Ayrton Senna (Champion, win , man , sport)

[burdell]

Today is the fourteenth anniversay of the death of Ayrton Senna and the end of 3 horrible days at Imola.

Senna's team boss at the time, Frank Williams, paid him what I thought was a tremendous compliment in saying Senna was a better man than he was a driver.

[nevergoingback]

Greatest race car driver ever.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by nevergoingback

Greatest race car driver ever.

It's difficult to compare eras, I certainly wouldn't ignore Nuvolari, Fangio, Clark, Stewart, or Schumacher among others but Senna could surely give anyone a good run. I remember his first(?) F1 win with Lotus at Estoril in the rain, he drove away so effortlessly the only race was for 2nd on down. He was also well known for giving back, especially to the children of his country, I'm sure he'll always be well regarded in the history of Brasil.

[Canes2006Champs]

I'll always remember that quote from him "Coming in second is the just the first loser", as well as "Its impossible to win all the time, I just hope that time is not this weekend". Absolute skilled driver, especially in wet weather.

[nevergoingback]

Originally Posted by burdell

It's difficult to compare eras, I certainly wouldn't ignore Nuvolari, Fangio, Clark, Stewart, or Schumacher among others but Senna could surely give anyone a good run. I remember his first(?) F1 win with Lotus at Estoril in the rain, he drove away so effortlessly the only race was for 2nd on down. He was also well known for giving back, especially to the children of his country, I'm sure he'll always be well regarded in the history of Brasil.

Yeah I would say that you could argue for Fangio or Stewart. IMO What Makes Senna the best is that he raced with the most HP (1000 plus) BEFORE any Launch/ Traction controls etc etc, and that he took his OWN teamate out to capture a drivers championship!! pure racecraft!

[burdell]

Originally Posted by nevergoingback

Yeah I would say that you could argue for Fangio or Stewart. IMO What Makes Senna the best is that he raced with the most HP (1000 plus) BEFORE any Launch/ Traction controls etc etc, and that he took his OWN teamate out to capture a drivers championship!! pure racecraft!

That's what gets me about some of the old days, those Auto-Unions were making some very impressive HP numbers when the drivers were wide and the tires were skinny. Electronics? They didn't have no steenking electronics

[SPNARD1]

Great compliment indeed!

Senna was a true gentleman of the sport!

[texdav]

He and shume are the best of the modern era so far. But there were other greats. Sadly most of the old guys died like senna in racing.

[GregW]

Did anyone watch Hamilton win the British GP in the pouring rain last weekend?
By over a minute! I think we have the makings of another legend.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by GregW

Did anyone watch Hamilton win the British GP in the pouring rain last weekend?
By over a minute! I think we have the makings of another legend.

I'm still not sure if Hamilton was brilliant Sunday or the competition was hypnotized en masse , there sure were some silly decisions being made both in the pits and on the track.



With 3 drivers dead even in points for the Championship and another not far behind, whoever wins the title this year is certainly going to earn it.