10% off your first order — create a free account

Create free account
✓ 14-day returns ✓ Hand-checked before dispatch ✓ Secure checkout
My account

Lotus 97T Renault #12 A. Senna Team Lotus 1985 Minichamps 1:18

Lotus 97T Renault #12 A. Senna Team Lotus 1985 Minichamps 1:18 540851812 Diecast
1 / 7
Minichamps' 1:18 diecast Lotus 97T Renault reproduces Ayrton Senna's first season with Team Lotus in 1985, finished in the black and gold John Player Special livery. This was the year of Senna's maiden Formula 1 win, achieved in torrential rain at the Portuguese Grand Prix. A genuinely significant early-career subject for a Senna diecast collection at 1:18 scale.
Lotus 97T Renault #12 A. Senna Team Lotus 1985 Minichamps 1:18
Current price: £162.50

Price shown excluding UK VAT. Import VAT and the courier's customs clearance fee are collected on delivery.

Only 3 units left
Estimated delivery: 21-25.08.2026
Delivery from £11.00 Tracked & insured
10% off your first order — create a free account
Pay securely with
Specifications
Car Brand
Lotus
Model Manufacturer
Minichamps
Scale
1:18
Material
Diecast
Model Condition
Used Model
SKU
540851812
Genuine articles Sourced from manufacturers
5-layer carton Foam-filled interior
Hassle-free returns 14-day no-quibble returns
Secure payment Bank-level encryption

About the Lotus 97T Renault #12 A. Senna Team Lotus 1985 Minichamps 1:18

TL;DR: Minichamps' 1:18 diecast Lotus 97T Renault reproduces Ayrton Senna's first Team Lotus season in 1985, in black and gold John Player Special livery. This is the car from Senna's maiden Formula 1 victory, won in heavy rain at the Portuguese Grand Prix, a race still cited as one of his finest drives.

Senna's first Formula 1 win did not come in a dominant car or an easy race, but in torrential rain at Estoril, and the 97T carried him to it in only his first Lotus season.

Senna's Debut Season and His First Grand Prix Win

Senna joined Team Lotus for 1985 after a single season with Toleman, and the 97T gave him a genuinely competitive Renault turbo-powered chassis from the outset. His win at the Portuguese Grand Prix that year came in appalling wet conditions, with Senna lapping much of the field and demonstrating a level of car control in the rain that immediately marked him as something special. It remains one of the most frequently cited drives of his early career, a race where raw ability mattered more than machinery. The 97T therefore carries a significance well beyond its role as a competitive midfield car: it is the chassis behind Senna's arrival as a genuine Formula 1 winner.

Minichamps' Diecast Recreation of the 97T

Reproducing Team Lotus's black and gold John Player Special livery accurately requires careful, consistent gold detailing against a dark base, a combination that shows up any inconsistency more readily than a busier sponsor scheme would. Minichamps' diecast construction handles that well, and the 97T's slim, high-cockpit 1980s proportions give the model a distinctly different look from Senna's later, wider McLaren chassis. Set at the start of a chronological Senna collection, the 97T marks the true beginning of his championship-calibre reputation, well before the titles that followed. Few debut-season Formula 1 cars carry quite this much genuine historical weight.

Same marque, same scale

Collectors also bought

Browse all 1:18

10% off your first order

Create a free account and claim 10% off your first order — from hundreds of collectible 1:18, 1:43 and 1:12 models by Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and more.

Create free account Browse the collection
Collectible 1:18 scale Porsche model on a clean studio backdrop — Models118 first-order offer
£162.50
£162.50
0