F1 memorabilia is big business these days, but if it comes with the name of one of the sport’s all-time greats like Ayrton Senna attached to it, it’s on another level entirely. That’s why it’s rather a big deal that Honda is set to auction off disassembled bits of a V10 that helped take Senna to his second World Drivers’ Championship in 1990.
The auction celebrates the launch of a new in-house memorabilia division of Honda Racing Corporation, the company that handles all of Honda’s worldwide racing activities on both four and two wheels.
Ayrton Senna driving the McLaren MP4/5B | XPB Images
It’s starting off big, having painstakingly taken apart the 3.5-litre RA100E engines that sat in the back of one of the McLaren MP4/5Bs driven by Senna and Gerhard Berger during the 1990 F1 season. While not quite as dominant a year as 1988, Senna would still win six of the 16 races that season, enough for him to take the Drivers’ Championship and for the McLaren-Honda pairing to claim its third straight Constructors’ Championship.
Having been taken apart at HRC’s facility in Sakura City, Japan, the company has housed significant parts of the engine in display cases ahead of the sale. On offer are parts including camshafts, cam covers, pistons and conrods.
Honda RA100E camshaft
The auction’s a little while off yet – it’s taking place during Monterey Car Week in August. In the meantime, though, HRC is also selecting various parts and complete vehicles from both its IndyCar and motorbike racing history for auction and private sale. And before you get too worried, it’s carefully ensuring that it’s not getting rid of any of its fleet of running vehicles, nor any parts they might need.
HRC president Koji Watanabe said: “We aim to make this a valuable business that allows fans who love F1, MotoGP and various other races to share in the history of Honda’s challenges in racing since the 1950s. Including our fans to own a part of Honda’s racing history is not intended to be a one-time endeavour, but rather a continuous business that we will nurture and grow.”
Honda RA100E pistons
We have no idea how much any of this stuff might sell for, but it does beg the question: What would you do with one of Senna’s old camshafts?
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