2006 MV Agusta F4 1000 Senna

Frame No. ZCGF511BB6V004857
Limitation No. 119/300

Ayrton Senna counted Cagiva Group boss Claudio Castiglioni among his close friends. Castiglioni, whose group then owned Ducati, put the Brazilian aboard an 851 SP in 1990. Senna took to the marque, later adding a Monster to his garage. Shown the new 916 early in 1994, he chose its anthracite, black, and red livery himself, and the tribute edition was announced that March, weeks before Imola.

Castiglioni's tribute to his late friend continued years later on the MV Agusta F4 platform. The F4 was Massimo Tamburini's masterpiece from the Cagiva Research Center, its four organ-pipe under-seat exhausts and single-sided swingarm as instantly recognizable as anything he had drawn for the 916. The F4 750 Senna arrived in 2002, and the F4 1000 Senna followed four years later, each limited to 300 numbered examples and each benefiting the Instituto Ayrton Senna, the children's charity founded by Senna's family. The later bike took the F4 1000 R as its foundation, its 998-cubic-centimeter radial-valve four rated at 174 horsepower with Weber-Marelli injection, with Brembo Goldline radial calipers, forged Marchesini wheels, titanium nitride-coated Marzocchi forks, and a Sachs rear damper. Charcoal bodywork over a red frame and a red Alcantara seat evoked the livery Senna had chosen for the Ducati 916 tribute, while a numbered limitation plaque completed the limited-edition tribute.

The motorcycle offered here is accompanied by its MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. Certificate of Authenticity, issued at Varese and signed by company president Claudio Castiglioni. Although type approval dates to February 2006, the certificate wasn't signed until 21 May 2008, and the Senna was first registered in Belgium nine days later. It remained on that single Belgian registration until the plate was formally surrendered in January 2012.

Its owner bought the Senna new through his local dealership and rode it once, a single short outing of exactly 42 kilometers taken shortly after delivery, the figure the instrument panel still displayed at the time of cataloging. He then placed the motorcycle in his private collection, where it has sat untouched ever since. The motorcycle remains precisely as it left Varese, on its original tires and factory finish, and retaining even its original battery, which the owner deliberately declined to replace so that the next custodian would receive it as complete and unaltered as possible. Recommissioning, including a fresh battery, fluids, and a service, will be required before the F4 Senna returns to the road. Accompanying the MV Agusta Senna is an artwork by the Belgian artist Mermic, Michel Mertens, depicting one of the best-known images of the Brazilian, his skyward gaze in prayer after victory.

With single-owner provenance and delivery mileage, this is among the finest-preserved of the 300 built, a reference example for any serious collection of modern Italian motorcycles and a numbered Senna tribute in untouched, like-new condition.