Nigel Mansell-gifted Ferrari Testarossa for sale

Even the most diehard Lewis Hamilton fan is liable to get fed up with all the talk around the seven-time champ’s move to Scuderia Ferrari. We’ve seen him in red, we’ve seen him drive around Fiorano his challenger for the year, the SF-25, and now that pre-season testing is underway in Bahrain we’ve seen him sharing the same stretch of tarmac as the rest of the grid. Has the novelty worn off yet? Arguably. But if he rocks up to Melbourne and blows everyone away, you can bet the Hamilton-to-Ferrari story will continue unabated for the rest of the year – if not beyond. 

But can you really blame the circus? We’re talking about the sport’s most successful driver joining the most successful team, with him apparently more fired up than ever to bag that elusive eighth title. And while he’s not the first Brit to drive a Ferrari F1 car this side of the millennium – as the team’s reserve Ollie Bearman stepped in for a race early last year – Hamilton is the first British world champion to race for the Scuderia since Nigel Mansell in the late ’80s. And let’s not forget Ferrari was so fond of our Nige that he was given the nickname ‘Il Leone’ (Italian for ‘The Lion’) – and handed a Testarossa to use during his first season in red.

Talk about a sign-on bonus. This is the very Testarossa that was delivered to Mr Mansell in 1988 (presumably at the end of the season as he’d have still been driving for Williams) directly from the factory, with a small plaque in the interior to commemorate the occasion. And boy did Nige nail the spec. Rosso Corsa over cream leather and red carpets is probably the best combo there is on the redhead, and say what you will about fitted luggage, but the fact that it comes with six pieces engraved with the 1992 champ’s initials is just plain cool. 

Not that he’d have been able to put it anywhere, because the Testarossa had naff all luggage space. The sheer size of the 4.9-litre flat-12 (or 180-degree V12 in Ferrari speak) meant the radiators had to be crammed into the nose, leaving just a small compartment under the bonnet for your Mansell-branded baggage. No matter, because in return you get one of Ferrari’s great 12-cylinder engines, one that can trace its roots back to the 365 GT4 BB in 1973 and as far forward as the 512M in 1996, wrapped up in Pininfarina-design body that many consider the definitive supercar silhouette of the era.

It’s a shape that Ferrari fettled throughout the Testarossa’s lengthy production run, with Mansell’s old smoker featuring two wing mirrors as opposed to the single stalk positioned high on the original. And being an ’88 model means it could either be a pre-or-post catalytic converter, so you’ll need to give the seller a bell to see where this example falls – and if there were any other factory goodies dished out to the firm’s F1 drivers.

You’ll be happy to know that the steering wheel is on the correct side, too. Most F1 drivers run off to Monaco once they land one of the top seats, but Nige always preferred the Isle of Man and its derestricted mountain roads. Now it’s back on the mainland, seemingly in immaculate condition and available for £199,995, fitted luggage included. That’s about par for the course for a Testarossa, though you can save £10k and get this slightly later model with a tan interior. Tempting as it sounds, we’d pay the extra for all the special bits that came on Il Leone’s first Ferrari as a factory driver. Wonder what Hamilton will get?