Birth of a legend (the Legend Edition) – Ayrton Senna 1985 Portuguese GP print signed by all the 1985 Lotus Estoril team members

This atmospheric colour print entitled ‘Birth of a legend’ was produced in 2005 in collaboration with Classic Team Lotus as a 20th anniversary celebration of Ayrton Senna’s first F1 victory at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. The print itself depicts Senna out of the cockpit of his Lotus Renault 97T/2 with elation as, safety harness flapping in the breeze, he salutes the crowd with his euphoric pit crew cheering in the background. Senna in appallingly wet conditions finished more than one lap ahead of his arch rival Nigel Mansell and over one minute ahead of second place Michele Alboreto in his Ferrari. To make this a very special and highly desirable print, all of the 1985 Lotus team who were at Estoril on that momentous occasion have signed the print, twenty team signatures in total. Only 100 of these wonderful ‘legend’ edition signed prints were made available and all have long since sold out. Along with the 100 ‘legend’ editions, 25 special presentation proofs were also signed and this is one of those rare editions. The signatories are as follows : Hazel Chapman – Owner, Fred Bushell – Chairman, Peter Warr – Team Manager, Gerard Decarouge – Technical Director, Steve Hallam – Senna Race Engineer, Tim Densham – de Angelis Race Engineer, Bob Dance – Chief Mechanic, Chris Dinnage – Chassis 1 – Spare, Tony Fletcher – Chassis 1 – Spare, Sam Boyle – Chassis 1 – Spare, Paul Simpson – Chassis 2 Senna Race, Steve Tate – Chassis 2 Senna Race, Jonathan Woodward – Chassis 2 Senna Race, Nigel Stepney – Chassis 3 de Angelis Race, Paul Diggins – Chassis 3 de Angelis Race, Colin Watts – Chassis 3 de Angelis Race, Clive Hicks – Tyres, Kenny Szymanski – Tyres, Ian Martin – Transport and Noel Stanbury – Sponsorship. The print has been signed and individually numbered by the artist and is supplied with a certificate of authenticity from the print distributors. Dimensions measure 60cm x 48cm.
Reference: PRI-BRTHLGDLOT20-02