AYRTON SENNA’S 1991 MCLAREN MP4/6 – THE CAR THAT DEFINED A LEGEND - YOURS FOR JUST R257,000,000
In the torrid rain of Interlagos, 1991, one man transcended motorsport and etched his name into something greater. The world watched as Ayrton Senna, running on raw willpower and divine instinct, wrestled a crippled McLaren MP4/6 around his home circuit for 10 agonising laps. His gearbox was dying - first 4th went missing, then 5th, then almost everything except 6th. The drizzle turned to rain, the V12 Honda behind him screamed for mercy, and Senna’s arms and neck cramped from the punishment. Yet he refused to yield. With the finesse of a dancer and the ferocity of a prizefighter, he dragged that wounded machine to the finish line, crossing the stripe 2.991 seconds ahead of Riccardo Patrese. It was his first home victory, a moment that broke him physically but crowned him spiritually. “By the finish, I had nothing left,” Senna said later. “God gave me this race.” The scene remains iconic: the exhausted champion slumped in the cockpit, barely able to lift the trophy as 70,000 Brazilians wept, screamed, and prayed in unison. It was a resurrection of everything Formula 1 is supposed to be: courage, chaos, and pure, human grit.
That defining drive came at the wheel of chassis MP4/6-1, the very first example of McLaren’s 1991 Formula 1 contender. It was the car Senna tested for the first time at Estoril, and the same machine that would carry him to that miraculous victory on home soil - a single outing that became the stuff of legend. Designed by Neil Oatley, the MP4/6 was a technological masterpiece of its era: a carbon-fibre monocoque wrapped around a 3.5-litre Honda V12 producing 530 kW (720 hp) at 13,800 rpm, connected to a six-speed manual gearbox - the last World Championship-winning car with both a manual ‘box and a V12. Analogue to the core, it was fast, mechanical, and utterly demanding - qualities Senna turned into an art form. Over the 1991 season, McLaren’s MP4/6 would win eight Grands Prix, delivering Senna his third and final World Championship and securing another Constructors’ crown for Woking. After its lone race outing in Brazil, chassis 6-1 was retired to McLaren’s collection, a sacred relic kept safe for almost 30 years before being acquired by its current owner in 2020. Since then, it has been fully recommissioned by McLaren Heritage, serviced by Paul Lanzante Ltd, and presented in race-ready condition, complete with McLaren Certificate of Authenticity and the full complement of starting and maintenance equipment - external starter, water tower, fuel primer, remote dash, and engine pre-heater. For collectors, this isn’t just a car; it’s a relic of motorsport’s divine moment - the very machine that carried Senna to his hardest-fought victory, and one of the most significant Formula 1 cars ever offered for sale. As RM Sotheby’s prepares to hand its keys to a new custodian, the MP4/6-1 stands not only as a symbol of McLaren’s engineering dominance, but as a vessel for one of the most human stories in racing - a moment when man, machine, and faith collided, and Ayrton Senna became immortal. As you’d expect with this kind of provenance, it’s going to fetch 1%-er kind of money. Estimates for the MP4/6-1 are that it will fetch up to $15,000,000, or a cool R257,000,000 at the Sotheby's auction.
Take a look at the YouTube video posted up almost 12 years ago that shows off the start-up of this iconic Ayrton Senna F1 car, the same one headed to the Sotheby's auction: FIRE UP: 1991 McLaren MP4/6 V12 | McLaren
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