Ayrton Senna’s first F1 car on sale for £1million
This is the Toleman-Hart that nearly gifted Senna a win on his Monaco debut
The Toleman-Hart that Ayrton Senna very nearly took to victory on his Monaco F1 debut is up for sale for £1million. Displayed at James Edition of London, the TG184-2 is best remembered for securing Senna a second-place finish during the rain soaked 1984 race.
The young Brazilian crossed the line first before red flags came out to stop the race. In his mind he’d won, but the rules dictate that in such a scenario the final result is taken from the lap before the race stops, meaning Senna and his Toleman lost out on the win to McLaren driven Alain Prost.
Despite not securing the top spot, the heroic efforts of a rookie 24-year-old ensured that the car would remain one of Senna’s most famous steeds. His career and untimely death have only served to boost its value, so much so that its current asking price is close to double its value from just three years ago, when it failed to sell at auction with a £550,000 reserve.
The car, which has also been owned by ex-McLaren and Ferrari F1 driver Stefan Johansson, was designed by Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds and is powered by a 1.5-litre in-line four-cylinder turbo engine. In race-spec, it was capable of producing more than 600bhp. The chassis is made up double wishbones and pull-rod actuated coil springs over dampers up front, with double wishbones and push-rod actuated coil springs over dampers for the rear.
Wrapped in the ‘Candy’ livery it wore in Monaco, the 31-year-old no. 19 Toleman is described as being in exceptional condition, and comes complete with a thick history file and a full set of studio photos. James Edition also says that the asking price includes the cost to get the car re-commissioned, meaning it could feasibly race again in a historic series.
£1million is certainly not cheap, but let us not forget: this is a car from an iconic era and one that helped kick-start the career of one of F1’s best-loved drivers.
