Senna, 'nuff said.

[RCWells]

'94

May 1, 1994. I was up that morning early watching the race and saw the whole thing. It was awful. Back then, I was really into the Formula 1 racing scene and Ayrton was THE driver! The rainmeister! He was unbelievable to watch! Just so fluid and so effin fast. Not to mention the fact that he won 3 World Championships!

If you really wanna know about him, and you DO want to know about him, do some research. There is tons of info out there for you. Better yet, get your hands on some old race footage from back in the early 90s and watch him at work.

"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit and you go for this limit and you touch this limit and you think, ok, this is the limit. As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you realise that you can suddenly go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and your experience as well, you can fly very high." - Ayrton Senna

[Axxe]

care to educate us younger folks (aka me) about Mr. Ayrton Senna?

Seems like he was a well respected man, and a man like that, I should learn the history about.

It's a shame I don't know anything about the guy, fill me in!

Basically his car bottomed out, lost all ground effects (no downforce) on parmallilo bend (spelling?) and went into the wall at about 45*. Tire ripped off the suspension and went straight back, hitting him in the head and killing him. Saw it on discovery channel, they recreated the crash.

[RCWells]

Tamburello, bend that is.

[Axxe]

Yeah *something*ello was all I remember. Thanks RCWells.

[jrez]

RC - Ditto for me, I was also up early that morning, and sadly witnessed it.
I remember going to an local auto X later that morning, and telling people there what had happened. A very sad day.

He was, and still is, to me the best F1 driver of recent times. None of the current bunch, with the notable exception of Raikkoinnen, are even close.
Not to mention Senna achieved greatness at a time when drivers had to shift their own gears, balance the throttle and brake, and have great sense of car control. Most of this now is the domain of computer controlled systems. It's much easier nowadays.

The one race that stands out for me was the wet race at Donington(only year there) when Senna was in a McClaren, with a customer ford cosworth v8(benetton was the factory team).
Senna had passed all the cars ahead of him in the opening lap, to take the lead, and win. There was'nt anywhere on the track he could'nt drive. Was amazing to watch.

They got rid of Tamburello corner at Imola, and replaced it with a left/right combination corner. Still a great track, and one of my favourites for racing sims.

[RCWells]

I would argue the best ever and his full potential was never realized. I hated it. I can still tear up over it to this day. Definitely my hero and the only person I have ever said that about.

[jrez]

Definitely my hero and the only person I have ever said that about.

The exact same goes for me..