Imola - 20 Years...

[ManWithNoName]

Corinthians, the soccer team Ayrton Senna was a fan off, did this as a tribute before their game today. Amazing.

 

[little graham]

Who was Ayrton Senna?

This is who he is.

 

[Jakko]

" I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more.

Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down. I drove slowly back to the pits and I didn’t want to go out any more that day. It frightened me because I was well beyond my conscious understanding. It happens rarely but I keep these experiences very much alive inside me because it is something that is important for self-preservation."

That passage from his biography has always stuck with me. I believe it was regarding Monaco qualifying in 1988, when Prost was his teammate in the McLaren Honda, 2 all time greats going at it.

My first memory of Senna was in 85 I think, a photo of him in the newspaper looking cool after qualifying in Adelaide. I was only 10 or so at the time, but he was my idol from that moment on. I would watch almost every race as a kid, always focussed on his car only.



A personal favourite memory was qualifying in 1992 Adelaide. I spent the whole session at the latter half of the start/finish straight, watching the drivers go deep under brakes into the chicane. I kept telling a mate to watch for Senna's last lap, and sure enough, right at the death of qualifying he start his lap. Without a word of exaggeration, he braked later into turn 1 than anyone that whole afternoon. Both of us waited for his lap finish, but after a few minutes word came through that he ran out of fuel at the back of the circuit (jones/brabham straight area from memory). My mate was a convert to how good he was after seeing that moment for himself.


Its not easy to watch your hero die on TV. I had been a massive fan of his for near a decade before his death.

 

[NSWCROW]

 

[darth_timon]

It’s surreal. My memories of that weekend are fuzzy, but it’s hard to believe he isn’t here, talking about the action we have now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Doc_]

I was 32 when he died. I watched every F1 race he competed in.
I remember that night vividly. You just knew straight away.

Sorry, but Senna was a lunatic and the dirtiest driver I ever saw.
He changed the sport forever and not in a good way.

 

[hey shorty]

I was 32 when he died. I watched every F1 race he competed in.
I remember that night vividly. You just knew straight away.

Sorry, but Senna was a lunatic and the dirtiest driver I ever saw.
He changed the sport forever and not in a good way.

He was also the best driver you ever saw.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

No one saw Prost?

 

[hey shorty]

No one saw Prost?

I admit i didn't at his best, but he was pretty good when I did.