Ayrton Senna da Silva - would have 55 today
Discussion
greygoose said:
Sad that he died so young, I don't remember him looking quite like that picture though.
You're correct, I 'shopped' the perspective a bit which has distorted him - sorry -Tonight my daughter is staying at the hotel where he spent his last night. She wasn't brave enough to request his room though, room 200.
Here's a better piccy of him.
Ayrton SennaBradgate said:
I wonder what Ayrton would have been doing now, if he were still around?
That is a really good f
king question?I've wondered about it myself often over the years but alli can think of is the guy was so on his own wavelength only he would know, and probably only he could decide.I'd guess on him being some super rich businessman that indulged in a massive philanthropy operation.
Senna's life was very compartmentalised.
His family understood his desire to race, but never liked it. His father didn't want him to come to the UK to build his career, only after some months did he finally give his blessing. Even then Senna quit racing and went home, only to return again in the spring of the next year unexpectedly. As far as I know his parents, whilst immensely proud of what he achieved, rarely went to races.
Racing was, obviously his obsession and he put every shred of his entire being in to it. But in the off season he'd go home and spend time with family & friends and then re-appear, relaxed and ready to race. He was all but uncontactable during the winter.
There were tensions with girlfriends too, he dated Xuxa Meneghel, a TV presenter but they found their busy schedules made things difficult and eventually split. His family liked Xuxa, to the point that at Senna's funeral she sat with the family. He began to see Adriane Galisteu, who his family, particularly his mother didn't like - as far as they were concerned it was Xuxa who was the right girl for Ayrton. Some believe he was actually close to proposing to Adriane, which would have caused much upset in the family.
A little while before his death he had set up what is now known as the Ayrton Senna foundation, which helps poor and disadvantaged kids in Brzail. Ayrton had very quietly been donating money to similar causes and had decided to take it one step further.
He had also started to set up businesses - he had a deal set up to become the importer for Mercedes Benz cars to Brazil for example. I am of the understanding that the businesses were there to support the foundation.
At Imola, Senna was slowly coming to terms with his own mortality, the man who intentionally crashed in to Prost at Japan 1990 had been concerned about safety for some time and was starting to realise just how dangerous it could be.
The death of Ratzenberger on the Saturday affected him greatly, he spoke to his good friend Sid Watkins who suggested they both quit and go fishing (Sid & Ayrton were good friends, who spent time at each others home regularly). Senna shook his head and said he couldn't do that. He still wasn't ready to walk away from the challenge of competition. Later on the Saturday evening he phoned Adriane (who was at his villa in Portugal), deeply upset - he was conflicted between his need to race and the danger and all the other things in his life. There is video footage of him in the garages at Imola and the look on his face and in his eyes is haunting, the thing he loved more than anything in the world was clearly hurting him.
I think he would have been WDC in 1994, maybe 1995 and 1996 too if he'd stayed in the Williams. Would he have gone to Ferrari in the late 90s instead of Schumacher? maybe - would he have stayed given the awful reliability in 1996 ? not sure.
Regardless, by 2000 I think he would have retired, gone to run his business interests and not stepped foot in a race car again. Once he had decided his racing life was over he'd have put all his efforts into new challenges - the foundation and the business, there would be no reason for him to get back in a racing car. It is a huge pity we'll never know for sure.
His family understood his desire to race, but never liked it. His father didn't want him to come to the UK to build his career, only after some months did he finally give his blessing. Even then Senna quit racing and went home, only to return again in the spring of the next year unexpectedly. As far as I know his parents, whilst immensely proud of what he achieved, rarely went to races.
Racing was, obviously his obsession and he put every shred of his entire being in to it. But in the off season he'd go home and spend time with family & friends and then re-appear, relaxed and ready to race. He was all but uncontactable during the winter.
There were tensions with girlfriends too, he dated Xuxa Meneghel, a TV presenter but they found their busy schedules made things difficult and eventually split. His family liked Xuxa, to the point that at Senna's funeral she sat with the family. He began to see Adriane Galisteu, who his family, particularly his mother didn't like - as far as they were concerned it was Xuxa who was the right girl for Ayrton. Some believe he was actually close to proposing to Adriane, which would have caused much upset in the family.
A little while before his death he had set up what is now known as the Ayrton Senna foundation, which helps poor and disadvantaged kids in Brzail. Ayrton had very quietly been donating money to similar causes and had decided to take it one step further.
He had also started to set up businesses - he had a deal set up to become the importer for Mercedes Benz cars to Brazil for example. I am of the understanding that the businesses were there to support the foundation.
At Imola, Senna was slowly coming to terms with his own mortality, the man who intentionally crashed in to Prost at Japan 1990 had been concerned about safety for some time and was starting to realise just how dangerous it could be.
The death of Ratzenberger on the Saturday affected him greatly, he spoke to his good friend Sid Watkins who suggested they both quit and go fishing (Sid & Ayrton were good friends, who spent time at each others home regularly). Senna shook his head and said he couldn't do that. He still wasn't ready to walk away from the challenge of competition. Later on the Saturday evening he phoned Adriane (who was at his villa in Portugal), deeply upset - he was conflicted between his need to race and the danger and all the other things in his life. There is video footage of him in the garages at Imola and the look on his face and in his eyes is haunting, the thing he loved more than anything in the world was clearly hurting him.
I think he would have been WDC in 1994, maybe 1995 and 1996 too if he'd stayed in the Williams. Would he have gone to Ferrari in the late 90s instead of Schumacher? maybe - would he have stayed given the awful reliability in 1996 ? not sure.
Regardless, by 2000 I think he would have retired, gone to run his business interests and not stepped foot in a race car again. Once he had decided his racing life was over he'd have put all his efforts into new challenges - the foundation and the business, there would be no reason for him to get back in a racing car. It is a huge pity we'll never know for sure.
Crafty_ said:
Senna's life was very compartmentalised.
Regardless, by 2000 I think he would have retired, gone to run his business interests and not stepped foot in a race car again. Once he had decided his racing life was over he'd have put all his efforts into new challenges - the foundation and the business, there would be no reason for him to get back in a racing car. It is a huge pity we'll never know for sure.
Thanks for comprehensive replyRegardless, by 2000 I think he would have retired, gone to run his business interests and not stepped foot in a race car again. Once he had decided his racing life was over he'd have put all his efforts into new challenges - the foundation and the business, there would be no reason for him to get back in a racing car. It is a huge pity we'll never know for sure.
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