---
title: "This Ayrton Senna Helmet Could Fetch Over $100,000 at Auction"
description: "Could this become the most expensive helmet ever sold?"
date: "2018-07-03"
modified: "2018-07-03"
authors:
  - name: "Eric Brandt"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/eric-brandt"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/21938/this-ayrton-senna-helmet-could-fetch-over-100000-at-auction"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "F1"
  - "For Sale"
  - "News"
  - "Racing"
tags:
  - "Auction"
  - "Ayrton Senna"
  - "helmet"
  - "Senna"
---

# This Ayrton Senna Helmet Could Fetch Over $100,000 at Auction

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/07/senna-helmet-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

It’s common for cars and motorcycles owned by famous racers or [celebrities](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/18462/for-sale-1969-dodge-charger-bullitt-replica-once-owned-by-bruce-willis>) to go for big bucks at auction, but it’s not so common for a piece of gear to have a six-digit cash value because of its previous owner. But that’s what we could be looking at with an original [Ayrton Senna](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/10033/watch-senna-heel-toe-like-a-legend>) helmet worn by the racing legend in F1 testing at the Paul Ricard Circuit on March 2, 1994. Senna wore this helmet just two months before a tragic crash took his life at the age of 34.

![message-editor%2F1530659808600-sennahelmet.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1530659808600-sennahelmet.jpg>)
*Ayrton Senna in 1994, *Bonhams**

This is a Bell Vortex type SS Penske 93/94 helmet. It comes complete with intercom and headphones, a Bell helmet bag, and a signed letter from Pierre Van Ginneken certifying the helmet’s authenticity as the only one of its kind. Van Ginneken painted this helmet in Senna’s traditional [Brazilian](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/4815/ayrton-sennas-message-to-brazils-2016-olympic-athletes>) flag livery with a few sponsors logos on it including Nacional and Bell Helmets.

At the RM Sotheby’s Monaco auction earlier this year, [Senna’s yellow Lotus-Honda racing suit](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/19277/racing-champ-ayrton-sennas-former-racing-suit-headed-to-auction>) sold for 38,400 euros ($44,767) and his 1993 Monaco Grand Prix-winning [McLaren MP4/8A](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/20812/ayrton-sennas-final-monaco-winning-mclaren-sold-for-5-million>) racecar sold for a staggering $5 million. Anything with any attachment to Ayrton Senna has pretty high potential at the auction block.

![message-editor%2F1530659985402-sennahelmet2.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1530659985402-sennahelmet2.png>)
*Bonhams*

![message-editor%2F1530659997709-sennahelmet3.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1530659997709-sennahelmet3.png>)
*Bonhams*

![message-editor%2F1530660007578-sennahelmet4.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1530660007578-sennahelmet4.png>)
*Bonhams*

![message-editor%2F1530660016799-sennahelmet5.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1530660016799-sennahelmet5.png>)
*Bonhams*

This helmet will be sold at the [Bonham’s Goodwood Festival of Speed sale](<https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24876/lot/168/>) on Friday, July 13. The estimated hammer price is from $79,000 to $110,000 which is an awful lot for a helmet, but that sounds about right considering its previous owner.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/brandt004>)