Ayrton Senna’s first win was a borderline cinematic effort on a rainy Sunday afternoon at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, he was driving the Lotus 97T and the win would be Lotus’s first since the untimely death of Colin Chapman in 1982.
Senna’s long list of wins began with the car you see pictured here, this is chassis #2 and it’s owned by Classic Team Lotus – a company run by Colin Chapman’s son Clive. The car now makes regular appearances at motorsport events around Britain and was recently displayed at The Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Renault World Series, driven by Martin Donnelly.
I’ve added the start of the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix below for those who haven’t seen it (or those who’d like to see it again). If you click through to YouTube you can actually watch the entire race – it’s divided into 13 parts.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
When the Land Rover was first created it was only expected to be a stop-gap vehicle that would be in production for three years or so until war ravaged austerity Britain was “back on her feet” and Rover could go back to making nice luxury cars for doctors and other such professional people.
Editor’s Note: Due to the personal privacy concerns of the family, we’ve withheld certain names, dates, and locations. A series of unfortunate events led to a sight we only very rarely see in the car world – a dozen Ferraris parked out in a field and forgotten, as though they were little more than a…
Just one example of the Ferrari 330 GTC Zagato convertible was ever built, and it owes its existence to a fender bender in 1972. If not for the accident, the car would likely have forever stayed a standard Ferrari 330 GTC, and one of Zagato’s more unusual creations from the era would never have seen…
The Toyota FJ25 Land Cruiser was part of the 20 series Land Cruisers that first appeared in 1955 as the second generation of the Japanese company’s Jeep-inspired 4×4. The BJ and FJ Land Cruisers would quickly win favour around the world competing with both Jeep and Land Rover, the first automobile that many remote tribes…
This is the Tot Rod, a bespoke kid’s car designed as a miniature evocation of the ’32 Ford – often referred to as the Deuce and generally regarded as the single most important car in the decades long history of hot rods. Any parent will tell you that almost all modern children’s toys are built…
Introduction to the Toyota 2000GT: An Industry Seeking Credibility The Toyota 2000GT was one of the most significant sports cars to come out of Japan during the 1960s – the decade that started the country out on the path to the global domination of the automobile market that it enjoys today. By the end of…
