It wasn’t just Sebastian Vettel who paid tribute to Ayrton Senna at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix over the weekend, as Ducati unveiled a special edition Monster to honor the F1 legend.
The Monster Senna is painted in yellow, green and blue to reflect the colors of the Brazilian flag and to evoke memories of Ayrton’s iconic helmet design. The livery was designed by the Centro Stile Ducati, but we’re told this isn’t just a cosmetic special edition. At 175kg, it’s 4kg lighter than the standard Monster thanks to an adjustable Öhlins steering damper, forged aluminum wheels, carbon fiber mud guards, a carbon engine guard, and billet aluminum footpegs.
Just 341 examples will be built—that’s three for the number of F1 titles that Senna won and 41 for his number of race wins—with each one costing £23,500 (P1.3 million). Not cheap, but you will get a numbered plaque on the handlebar plate, a certificate of authenticity and a dedicated motorcycle cover.
There’s a link between Senna and Ducati of course. The Brazilian was one of the very first owners of the Monster 900, and before that in 1990 he was gifted an 851 SP by Claudio Castiglioni, then owner of Ducati.
In 1994 Ayrton signed off on the special edition Ducati 916 Senna with a gray, matte black and red livery. That was to be limited to just 300 units, but Senna lost his life at Imola just a few months before the start of production. “The subsequent discussion between Ducati and Senna’s family convinced the parties to go ahead with the project in Ayrton’s memory,” reads the 109hp Monster Senna press release. Two more special editions arrived in 1997 and 1998 with liveries chosen by Ayrton’s brother, Leonardo Senna.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
