There are plenty of cars associated with Ayrton Senna, from his famous Audi RS2 back home in Brazil to his McLaren-Hondas, which naturally sit at the very top of that list. But when it comes to road cars, there is arguably one model more closely connected to the Formula 1 legend than any other: the Honda NSX.
And now, it is heading to auction: RM Sotheby’s will offer this 1991 Honda NSX at its London Auction on 31 October 2026, with an estimate of £500,000 to £800,000. That is a remarkable figure for an early NSX, but this is not just an exceptionally well preserved example of Honda’s supercar. Chassis number T000233 was supplied by Honda for Ayrton Senna’s personal use during his time in Portugal, and its history with the three time Formula 1 World Champion is extensively documented.
Cars owned by celebrities appear at auction all the time, often commanding substantial premiums based largely on an owner’s name. But this NSX has a particularly compelling connection to Senna because it was not just a car registered in his name. Honda provided Senna with access to three NSXs for his personal use, including two black cars and this Formula Red example, chassis T000233. This particular car was imported by Honda Automobil de Portugal, registered in March 1991, and kept in Lisbon for Senna to use whenever he visited Portugal. Senna owned a property at Quinta do Lago and regularly spent time in Portugal during the European Formula 1 season. Most significantly, he drove this very NSX to the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, where he qualified third and finished second.
You may have seen the photographs. Ayrton Senna, dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, washing a red Honda NSX with a garden hose. The images have become some of the most recognisable photographs of Senna away from a Formula 1 circuit.
That car is this car. Chassis T000233 is also featured in the 1992 documentary Ayrton Senna: Racing Is In My Blood, where Senna can be seen behind the wheel, enthusiastically spinning the rear wheels for the cameras. This gives the NSX something that is increasingly difficult to find in the collector car world: a connection to its famous owner that is not just documented on paper, but captured in photographs and on film.
The original Honda NSX changed perceptions of what a Japanese performance car could be, and its association with Senna also goes far beyond this particular car. During the NSX’s development, Senna famously provided feedback to Honda engineers while testing prototypes. According to RM Sotheby’s, his criticism that the early chassis felt insufficiently rigid contributed to significant structural and suspension development, with Honda ultimately increasing the chassis stiffness substantially.
Whether you consider the NSX to be a direct product of Senna’s input or simply a Honda that benefited from the expertise of the company’s most successful Formula 1 driver, the relationship between man and machine is inseparable. You cannot really tell the story of the original NSX without mentioning the guy.
The NSX’s history after Senna’s death is also extensively documented. It was registered to a subsequent owner in Lisbon in 1995 before passing through several owners over the following decades. Importantly, the auction lot is accompanied by Portuguese ownership documentation and a Honda communication confirming the car’s Senna provenance, which RM Sotheby’s says has subsequently been reaffirmed by Honda Motor Europe.
The car even returned to Imola in 2019 to mark 25 years since Senna’s fatal accident at the circuit, with former Minardi team founder Giancarlo Minardi behind the wheel. After spending time in Japan, the NSX has now returned to the United Kingdom for this sale. RM Sotheby’s has placed a pre auction estimate of £500,000 to £800,000 on the car.
This is a collector car where the provenance fundamentally changes what the vehicle represents. It is an important example of an already historically significant car, directly connected to one of motorsport’s most important figures and documented throughout its association with him. It is a car he apparently used in the ordinary moments between the extraordinary ones.
View the complete RM Sotheby’s auction listing
