Wax, I was there up close and personal in the mid 80's and admittedly I was a Prost fan and I'll tell you that Senna drove like an idiot. Prost, however, was always accountable. It was two different kinds of driver talent.
As already observed, much in the Senna documentary was slightly over-emphasized. Though, it did a great job of highlighting the struggles with his personal lifestyle (kind, generous, overbearing charitable work), and his on the track style (aggressive, reckless, and at times, just down right dirty). I was only 7 at the time of his death, but when we weren't racing enduros on Sundays, my dad and I watched Formula 1. Like everyone else, I didn't understand what happened at the time. Not until the 10 year anniversary was I aware of the Roland Ratzenberger tragedy and the impact of both of their deaths on the whole sport. Now, my generation is simply over come by him and seems to want to learn more. To supplement the documentary, watch the top gear tribute. http://vimeo.com/26844933
To me, Senna was an incredibly talented, incredibly competitive driver who was a selfish, disruptive prima donna and who would basically stop at nothing to win a race and a title. That last quality reminds me of Schumacher. Nobody said winning race car drivers have to be honorable men. That's what I find to be so dishonest about the "documentary." Why not admit the truth? Senna was good enough to overcome the negatives. Just like Michael is good enough to overcome parking his car at the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix to spoil Alonso's qualifying. <embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3741057503206935720&hl=en&fs=true style=width:400px;height:326px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed>
Documentary? Hmmm, not so sure. It's a fillum about Senna and the F1 circus at that time I would have thought, focussing on his charisma, talent (unquestionable!), and driver safety. If rufflling feathers regarding driver safety constitutes being a 'selfish, disruptive prima donna', well, sorry....How many drivers have died in F1 since?
Eh? Senna was known for his belief that his god was the only arbiter of safety. It's one of the reasons why other drivers were wary of him on-track.
Oops... I never was good at math. Yea 19 years ago. Damn, that makes me older then I thought I was. Considering 4 years before his death I grauduated high school.
what is the consensus on the cause of death all these years later. I caught the end of it last night and it said there wasn't a broken bone in his body. I thought when it happened I remembered reading he hit so hard due to the speed he had brain injuries from the impact. the flim indicated last night part of the front of the car hit him? is that the accepted cause? head trauma caused by part of the front car/A-frame that broke off?
flug, the word when it happened and ever since then is that a part of the wishbone front suspension nailed him through his helmet...left a hole like a 44 Mag.
thanks. I just checked wikpedia. he lost a LOT of blood. possible severed brain stem. what a mess that was. :huh
The purdiest Ducati we ever owned was a 2002 Monster 750 Senna for my son's grad present. Drop dead beautiful. Took it to college in Tempe, and crashed it at Firebird raceway...
Probably thebottom of the car bottoming on the track. 1200bhp, manual gearbox, very little downforce, very little safety design features, watch the Top Gear feature listed above to get a better idea on what animals these cars were. Louis Hamilton is like a kid in a toy shop when given the chance to drive one of Senna's F1 cars.
They used to run titanium skid blocks for when the fuel load was high. The "plank" rule stopped the need for them.
watched the whole thing last night. very cool. I thought Prost was portrayed as an adversary not a villian. the drivers meeting's were pretty cool, the one where Senna walked out of was pretty insightful to the politics. the other driver was basically saying that you have to enter the track against the oncoming traffic and Senna got penalized for not doing that the week prior. seems to me like all these years later if Prost is still close with Senna's family and charity foundation that it was nothing more than the 2 best drivers on the planet being extremely competitive and at the time not liking each other. given the stakes not surprising. sounds like Senna's definition of racing was simple. win at all costs. the wreck that took him and Prost out in first turn that gave Senna the title didn't appear to be Senna's fault. Plus he had the pole and they made him line up far side of track? Senna's onboard camera in Monte Carlo. :eek1 A real time warp seeing the Prince of Monaco and his daughter. Very cool film too bad he was lost the guy was like Elvis in star power it seems.
