Honda to auction Senna V10 F1 engine parts

Honda Racing Corporation wants a profile boost, so it's launching a memorabilia business - see you at Monterey

By Matt Bird / Wednesday, 2 April 2025 / Loading comments

It’s only the beginning of April, and already we’re talking about Monterey Car Week. But the news today isn’t of some unobtainable hypercar or far-fetched restomod - instead, it’s the announcement from Honda Racing Corporation that it’s launching a memorabilia business. The first sale will be at Monterey Car Week in August.

And what a sale it’s going to be: not least because HRC is auctioning off the RA100E in disassembled parts. For those not fully clued up on Honda codes (we wouldn’t blame you), that’s a V10 engine from 1990, as found in the McLaren-Honda F1 cars of Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger. The glory days of the dream team, basically, now going under the hammer conrod by conrod and camshaft by camshaft. Don’t pretend for a second that you wouldn’t love a Honda V10 piston paperweight on the desk. We would.

HRC is going all in on this venture as well. The unit is the ‘Honda V10 engine used by Ayrton Senna to win the 1990 F1 Championship’, so provenance doesn’t really get any better. It has been disassembled at Honda Racing Corporation’s factory in Sakura City, and every single bit that’s going up for sale - so quite a few, when you think of how many internals a V10 has - gets its own display case and certificate of authenticity. The potential to be favourite relative at Christmas here is off the scale. If you’re willing to pay the price of a whole Honda for a part of one, presumably.

HRC won’t stop here, either. The engine parts are there to kick off the memorabilia side in high-profile fashion, but there are plans afoot for artefacts, collectables and merch from days gone by to be sold as well. Honda is sourcing IndyCars and ‘valuable race machines from motorcycles’ in addition. Think of all the great racing Hondas on two wheels and four from the past 70 years and it’s hard not to be quite excited. The aim is to ‘further enhance the racing brand value of Honda and HRC.’ Maybe the perception of the brand as one of the motorsport greats has wobbled a tad in recent years, and there’s nothing to boost profile like a big bucks auction. Especially with the Senna association.

"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." said HRC President Koji Watanabe. "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."

So expect much more memorabilia to arrive after Monterey. Wonder if they can get hold of a Super Touring Accord?