicks off. Click here for more details.
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