I was chatting with one of the SIC journalists, during the presentation of Huawei's new mobile phone — a smartphone developed in partnership with Porsche Design — when the theme Ayrton Senna came up.
Given the location and the people concerned, it was inevitable that this would be so...
Rui told me — while looking out of a huge window overlooking the straight from which Senna left for the first victory of his career — that he keeps with great esteem some personal and professional memories of Senna in that precise place. He told me that with the depth of someone who was "live and in color" with the best pilot of all time. And I listened to him intently, hoping to be transported back to that time by his words. Partly I went.
The contract with Williams and the Honda NSX
Between more and lesser known episodes, he told me one so interesting that I immediately said to him “Wow! I have to share this in Ledger Automobile!”. Go get the popcorn because the story is aimed at those who like (really) cars.
As everyone knows, Ayrton Senna had a home in Portugal. But it wasn't just a house that Ayrton Senna had around here. Ayrton also had a car… a Honda NSX provided by the brand. A very important model for Honda for several reasons.
First of all, it was this model that in the early 1990s showed the world that Honda was not only capable of making reliable — and boring … cars — showed that it was also capable of making dream machines. In addition, it was also the first model of the Japanese make to receive the Type R initials. But perhaps more important than all this, the NSX was a car played by a demigod: Ayrton Senna.
At the time, Senna helped Japanese engineers with the ultimate tuning of the NSX. Ayrton entered the scene at that moment when computer algorithms — even more so at that time — had to move away and give way to unparalleled human sensibility. The world is still ours, machines!
From this involvement, Rui told me, a special connection was born between Ayrton Senna and the Honda NSX. A link that allegedly even survived the switch from McLaren-Honda to Williams.
"I have a condition"
Apparently, among other conditions, Ayrton Senna forced Williams to add a clause at least sui generis to his contract. He only signed for Williams if he could continue to drive his Honda NSX, otherwise nothing was done. Understandably, brands don't like to see their drivers driving models from other brands.
Senna was a front man, on and off the track, and it's possible that this clause actually existed. He was a pilot who liked to get involved in the business processes, this video is proof of that:
Williams accepted Ayrton Senna's condition and the rest is the story we all know. I looked for more information on the internet about the existence of this clause but I didn't find anything. Fact is, Ayrton Senna actually drove a Honda NSX in 1994 when he was a driver for… Williams! There are records of that.
It may even be an urban myth, but the fact is that between Ayrton Senna and that NSX there really was a special connection…