Comments on: Remembering Ayrton Senna – What Motorcyclists Can Learn (News)

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:37:27 +0000

MV Agusta also made a Senna edition of their F4 750

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:16:51 +0000

What motorcyclists can learn from Senna are two things. One, learn to find the “tire slip” everywhere on the track and ride it at all times, as best you trust you can. Second, when someone in front of you is taking the ideal line around a corner, jam yourself just inside and slightly behind him on a non-ideal line, and hope your opponent brakes and pulls out to avoid A wreck with you. Trust their self-preservation instincts will kick in and you get away with a cheap inside line.

Report this comment

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:30:26 +0000

Fearless. Perfectionist. Obsessive and happy only when dancing on the edge of disaster. Who can live that way? Only the best and at times the luckiest. Senna was the Best AND Luckiest ever!

Report this comment

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:39:43 +0000

I was living in Brazil when Senna burst onto the F1 racing scene in the Toleman and almost won Monaco in the rain. What a thrill! Love him or hate him, Senna was the most exciting F1 driver I have ever seen. You cannot imagine how his death shocked Brazil.

Report this comment

By: Mark J

Mark J — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:36:36 +0000

He was a great talent, but I don’t find a win-at-any-cost mentality to be admirable.

Report this comment

By: Gutterslob

Gutterslob — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 02:33:42 +0000

That’s a debate we’ll never be able to settle, sadly. From what I’ve heard, the Williams chassis Senna had was severely lacking without the aid of active damping and on-the-fly ride height adjustment (both of which were banned just before he joined them). Another advantage Schumi’s Benetton had was that it was more frugal, enabling it to run lighter at the start of races, thus wearing the tyres at a lesser rate; similar advantage the Red Bull has nowadays with the more frugal Renault engine, as a matter of fact. I also read (in some old magazine interview with Nigel Mansell) that Senna and Williams were finally getting the car to work just around the time he was killed (he was leading the race at San Marino when it happened), but who knows….

Report this comment

By: Tori Zimbalas

Tori Zimbalas — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:40:51 +0000

I think the 639-641 series Ferrari may have had a handling advantage was more aero efficient for the 89-90 seasons…..unfortunately It was not as driveable nor as reliable as the Honda powerunits of the day…Senna made shrewd and correct choices in his career….I think Mclaren was the place to be at least till the William/Renaults were fully developed…it unfortunate that when Senna Finally got in one it was pruned of its active suspension abilities…and Senna struggled in that car…sometimes spectacularly He was by far the most committed and intense driver of his era…..shame he left us as he was just getting the point where he was becoming more “Human”

Report this comment

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:38:01 +0000

I don’t know anything about F1 but Senna must have been a pretty good driver for Ducati to make a special edition of their 916 named after him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ducati_916_Senna.jpg

Report this comment

By: Zoie Kittney

Zoie Kittney — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:01:51 +0000

Senna was known as a racer who drove “dirty” and would step on whomever he needed to in order to win. A great skill and mental game, yes, but his driving ethics cast a shadow on the future of the sport.

Report this comment

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:48:01 +0000

From an earlier era, racers who knew him said the same kinds of things about Jimmy Clark. Clark was reportedly a perfectionist who would criticize other drivers for missing apexes by four inches. Clark was the best of his era – some say the greatest ever (like Senna).

The best we can say is they were the greatest of their generation. These drivers were singularly obsessed with their craft.

Report this comment