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Some cars reach a point where their value has very little to do with engine power, mileage or year of manufacture.
This red 1991 Honda NSX belongs firmly in that category – because its former driver was Ayrton Senna. The car that Honda once made available to the three-time Formula 1 World Champion is now set to be offered at an RM Sotheby’s auction in London, with an estimated value of between £500,000 and £800,000.
The auction will take place on October 31, 2026, at The Peninsula London, and the Honda NSX bearing chassis number T000233 could prove to be one of the most fascinating cars on offer.
The reason is simple: this is not merely an NSX associated with Ayrton Senna. This is the actual car Senna used during his stays in Europe, drove to the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix and was photographed with in several images that have since become iconic glimpses into his private life.
A Gift from Honda to the Two-Time World Champion
By the beginning of 1991, Senna had already won two World Championship titles with McLaren Honda, while the season ahead would ultimately bring him his third.
As a gesture of appreciation, under an arrangement between Honda Motor Company and the Brazilian driver, Senna was given access to three Honda NSX cars for his personal use.
Two were black, while the third was the car now heading to auction – an NSX finished in striking Formula Red, with a contrasting black roof and a black leather interior.
The car was imported by Honda Automóvel de Portugal and registered on March 22, 1991, with the license plate “SX-25-59.”
It was kept in Lisbon and would be delivered to Senna whenever he arrived in Portugal, where he owned a property in the Quinta do Lago resort.
He Even Drove It to the Portuguese Grand Prix
Senna used the NSX extensively during the European leg of the 1991 season.
One particularly important moment in the car’s history came when the Brazilian drove it to the Estoril circuit for the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix. Senna qualified third and went on to finish the race in second place.
The car later appeared in the 1992 documentary Ayrton Senna: Racing Is in My Blood, where Senna, behind the wheel, demonstrated a rather less ceremonial attitude toward what is today an exceptionally valuable classic – dropping the clutch and spinning the rear wheels in front of the cameras.
Perhaps the most famous photograph of this particular Honda NSX, however, captures a far more ordinary scene.
Dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, Senna is seen washing his red NSX with a garden hose. Over the years, the photograph has become one of the more recognizable images of the champion away from the world of Formula 1, and now the very car bearing the “SX-25-59” license plate could end up in a collector’s garage.
Why Are Senna and the Honda NSX So Closely Connected?
The relationship between Ayrton Senna and the NSX runs much deeper than the fact that he drove several examples of the model.
During the development of the original NSX, Senna had the opportunity to test a prototype, and his feedback became part of the legend surrounding one of the most important Japanese sports cars of all time.
That is why it is difficult to look at an original first-generation Honda NSX – particularly one finished in red with a black roof – without thinking of the Brazilian champion.
“When you think of Senna – casually dressed in jeans, white socks and brown loafers behind the wheel of a road car – you think of the NSX,” said Sholto Gilbertson, RM Sotheby’s Director of Sales for the United Kingdom.
It is precisely this authentic and documented connection to Senna that makes the example heading to auction significantly more important than an average NSX from the same period.
From Portugal to the United Kingdom and Japan
The car’s history following Senna’s death is also extensively documented.
Ten months after his fatal accident at Imola in 1994, the car was registered in Lisbon in February 1995 to Laboa Etablissement, according to Portuguese vehicle registration records.
There is also a fax from Honda confirming Senna’s connection to this particular example, while its provenance has been further authenticated by Honda Motor Europe.
By September 1997, the car was under the care of Honda dealer Nipomotor, while in November 2009 it was acquired by the owner of MSCAR Comércio de Automóveis SA, based in Faro in the Algarve.
In 2013, it was purchased by Robert McFagan and transported to the United Kingdom, where it was registered for road use in May 2016.
A particularly emotional journey followed in 2019.
The Honda NSX returned to Imola exactly 25 years after Senna’s fatal accident, with Giancarlo Minardi – founder of the former Minardi Formula 1 team and head of the circuit – behind the wheel.
The car changed hands again in 2024 and returned to the country where it was built – Japan. Its current owner, based in Nagoya, is now sending it to auction in London.
The car is accompanied by its warranty booklet, documentation tracing its ownership history in Portugal and a copy of the aforementioned Honda fax confirming its provenance and connection to Senna.
Up to £800,000 for a Piece of Formula 1 History
RM Sotheby’s estimates that the car will sell for between £500,000 and £800,000, a figure far beyond the market value of a standard 1991 Honda NSX.
But the buyer will not really be paying for the car alone.
They will be paying for a machine connected to one of the most important figures in the history of motorsport – a car that can be traced directly to Ayrton Senna through photographs, documentary footage and historical records.
At the London auction, it will be joined by a number of significant collector cars, including a 2002 Ferrari 550 Maranello, a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso by Scaglietti, a 1931 Invicta 4½-Litre S-Type “Low Chassis” Sports by Vanden Plas and a 1903 Clément AC4R 12/16 HP Rear-Entrance Tonneau.
Yet it will be difficult for any of them to match the deeply personal story behind this particular car.
Because this NSX is not simply the kind of car Senna loved. It is a car he actually drove – to a Grand Prix, through Portugal and in front of the cameras, at a time when he was at the very height of his career.
For its future owner, this red Honda therefore represents something far rarer than a classic Japanese sports car: a small, moving piece of Ayrton Senna’s history.
