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Ayrton Senna - 1983/84 toleman TG183B - hart turbo chassis 05

Cars International is proud to represent the unique opportunity to purchase Ayrton Senna's first F1 World Championship points-scoring car.

In this 20th anniversary year of Ayrton Senna's death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the three times World Champion is still hailed as one of the greatest Formula 1 Drivers of all time. Cars International are now offering collectors the opportunity to buy into a significant piece of Motor-racing History by owning the very car which launched Ayrton Senna's F1 career, to sit in the seat that Ayrton sat in for his first ever F1 race, and in which he collected his first World Championship points.

The TG183B was designed by Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds for privateer F1 team Toleman. At the time (1983) the team were struggling for results against the manufacture led teams. That was until team MD Alex Hawkridge signed rising star and the then-current F3 Champion 24yr old Ayrton Senna. Senna made his F1 debut with Toleman in this very car, launching both himself and the team into the spotlight within the first two races and marking the start of his F1 career and an icon.

"We couldn't hire a superstar [too expensive] or even a current experienced driver on a minimum retainer - our cars wouldn't get a fair showing in the hands of an average Formula 1 driver,' said Hawkridge in 1990. ‘We had to go for young talent. We had to have someone good enough to progress the car, and we knew that Ayrton was capable of doing that.'*

Chassis no.5 made its debut at The Grand Premio do Brazil in Rio De Janeiro, then subsequently Senna & Toleman went on to race the car at the first 4 rounds of the 1984 F1 season including Kyalami where Senna finished a credible 6th scoring his first world championship point. This was followed by Zolder where Senna finished 7th, Senna's final race in TG183B 05 was at the San Marino GP Imola.

The car was then retired and retained by the team until it was sold to the USA and restored in the early 90's by Mike Earl's North American bases team in Los Angeles.

Now repatriated back to the UK, the very same car which launched the F1 career of one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time is now available for sale. With an original Hart Turbo engine, complete with a spare block from Toleman team and full documentation showing unbroken history since it left Toleman establishing the cars provenance and it's unique place in F1 history.

Interested parties should contact Cars International on: +44 (0) 1488 71029

Notes to editors:

Racing History of TG183B 05 - Chassis no.5 made its debut at the hands of Ayrton Senna in his very first F1 race - The Grand Premio do Brazil in Rio De Janeiro 25 March 1984, qualifying 17th overall then became the first retirement, suffering Turbo failure less than 10 laps in. Subsequently Senna & Toleman went on to race the car at the first 4 rounds of the 1984 F1 season including Kyalami where he qualified 13th finishing a credible 6th in doing so scored his first world championship point. This was followed by the Belgium GP at Zolder, where Senna qualified 19th finished 7th, later being promoted to 6th due to a disqualification. Senna's final race in TG183B 05 was at the San Marino GP Imola, which was the only Grand Prix which Senna didn't qualify. Toleman didn't run both cars for Friday qualifying, Senna suffered a fuel pressure problem on the Saturday and didn't make the grid.

Ayrton Senna's Debut into F1 - Senna moved to England to begin single-seater racing, taking the Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 championships in quick succession. And that led to his famous F3 Championship title battle with Martin Brundle in 1983 which came down to the wire but Senna took the title under Dick Bennett's West Surrey Racing team.

Senna was soon testing F1 cars with a view to racing in 1984. He tested for both McLaren and Williams. Toleman's commercial director Chris Witty recalled in 1990: ‘Ayrton tested the TG183, the car Warwick had been driving. He was instantly on the pace and ended up about a second quicker than Warwick had done in the Grand Prix. Rory Byrne the designer said "This is the guy." He had the ability to know what a car was doing, know what he wanted a car to do and converse with an engineer. Rory said: "We've just got to have him."*

Ayrton Senna went on to win championship points in only his 2nd F1 race and finish 9th overall in the 1984 Championship with Toleman.

Cars International is a Worldwide supplier of road and racing cars and are experts in the restoration and running of historically important F1 cars both in the USA and Europe. They are able to offer a complete service to run and maintain both cars for their new owners from their full service F1 workshops in Hungerford, Berkshire.

For further information about Cars International visit: www.carsinternational.com

Media contact: For additional content or photos please contact Sarah Bennett-Baggs on 07785 240121.

*Source: Keith Adams, Classic and Performance car