This fine model of the McLaren MP4/4 is a 1:18 scale replica of the car that Ayrton Senna drove to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1988, clinching his first Drivers’ Championship title. Senna qualified on pole 0.3 seconds ahead of his title rival and teammate Prost and a whole 1.5 seconds ahead of the nearest Ferrari in third. Prost made a superb start to and took the lead whilst Senna stalled, who was lucky in the fact that Suzuka had the only sloping grid of the year, allowing him to bump start his car. Knowing he had nothing to lose and everything to gain in this race, and with the Championship in his sights, Senna started his fightback from 14th place. His charge saw him gain six positions by the end of the first lap and, by the fourth lap, he was already sitting in fourth position. Lap 14 saw the weather come into contention as rain began to fall, benefitting the Brazilian wet-weather specialist. By lap 24, Senna was hot on the tail of Prost, who was suffering with a malfunctioning gearbox. When the pair came around to lap some backmarkers, as Prost was caught up with Andrea de Cesaris, Senna went past to take the lead and proceeded to set three consecutive fastest laps, setting a new lap record in the process. Despite Senna’s remonstrations to stop the race in the increasingly horrible conditions, the race ran its full distance and Senna finished a whole 13 seconds ahead of Prost. Senna’s win was the first of his three world titles and set a record for total wins in a season, previously held by Jim Clark and Prost.
This model of the has been handcrafted and finished in our workshops with the co-operation and assistance of McLaren Racing regarding original finishes, materials, archive imagery and drawings. The use of supremely accurate digital scanning of the original car has allowed us to perfectly recreate every detail at scale. Furthermore, it has undergone detailed scrutiny by both engineering and design teams to ensure complete accuracy of representation.