The Late Great Ayrton Senna......

[cairojay]

Rode a Monster....

Watched Senna the movie last night and there was the legend himself riding a red Monster. What a hero!

[scrapps]

I went to see Senna the movie and thought it was great.

[Rally]

Same here a couple of months ago. It shows what a farse the governing body of F1 was then as well!

[Small Clanger]

My wife bought me that DVD today so I'll be watching it this evening.

I only saw him race twice, Silverstone in '85 in the JPS Lotus with the savage Renault turbo motor and again at Silverstone in '87 in the yellow Camel Lotus, I think that had a Honda engine. Can't remember who won the races though, maybe Prost in '85 and Mansell in '87 after a bit of a scrap with Piquet. Seems a very, very long time ago.

[SunEye]

Small Clanger you've got a good memory.

The 1985 British GP was won by Alain Prost in a McLaren. Senna came 10th in a Lotus Renault. It was the Lotus 97T powered by a 1500cc V6 turbocharged Renault engine. Resplendant in black and gold JPS livery.

The 1987 British GP was won by Mansell in a Williams. Senna came third in a Lotus Honda. That was the Lotus 99T with a 1500cc V6 turbocharged Honda engine. In yellow Camel colours.

I feel privileged to have touched Senna's JPS Lotus 97T (at Coys Historic Festival at Silverstone a few years ago) and his McLaren MP4/6 (at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year). Sad I know, but being able to get that close to his cars was very special for me. The MP4/6 is a beautiful car with very clean lines, especially compared to the more modern F1 cars that have lots of little aerodynamic pieces.

I've only been to one F1 GP. Monaco 1986. Olivier Panis won. Only 4 cars finished the race. It was wet and I spent the race (and afterwards) drinking a bottle of Lagavulin.

[Small Clanger]

Just watched the DVD. Excellent, inspirational and moving stuff.

I too have been to a few Coys weekends, great fun and some incredible machinery being thrashed around the circuit. Some may dismiss the historic racers as a bunch of far too rich wanabees but watching the Lindsays, Mark Hales, Martin "Dangermouse" Stretton and wife, Frank Sytner, the Masons, Barrie Williams et al is certainly enthralling stuff, they don't mess about, especially when swapping paint on multi-million dollar cars. One car in particular sticks in my mind from a Coys race and that was a '73ish Cosworth powered Matra Le Mans entrant. The engine noise was absolutely blood-curdling.

I've never been to a Goodwood meeting, I say every year that I'm going but never do. Old Sammy comes up here quite frequently to visit a mutual friend, one of his rivals from back in the day, so maybe I'll blag a couple of museum tickets off him, come down there next year and do the FoS too. :thumbsup:

[SunEye]

I fancy going to the Le Mans Classic some time. It's every two years. Next one is July 6-7-8 2012. It's a bit like Goodwood Revival, but for Le Mans cars. 24hrs of racing of historic Le Mans cars. Paddock access has a dress code (jackets & ties preferred, no shorts, tracksuits, bare chests). Not only are there 6 grids of Le Mans cars (1923-1979) racing and in the paddock, but numerous clubs bring along about 8,000 cars (the cars have to meet certain criteria i.e. certain makes and models and in v.good condition) for you to nose around. They had 100,000 visitors in 2010, which makes it less busy than Goodwood Festival of Speed which has about 150,000 on each of the weekend days. It's also cheaper than Goodwood at €59 for the weekend compared to £116.

[NattyBoy]

It amazes me how many people who have been to see that film who have no interest whatsoever in motor racing, yet cite it is one of the best films they have ever seen. Oscar nominee for sure.

Senna was a good friend of the Castiglionis hence the ducati interest. His real pride and joy was his 851 ;>) !