Senna's Lotus 98T heads to auction with an estimate of up to $12m

The most celebrated chassis from Ayrton Senna‘s three Formula 1 seasons at Lotus is set to go under the hammer through RM Sotheby’s.

The car in question, chassis 98T-3, is the winner of the 1986 Spanish Grand Prix and the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix and sports the iconic John Player Special livery.

Raced eight times by Senna during the 1986 Formula 1 season, the car scored two victories, five pole positions, and a further three podium finishes – a record that makes it, by some distance, the most successful chassis to emerge from Senna’s time at Team Lotus.

The Brazilian spent three years at the British squad, from 1985 to 1987 before moving to McLaren, where he won his three titles.

RM Sotheby’s has placed a pre-sale estimate of $9,500,000 to $12,000,000 (approximately £7,000,000 to £9,000,000) on the lot, reflecting the significance of the car.

The car was bought directly from Lotus in 1988 and has subsequently passed through a small number of notable motor sport collections, before being acquired by the current owner in 2016. Since then, it has been restored by Paul Lanzante Ltd.

Only four chassis were built to contest the 1986 Formula 1 season, which makes 98T-3 a rare survivor from an era that produced some of the most extreme and dangerous racing cars ever constructed.

The car is currently located in Alton, United Kingdom.

The lot has entered the UK on a temporary import bond for restoration purposes, though it is a USA taxes-paid vehicle.

For a US buyer, the sale will be conducted within the USA, while non-US buyers must either export the car outside the UK with approved customs documentation, or pay applicable VAT and import duties to retain it in the country.

The history behind the car: Senna, Lotus, and the last of the turbo monsters

To understand why the Lotus 98T commands such reverence, it is important to understand the era in which the car was produced.

Senna had entered Formula 1 during an period in which the cars were turbocharged beasts, there were no restrictions on horsepower, and loose regulations allowed for huge differences between race day and qualifying.

The 98T was the car with which Senna mounted his most competitive title challenge to date — though the dominant Williams-Honda pairing of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, combined with a customer Renault engine, made a championship win an unlikely prospect from the outset.

His path to Lotus had not been straightforward. Lotus team boss Peter Warr had long admired Senna, but negotiations stalled in 1983 partly due to JPS pressure to field a British driver — allowing Toleman to move quickly and secure his signature for 1984.

There, Senna repeatedly showed his class in machinery that had no place troubling the leaders, including narrowly missing what would have been a historic win in the rain-soaked Monaco GP.

The Brazilian’s stock had risen so dramatically in the space of a year that when he did eventually sign for Lotus for 1985, it cost the team 10 times the fee that had been floated 12 months earlier.

Designed by Gérard Ducarouge and Martin Ogilvie, the Lotus 98T was a significant improvement over its predecessor. Key to the improvements was the chassis, which was now a one-piece integral unified moulding of carbon fibre and aluminium, with moulded composite skins filled with aluminium foil and bulkheads machined from solid aluminium.