AyrtonSenna - A Tribute

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A Y R T O N

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R E N D A L L BY

S T I R L I N G

MOS S


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PAVILION


First published in Great Britain in 1994 by PAVILION BOOKS LIMITED 26 Upper Ground, London SEI 9PD

Text © Ivan Rendall 1994 Designed by The Bridgewater Book Company/Chris Dymond Text research by Daniel Britten Picture research by Julia Pashley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission o f the copyright holders.

This book is typeset in Perpetua 11 / 14pt

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1 85793 517 9

Printed and bound by Butler and Tanner, Great Britain

2 4 6 8 10975 3 1

This book may be ordered by post direct from the publisher. Please contact the Marketing Department. But try your bookshop first.


C O N T E N T S

B L A C K

T H E

W E E K E N D

B O Y

F R O M

A P P R E N T I C E S H

M U S I C A L

W O

A

C H A M

P L A C E

I N

C A R E

E R

B R A Z I L

8

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30

I P .................................

44

C H A I R S

R L D

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.................................

62

P I O N ............................

86

H I S T O R Y

R E C O R D

............... 110

...................................... 134

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

174


F O

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first m et A yrton Senna on a cold w et day at the N urburgring in May, 1 9 8 4 . M ercedes

I

had invited m e to drive in a celebrity race w hich included nine w orld cham pions,

past, present and future.

W e drove m atched M ercedes 190s. B u t out th ere in the cold rain, th e youthful A yrton

ran away from us all and only N iki Lauda was able to m oun t any so rt o f a challenge. That day I think w e all realized w e’d seen som ething rath er special; and I certain ly left Nurburg convinced that I’d seen a future w orld cham pion ... and m aybe a little m o re than that. H istory confirm s that A yrton Senna did indeed b eco m e a little m ore than that! I w asn’t close to A yrton in the way that G erhard B erg er was close, bu t w e w ere friends and I liked him . W e would exchange Christm as cards and ou r paths would cross; and w hen they did w e’d talk the way friends do. V isitors to my hom e often ask m e ju s t how highly I rated him . I show th em m y hallway. Along th e wall hang tw o large signed pictures o f racing drivers. O n e is Juan M anuel Fangio. T he oth er is A yrton. ‘T h a t’s how high,’ I say. T he w ord ‘genius’ is used rath er carelessly these days; but a genius is undoubtably what he was. In the hands o f a m aster such as A yrton, the m iraculous and the m undane can look deceptively similar. B u t I ’ve seen him overtaking on the outside o f a bend in heavy rain, and m arvelled at a talen t that was threatening to take car co n tro l across new horizons. As a pure racing driver, he was virtually w ith out flaw. A m an w ho didn’t have o ff days, who excelled on every type o f circu it, in sunshine and in rain.


He had an all-consum ing passion for m o to r racing, and fo r w inning, that few m en w ill ever know. It dom inated his entire life and perhaps explains why the public w ere so slow to recognize his true w orth b oth as a driver and a m an. Many accepted the im age o f a m an constantly at w ar w ith his rivals; and p referred to choose m ore peaceful, m o re equable heroes. And it was tru e. A yrton could b e difficult and he did occasionally do foolish things. But then m en who care often do. H ow ever th ere w ere oth er qualities that few ever w ro te about. He was totally loyal to his friends and to his family. He was honest to an unusual degree. And he could be touchingly kind, particularly to the younger drivers. W hen Rubens B arrich ello regained consciousness after his crash at Im ola, he found Ayrton seated beside the bed. And recou n ts Rubens in som e wonder, ‘T h ere w ere tears in his eyes.’ Having know n A yrton , that d oesn’t surprise m e at all. To go ever faster, to constantly find new m ountains to clim b ... this was an essential part o f Ayrton ’s n ature. He knew he had been given a very special talen t and he w anted the chance to display it to the w orld. He had always hoped that in the W illiam s he would be able to take the a rt o f driving across new frontiers. It was then that fate dealt him the cru ellest o f hands. Imola may have denied him his dream . But nothing can change w hat has gone b efo re or wash away the m em ories. A yrton can sleep in peace. H e had already clim bed th e highest mountain.

Stirling Moss, July 1994


C H A P T E R

B L A C K

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W E E K E N D

he May Day holiday weekend o f 1994 should

brakes. The changes had been introduced to put more

have been a time o f high hopes and

emphasis on driver skill rather than technology,

expectations in motor racing. The arrival of

making racing more o f a contest between men rather

the Formula One teams at Imola for the San Marino

than cars. But the drivers had grown used to their

Grand Prix signalled the beginning o f the European

computer aids, and doubts about the safety o f the new

round o f the World Championship, and the drivers,

cars were widespread.

team bosses and fans would normally have been

Foremost among the doubters was Ayrton Senna.

looking ahead to a summer o f competition and

World Champion three tim es, in his eleventh season in

spectacle. The sights and sounds were familiar —the

Formula One, on pole position at Imola, he was

sea of advertising, the shriek o f engines —but the

acknowledged as the fastest, the most talented, and the

usually vibrant mood was missing. Nothing could lift

most determined driver o f the m odern, high-tech age.

the cloud which hung over Imola as the drivers

W ith over a decade o f Formula O ne racing behind

prepared for the start, each dealing in his own way with

him, he had the natural authority among the other

the closeness o f a rare visitor to modern racing —death.

drivers o f being ‘first among equals’ , and though he

Roland Ratzenberger, Formula O ne’s newest

supported the idea o f putting more emphasis on driver

recruit and driving in only his second race, had been

skills, he had made his views about the technical

killed in qualifying. His Simtek-Ford left the road at

changes plain before the season started: ‘It was a great

Villeneuve corner at around 190 mph, hitting a

error to remove the electronics... the cars are very fast

concrete wall nearly head on. W itnesses reported that

and difficult to drive. Its going to be a season with lots

part o f the front wing had come off just before the

o f accidents and I’ll risk saying w e’ll be lucky if

crash, causing a sudden loss o f downforce. Without

something really serious doesn’t happen.’

this, the cornering speed was far too high, making the

Senna visited the place where Ratzenberger had

crash inevitable. Ratzenberger died from massive head

died. It was against the regulations, but he ignored

injuries, the first death in Formula O ne for eight years,

them, he wanted to inspect the circumstances for

and the first on a race weekend for twelve years.

himself and talk to the track marshals. Having done so,

The normally tight safety regime at Grands Prix

he decided not to take part in the final round of

P acific G rand

qualifying, and his team, W illiams-Renault, with

Prix, A ida,

Ratzenberger’s death had followed a crash in the Friday

Benetton and Sauber-Mercedes, withdrew from

J a p a n , 1 7 April

practice session which left the Jordan-Hart driver,

the rest o f the session as a mark o f respect to

1 9 9 4 : Ayrton

Rubens Barrichello, badly injured. As the weekend

Ratzenberger. Senna, and several other top drivers

Senna q u alified

progressed there was increasing speculation that there

including his friend and form er team mate, Gerhard

was a problem caused by the new rules which

Berger, now with Ferrari, and Michael Schumacher, of

in his second race

governed the construction o f the cars. The computers

Benetton, discussed calling a drivers’ safety meeting

in th e W illiams

which controlled the active suspension and traction

before the next Grand Prix at Monaco, to

F W 1 6, on ly to

control systems had been banned, as had anti-lock

air their concerns.

crash on L ap 1 .

seemed suddenly rather ragged at the edges.

f o r p o le position



B L A C K

San Marino Grand Prix, Imola, 1 May 1994: Ayrton Senna in thoughtful mood in the pits just before the race.

lO

W E E K E N D


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