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.
Editor’s Note: If the film isn’t loading for you, you can view it directly on YouTube here. —– This documentary, “Jewel In The Crown”, is a look back from 1992 to the very early days of what is almost certainly the most famous Grand Prix on the Formula 1 calendar. Despite its diminutive size,…
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…
This is one of the most famous examples of the Vauxhall Firenza in existence, if not the most famous outright. Nicknamed “Old Nail” this is the car that was driven by iconic British driver Gerry Marshall to the Forward Trust Special Saloon Car Championship win 1972 and 1973, the Simoniz Saloon Car Championship in 1974, and…
The Indian 8-Valve board track racer was one of the first factory built superbikes, it was released in 1911 with an advanced-for-the-era V-twin featuring four overhead valves per cylinder, powering a clutch-gear-chain drive system similar to that used on almost all modern motorcycles. The Indian 8-Valve Board Track Racer The 8-valve V-twin was developed by…
This is an original, complete Ferrari 250 tool roll suitable for “outside plug” cars like the GTE, Lusso, SWB, TDF, PF Coupe and GTO models. It’s vitally important for owners of these cars to have original tool rolls along with all of the other factory parts and accessories before entering the car in shows…
Ferrari Dino 246 GTS was the larger-engined, and targa-roofed version of the original Dino 206 GT. Many in the classic car community attach the Ferrari name to the Dino even though technically Dino was its own marque. The reason the Ferrari name is added is because the cars were built by Ferrari, and it helps to…
