Remembering Ayrton Senna

swifttiger75 said:

That’s exactly what you want, because those "real" shots say it all. Huge props to Templar!!!

People can argue all they want on this forum, but the reality remains—drivers from several different generations have consistently named Ayrton Senna as the greatest to ever do it.

The truth is, there hasn't been—and likely won't be—another driver who defined an entire era of Formula 1 quite like him; he possessed a unique ability to command the attention of the entire sport through both his skill and his persona.

To be honest, I was only four years old on May 1st, 1994—probably just playing in a sandbox while the adults were busy at a backyard BBQ—but the fact remains that every May 1st for the last decade, I’ve felt a profound sense of sadness, mourning that devastating day when the greatest left us.

With all due respect to Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Gilles Villeneuve, and the rest—when you define a true character, you don't look at trophies, salaries, wealth, or records; you look at the depth of their impact on those around them and how long they remain in people's hearts. He is remembered by those who watched him live, those who were just being born, and he will be remembered by those yet to come.

Rest in peace, legend.

Walter Anderson43 said:People can argue all they want on this forum, but the reality remains—drivers from several different generations have consistently named Ayrton Senna as the greatest to ever do it.

The truth is, there hasn't been—and likely won't be—another driver who defined an entire era of Formula 1 quite like him; he possessed a unique ability to command the attention of the entire sport through both his skill and his persona.

To be honest, I was only four years old on May 1st, 1994—probably just playing in a sandbox while the adults were busy at a backyard BBQ—but the fact remains that every May 1st for the last decade, I’ve felt a profound sense of sadness, mourning that devastating day when the greatest left us.

With all due respect to Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Gilles Villeneuve, and the rest—when you define a true character, you don't look at trophies, salaries, wealth, or records; you look at the depth of their impact on those around them and how long they remain in people's hearts. He is remembered by those who watched him live, those who were just being born, and he will be remembered by those yet to come.

Rest in peace, legend.

I’ve always agreed that Senna was a freak of nature behind the wheel, and I’ll tell you why he became that way. It’s the same story as Michael Jordan. Senna had every possible advantage to become the best. He practically lived in his cars; sometimes he even slept in them. Having your own go-kart by age four and all that—this is a sport for the wealthy, so you need money to play. When you combine those advantages with insane dedication and grit, you get Senna. He lived for it. From dawn till dusk. And he died for it. It’s common knowledge that the more you grind, the better you get. There might be drivers out there technically "better" than him, but they didn't have the resources, so they couldn't show what they were capable of. If you're sitting in race cars from the time you're a toddler, you're going to become a real driver. That’s why I brought up Jordan—he was out there shooting hoops from sunrise to sunset. He trained day and night and never left the court, so of course he became a legend. While other kids were hanging out with their buddies, icons like Tiger Woods were out there grinding in the elements... obviously, when you give everything to a sport and that training turns into a manic, obsessive fixation where nothing else matters, you have to succeed. Personally, I have more respect for pure natural talents who hit the top with almost zero effort... But in Senna's case, it was the perfect mix of work ethic and raw talent. He could have been the most successful driver statistically of all time, but death cut him short, leaving him with three titles (and one of those was basically stolen from him). Regardless, we can call him the greatest to ever do it in NASCAR. The man earned it.

swifttiger75 said:

ha,ha,ha,ha—just imagine that first duel. Short sleeves, a pack of "Camel" cigarettes tucked in his top pocket like Juan Manuel Fangio—a 270 HP V-8 screaming at 8500 rpm, and that Ferrari hitting well over 180 mph. If he isn't white-knuckling that massive wooden steering wheel, he’s basically flying out of the car because there are no seatbelts, no decent helmets, just some "ski goggles." Since they’re rocking short sleeves, you know it’s gotta sting when gravel hits your bare arms at 180 mph—not to mention getting hit by a hornet or something if things go south... hahahaha... talk about reckless driving.👍


The way those wheels lean when he dives into a turn with a two-and-a-half car lead—he won't be there yet, but once he clears the corner, Manuel usually just lights up a Zippo...☕

Rest in peace. 😢

I was actually watching a documentary on this recently, and I came to the exact same conclusion.
My take is that the impact itself probably wouldn't have been fatal if the sponsor's logo on his helmet hadn't caused the shell to puncture.
Aside from that specific issue, he seemed to have escaped without any other major injuries, based on the documentary I watched.

People this reckless still exist today.



Dancing right on the edge of death.

mellowtiger83 said:Juan Manuel Fangio was the greatest driver of all time, period. Perhaps I could consider Jim Clark, but no one else. Fangio stands above because he won in a wide variety of machines.

Ayrton Senna was the greatest pilot in history!

There is driving a car, and then there is piloting an automobile. They are not the same thing.

The only historical instances where Senna can even be mentioned in the same breath as a true driver are that wild stint in the NSX with Suzuki and that magnificent victory at the Nürburgring in the Mercedes-Benz 190.

People need to learn how to distinguish drivers from pilots. Those guys racing NASCAR today are drivers; those people behind V8 supercars are drivers. The principle is similar, but it is nowhere near the same.

Pilots react on the edge of instinct—they react digitally. Drivers operate analogously, and you simply cannot grasp the difference.

Just because someone is a Formula 1 champion does not mean they will be the best driver; history has shown us that many times over.

Senna proved he was the superior driver among the Formula 1 pilots of his era.

The only time pilots can truly showcase their driving skill—the only time they are forced to react analogically—is when it rains. A downpour, wet tracks, that sort of thing.
That is when true driving ability surfaces, and lo and behold, Senna was actually a driver. Only then can we draw some loose parallels with Fangio and Jim Clark.

I am not sure if your limited minds can even process this.

To understand this, you would have to be born a natural leftist. Right-handers, for some reason, are less capable of abstract thought. Everything for them boils down to numbers and math; they rank everything by points and reduce everything to a mathematical level.
Their entire existence revolves around material wealth, believing that being rich is the ultimate goal, failing to grasp the actual depth of life.

That is why specific forums exist, where you can ask someone who thinks differently than the masses.

Any decent leftist could prove to you that 1>5.

For instance, Tbf and crimsonhawk23 likely need a mountain of aids during a race just to figure out what is happening around them: PC, Tablet, mobile phone, a hundred different types of live timing, and so on.
Right-handers can track massive amounts of information. We leftists cannot. We just watch, tune everything out, and see only the racing and the braking zones. We know everything without any assistance.

Tell Ćeraj and his clones to take their posts and shove them into some "Religion" PDF.

Walter Anderson43 said:People can argue all they want on this forum, but the reality remains—drivers from several different generations have consistently named Ayrton Senna as the greatest to ever do it.

The truth is, there hasn't been—and likely won't be—another driver who defined an entire era of Formula 1 quite like him; he possessed a unique ability to command the attention of the entire sport through both his skill and his persona.

To be honest, I was only four years old on May 1st, 1994—probably just playing in a sandbox while the adults were busy at a backyard BBQ—but the fact remains that every May 1st for the last decade, I’ve felt a profound sense of sadness, mourning that devastating day when the greatest left us.

With all due respect to Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Gilles Villeneuve, and the rest—when you define a true character, you don't look at trophies, salaries, wealth, or records; you look at the depth of their impact on those around them and how long they remain in people's hearts. He is remembered by those who watched him live, those who were just being born, and he will be remembered by those yet to come.

Rest in peace, legend.

There you go. Even today's NASCAR drivers who voted him the GOAT were also just messing around in a sandbox back on May 1st, 1994. So much for "facts."

ruggedhawk20 said:There you go. Even today's NASCAR drivers who voted him the GOAT were also just messing around in a sandbox back on May 1st, 1994. So much for "facts."

Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso, Mark Weber, David Coulthard, Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton... the list goes on...

all my peers—just an inexperienced bunch from the sandbox.

Dana Perez6 said:I’ve always agreed that Senna was a freak of nature behind the wheel, and I’ll tell you why he became that way. It’s the same story as Michael Jordan. Senna had every possible advantage to become the best. He practically lived in his cars; sometimes he even slept in them. Having your own go-kart by age four and all that—this is a sport for the wealthy, so you need money to play. When you combine those advantages with insane dedication and grit, you get Senna. He lived for it. From dawn till dusk. And he died for it. It’s common knowledge that the more you grind, the better you get. There might be drivers out there technically "better" than him, but they didn't have the resources, so they couldn't show what they were capable of. If you're sitting in race cars from the time you're a toddler, you're going to become a real driver. That’s why I brought up Jordan—he was out there shooting hoops from sunrise to sunset. He trained day and night and never left the court, so of course he became a legend. While other kids were hanging out with their buddies, icons like Tiger Woods were out there grinding in the elements... obviously, when you give everything to a sport and that training turns into a manic, obsessive fixation where nothing else matters, you have to succeed. Personally, I have more respect for pure natural talents who hit the top with almost zero effort... But in Senna's case, it was the perfect mix of work ethic and raw talent. He could have been the most successful driver statistically of all time, but death cut him short, leaving him with three titles (and one of those was basically stolen from him). Regardless, we can call him the greatest to ever do it in NASCAR. The man earned it.

One stolen? Even he admits there's an empty spot in his trophy case. In his head, every conspiracy theory is totally plausible 😁

If you ask me, my math shows he actually has one extra rather than one missing—honestly, who knows what kind of substances Jean-Marie Balestre was on back in '90 when he didn't disqualify him at Suzuka? It’s a complete joke...

And please, for the love of God, don't go calling him the "greatest," because then you're just insulting all the other drivers who were right there in the mix—especially the ones who were actually better than him. 👍

cosmiccyclist8 said:One stolen? Even he admits there's an empty spot in his trophy case. In his head, every conspiracy theory is totally plausible 😁

If you ask me, my math shows he actually has one extra rather than one missing—honestly, who knows what kind of substances Jean-Marie Balestre was on back in '90 when he didn't disqualify him at Suzuka? It’s a complete joke...

And please, for the love of God, don't go calling him the "greatest," because then you're just insulting all the other drivers who were right there in the mix—especially the ones who were actually better than him. 👍

What kind of drugs was Balestre on in 1989 when Alain Prost's intentions were clearly visible on the onboard camera, when he even checked his rearview mirror before veering toward Ayrton Senna?

mellowtiger83 said:What kind of drugs was Balestre on in 1989 when Alain Prost's intentions were clearly visible on the onboard camera, when he even checked his rearview mirror before veering toward Ayrton Senna?

When he glanced in that mirror while hitting the chicane, Ayrton Senna was still at least 50 meters behind him...

mellowtiger83 said:What kind of drugs was Balestre on in 1989 when Alain Prost's intentions were clearly visible on the onboard camera, when he even checked his rearview mirror before veering toward Ayrton Senna?

Spot on. It was an open secret that Balestre and Prost were tight, and Balestre was always playing favorites to protect him. Prost intentionally cut off Senna because he thought the deal was done and the championship was his. He just didn't count on Senna actually getting that car restarted, limping to the pits to swap out the front wing, and fighting his way all the way back to first place. He pulled off another miracle, but what happened after that legendary win—how Balestre, Prost, and the rest of them ganged up to strip him of the title—hit him hard. Honestly, watching those clips where Senna is visibly struggling to hold back tears is just depressing.☕

Great posts, Dana Perez6.
These deep dives—unlike some of the other stuff floating around—are actually pretty interesting and a genuine pleasure to read.

Back in '90 during the race in Japan, Jean-Marie Balestre moved the pole position starting spot to the dirty part of the track—while moving the second position, where Alain Prost started, right onto the racing line—essentially handing Prost much better starting conditions.

Then there was that incident a year earlier when Prost intentionally slammed into Ayrton Senna to prevent him from overtaking in the chicane—it really shouldn't be debated, as plenty of expert analyses and comparisons show just how early Prost began turning right; his intention clearly wasn't to make the corner, but to collide with Ayrton Senna and end the championship fight right then and there.

Even now in the States, television broadcasts in Brazil won't mention Balestre by name—they just refer to him as "that guy whose name shall not be mentioned."

Quote : mellowtiger83

swifttiger75 said:

Maybe one of the greatest GIFs ever made—I guess. 🙏

Quote : mellowtiger83

mellowtiger83 said:Juan Manuel Fangio was the greatest driver of all time, period. Perhaps I could consider Jim Clark, but no one else. Fangio stands above because he won in a wide variety of machines.

Ayrton Senna was the greatest pilot in history!

There is driving a car, and then there is piloting an automobile. They are not the same thing.

The only historical instances where Senna can even be mentioned in the same breath as a true driver are that wild stint in the NSX with Suzuki and that magnificent victory at the Nürburgring in the Mercedes-Benz 190.

People need to learn how to distinguish drivers from pilots. Those guys racing NASCAR today are drivers; those people behind V8 supercars are drivers. The principle is similar, but it is nowhere near the same.

Pilots react on the edge of instinct—they react digitally. Drivers operate analogously, and you simply cannot grasp the difference.

Just because someone is a Formula 1 champion does not mean they will be the best driver; history has shown us that many times over.

Senna proved he was the superior driver among the Formula 1 pilots of his era.

The only time pilots can truly showcase their driving skill—the only time they are forced to react analogically—is when it rains. A downpour, wet tracks, that sort of thing.
That is when true driving ability surfaces, and lo and behold, Senna was actually a driver. Only then can we draw some loose parallels with Fangio and Jim Clark.

I am not sure if your limited minds can even process this.

To understand this, you would have to be born a natural leftist. Right-handers, for some reason, are less capable of abstract thought. Everything for them boils down to numbers and math; they rank everything by points and reduce everything to a mathematical level.
Their entire existence revolves around material wealth, believing that being rich is the ultimate goal, failing to grasp the actual depth of life.

That is why specific forums exist, where you can ask someone who thinks differently than the masses.

Any decent leftist could prove to you that 1>5.

For instance, Tbf and crimsonhawk23 likely need a mountain of aids during a race just to figure out what is happening around them: PC, Tablet, mobile phone, a hundred different types of live timing, and so on.
Right-handers can track massive amounts of information. We leftists cannot. We just watch, tune everything out, and see only the racing and the braking zones. We know everything without any assistance.

And all this comes from someone who—if I recall correctly—can't even tell his left from his right. 🐔

😳

Walter Anderson43 said:Back in '90 during the race in Japan, Jean-Marie Balestre moved the pole position starting spot to the dirty part of the track—while moving the second position, where Alain Prost started, right onto the racing line—essentially handing Prost much better starting conditions.

Then there was that incident a year earlier when Prost intentionally slammed into Ayrton Senna to prevent him from overtaking in the chicane—it really shouldn't be debated, as plenty of expert analyses and comparisons show just how early Prost began turning right; his intention clearly wasn't to make the corner, but to collide with Ayrton Senna and end the championship fight right then and there.

Even now in the States, television broadcasts in Brazil won't mention Balestre by name—they just refer to him as "that guy whose name shall not be mentioned."

There was no moving it. The starting position was already on that damn dirty right side. All they did was repaint the track overnight at Senna's request—honestly, why are you being so dense? Whoever took pole would have been stuck on that right side anyway... though, I guess after qualifying, Senna finally realized what happened. But those are two completely different things, and you're seriously conflating them????

Pathological lying is a serious affliction.

Jason Campbell70 said:Pathological lying is a serious affliction.

I simply call it a lack of constructive input. It is much easier to just label someone a mythomaniac.