Unique Ayrton Senna F1 art car to be shown at Imola

The repainted former McLaren show car has been transformed as part of an art project called ‘Senna Now’.

One side of the car is made up of three different iconic liveries from Senna’s F1 career – the black-and-gold of Lotus, the Rothmans Williams and Marlboro McLaren.

The other side of the car has been given over to a design by French street artist Jisbar, who has taken inspiration from the life and career of the three-time champion.

The Senna art car is the brain child of Italian fashion designer Matteo Macchiavelli, who fondly followed the Brazilian’s F1 career when he was younger.

“I spent my childhood following the races and the “magic” of my hero,” he said. “I was inspired by his lifestyle and his teachings, that are still with me now that I’m older.

“Thanks to my family friend Angelo Orsi I have a lot of pictures taken with Ayrton, today they make part of my family book, of my personal history and are fixed in my memory.

“The charisma of Ayrton Senna, his personality, all the challenges he faced and his humanity have given so much inspiration to me and to a lot of people, that I started to imagine how to create something that could centralise and make emerge some of the aspects of the special message that he was able to transmit: challenge, creativity and humanity.”

Ayrton Senna Formula 1 Art car

The car has been donated by Italian collector Gianluca Tramonti, and will be displayed at the Ayrton Senna museum at the forthcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

It is also expected to appear at the Miami and Monaco F1 races, as well as be a showpiece at art events in Venice and Miami later in the year.

The plan is then to auction the car off, with some of the proceeds going towards the Ayrton Senna foundation.

As well as the car, Jisbar will also create a special Senna Now NFT collection that will be minted in three stages over the Imola, Miami and Monaco F1 weekends.