Senna's rally cars from his 'best day in Britain' confirmed for 2024 Silverstone Festival

F1

In 1986 Ayrton Senna snuck away from the world of Formula 1 to try his hand at rallying. The Ford RS Cosworth and Metro 6R4 that the Brazilian slid around the Welsh hillsides will reunite at this summer's Silverstone Festival

Senna 1986 rally cars

Senna and his rally cars in 1986

Silverstone

On a windswept Welsh hill, the burble of an unsilenced exhaust carries on the air. The unmistakeable outline of of a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth pops up on the crest of a gravel road. It slides deftly through a left-right kink then blasts away. At the wheel: Ayrton Senna.

The 1986 test that gave the-then 26-year-old Lotus F1 driver his first taste of rallying, is legendary. Organised by the late journalist Russell Bulgin, and kept top secret to avoid tipping Lotus off to what was a flagrant breach of Senna’s contract, there were just a handful of witnesses alongside five rally cars in the Cambrian mountains, home to some of the finest gravel stages on the planet.

Senna would later describe the opportunity as his “best day in Britain”, after his rallying exploits were detailed by Bulgin in Cars and Car Conversions magazine and that’s why two of the cars from that very test, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and an MG Metro 6R4 will sit alongside a showcase of more than 20 of his race cars at this month’s Silverstone Festival, in what looks set to be the biggest gathering of Senna machines ever seen.

Ayrton Senna rallying in Wales 1986

Ayrton pictured ahead of his rallying debut

Silverstone

The Sierra was the first car that Senna drove, having had no experience of rallying whatsoever — or even an idea of the basics, as former Ford works driver and owner of the car Phil Collins quickly found out.

“I told him not to use circuit racing lines and to tuck the nose in narrow, but he went wide as if he was approaching a bend at Silverstone, got on the loose gravel and we slid off into the ditch,” recalled Collins. “He was very humble and apologetic, and the perfect pupil thereafter. In fact, from being a complete novice, it was poetry in motion within a few runs. The speed he learned was the really impressive bit – with his car control, he was a natural.”

From the archive

Over the course of the day, Senna moved on to a Vauxhall Nova Sport (later campaigned by Colin McRae), a Volkswagen Junior Rally Team Golf GTi, a home-built V8-powered four-wheel-drive Escort and the Group B Metro 6R4.

As detailed by Steve Bennett in Motor Sport, the experience ranked among the Brazilian’s greatest motor sport experiences. “To give you an idea of what Senna felt about the whole experience, the driving and the day itself, this quote will suffice: ‘Those people there, with the cars, they were curious to see what was going to happen. As much as I was. I felt that everybody was curious to see where I was going to go off the road and, you know, what was going to happen. That was the fun. Because it was so unknown. Everything was so new there was a big question mark. That feeling was the excitement.

“Apart from the races that I did, testing or anything, this was probably the best day I ever had in Britain. Believe me or not. Outside the races that I did, for fun this was the best day.’”

Prior to their trip to Silverstone in August, the Sierra and 6R4 – in their original liveries – were reunited earlier this month on the very same hilltop where Senna, dressed in his JPS race suit, had driven them.

The moment brought back fond memories for many, including former MG press officer Kevin Jones who accompanied the car to Wales in 1986 and once again in 2024.

“He was like a magician, juggling the wheel with precise turning angles and minimal corrections.” recalled Jones, who was lucky enough to ride alongside Senna on a handful of runs. “We were mostly sideways, even with a precipice of the hillside on one-side and an out-of-sight big drop down to the river on the other.

Silverstone Rallying Cars

Legends reunited: Senna’s rally cars reconvene on the Welsh hillside

Silverstone

“He was obviously a driving genius and it was a truly thrilling ride – I’d love to think that what he learned that day helped him in those rainy conditions at Donington Park when he drove that great opening lap on the way to one of his most memorable F1 wins.”

2024 Silverstone Festival tickets remain available. Click for details.

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