This is the Ferrari Testarossa that was delivered new to Formula 1 driver Nigel Mansell in his second season racing at Ferrari in 1990.
The car now benefits from significant recent maintenance, including the replacement of those all-important cam belts, and it’s being offered for sale out of the United Kingdom with a price guide half that of a new Ferrari 296 GTB.
Fast Facts – The Ferrari Testarossa
- This 1990 Ferrari Testarossa was originally delivered to Formula 1 driver Nigel Mansell, features his name on the door jamb plaque and service book. Mansell received the car while living on the Isle of Man, and early servicing took place at his dealership, Nigel Mansell Sports Cars Limited.
- Nigel Mansell, an F1 World Champion and IndyCar titleholder, became renowned for his driving successes across multiple racing disciplines. He initially raced in karts, then Formula Ford and Formula 3, later joining Lotus, Williams, and Ferrari in F1, securing multiple podiums before winning the 1992 F1 Championship and the 1993 IndyCar Series.
- The Testarossa shown here has undergone significant maintenance, including new cam belts, a refurbished alternator, radiator, and starter motor, plus new brake and coolant hoses. It has a combined mileage of 10,602 miles, with its original speedometer replaced in 1997 at 8,333 miles.
- Offered by RM Sotheby’s with an estimate of $175,000 to $215,000, the Testarossa is finished in Rosso Corsa with a light interior and matching-numbers engine. The auction is scheduled for November 2nd in the UK.
Who Is Nigel Mansell?
Nigel Mansell is one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers of his time, and he remains the only person to ever hold the F1 Drivers’ Championship title and the American CART open-wheel National Championship title at the same time.
Above Video: This was Nigel Mansell’s appearance on the British BBC TV series Top Gear, and it shows him setting a lap in the famous “reasonably priced car.”
Mansell was born into a humble family that ran a local teashop in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, England. He would begin racing go karts as a young man and prove to be a natural, winning many of the races he entered, often against far more experienced drivers.
He next moved into Formula Ford, an entry-level open-wheel formula. In Formula Ford he would win six of the nine races he entered in his debut season in 1976, including his first ever race in the series.
The next year he would win 33 of the 42 races he entered, becoming the Formula Ford champion in no uncertain terms. He then moved across into Formula 3, an underpowered car hindered his progress but his talent was noticed by Colin Chapman, head of Lotus, and he was given a tryout in the Lotus F1 car alongside a number of other prospective drivers.
Mansell performed so well in his Lotus test that he was made the team’s test driver, with Mario Andretti and Elio de Angelis driving for the team. As a test driver he showed great promise, even setting the fastest lap around Silverstone and outperforming the team’s two drivers.
For the next season, 1981, he would get a full-time drive for the team but the Lotus cars of this period were slower than the competition, and the best result he could manage would be a third place.
He would move to Williams in 1985 to race alongside Keke Rosberg. The following years would see Mansell take two second place finishes in the F1 Drivers’ Championship in 1986, 1987, and 1991, before winning the Championship in 1992.
The Testarossa is powered by a a Ferrari flat-12 with a displacement of 4.9 liters. The engine is rated at 385 bhp at 6,300 rpm and 361 lb ft of torque at 4,500 rpm.
He would then win the PPG Indy Car World Series in 1993, followed by the Grand Prix Masters Championship in 2005.
The Ex-Mansell Ferrari Testarossa Shown Here
The car you see here was delivered new to Nigel Mansell in 1990, he was a Ferrari Formula 1 driver at the time, and the car bears Mansell’s name on a door jamb plaque and in its Ferrari service book.
Mansell was living on the Isle of Man at the time, so this is where the car was delivered, with its early servicing taking place at his own dealership, Nigel Mansell Sports Cars Limited of Dorset, England.
The car would later be sold to a new owner, and it would eventually end up in storage. After it was taken out of storage it was given a slew of maintenance work including new cam belts, removal and refurbishment of the alternator, radiator, and starter motor, replacement of brake and coolant hoses, and more.
The Testarossa is one of the most famous Ferraris of the age and its visually recognizable instantly due to its wide wedge shape, and those large side strakes.
The original speedometer was replaced in 1997 reading 8,333 miles, and the replacement speedometer is now showing 2,269 miles, for a combined total of 10,602 miles. It’s finished in its original Rosso Corsa (red) paintwork over a light interior, with its matching-numbers engine still in place.
If you’d like to read more about this Testarossa or register to bid you can visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s here. It’s being offered with a price guide of $175,000 – $215,000 USD and it will roll across the block on the 2nd of November.
Images: Neil Fraser ©2024 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, 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 well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
