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Following last weeks look at the motor racing legend that was Jimmy Clark, this week we take a look at Ayrton Senna. Senna is the forth motor racing legend in this series and started life in Brazil. His tragic end at the San Marino Grand Prix left a resounding mark on Formula one racing.

Born 21st March 1960 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Ayrton Senna da Silva was the son of a wealthy Brazilian landowner. He started his life fascinated with cars, from a very young age he showed signs of his future career. Senna was diagnosed early on as having motor coordination difficulties, something which his father (also a motor racing fan) sought to improve when he brought Senna a 1hp (one horsepower) kart at the age of four! It is said that from then on he became a different boy, less awkward with more focus and great bursts of confidence which was to become somewhat of a Senna trademark later in his life.

Spurred on by Ayrton’s previous success with the 1hp kart his father purchased a full size kart (100cc) for the young Senna, which allowed him to further hone his ability’s. As soon as he was legally allowed (thirteen years old) Senna was entering kart racing competitions and won the South American Kart Championship in 1977. Proceeding to enter in the World Karting Championship, although he never accomplished more than the runner-up spot.

In 1981 Ayrton moved to England with his 19 year old wife Liliane Vasconcelos. He adopted his mothers name ‘Senna’, as “da Silva” had been very common in Brazil. They lived together in a rented bungalow near Snetterton. That very same year Senna won the British Formula Ford 1600 Championship for Ralph Firman and the Van Diemen Team.

Unfortunately to continue to stay racing and in England Senna required sponsorship, but with several up and coming Brazilian drivers already featuring in the higher Formulas Senna was unable to find sponsorship. Announcing his retirement he returned home to Brazil to work for his father.

After just four months at home Senna was longing for a racing career again and made the decision to return to motor racing. Liliane, having been brought up in a life of luxury and knowing that with his absolute passion for racing and focus for the sport decided that life would be a struggle with Senna. Refusing to follow Senna into racing once again they agreed to mutually separate, with the marriage ending in less than a year.

Senna got sponsorship (from his father and a Brazilian bank) in 1982 and returned for another year of racing. Joining the Russel Green Racing Team he entered the British Formula Ford 1600 Championship, winning it with a total of 22 wins. Senna also won the European Formula Ford 2000 Championship in the same year!

Senna did not stop there, progressing to British Formula 3 Championships, where he joined West Surrey Racing. Senna had been made a pre-season favourite for winning along with Martin Brundle and the competition was tough between the two drivers. After a tough fight for championship points it was to be that the Championship would be decided by the final race at Thruxton. Prior to the race Senna had his engine rebuilt and tuned by Novamotor, which seemed to give Senna the winning advantage as he went on to take Pole Position, the race and the Championship.

The conclusion of the season was at the Macau Grand Prix with drivers from each of the national series competing. Senna won, opening up serious opportunity for him to enter Formula one with a number of teams.

Given the choice Senna would have gone to Brabham but unfortunately Nelson Piquet, Brabham’s then leading driver, vetoed such a move. This meant Senna was left with the single choice of Toleman Hart. A classic example of the politics behind Formula one, Senna noted this and learned never to allow himself to be left outside the negotiations again.

From this move for the following ten years Senna was a force to be reckoned with in Formula one, driving for Lotus, McLaren and Williams. Senna managed a total of 41 wins starting with his first in 1985 (Portugal.)

Tragically Senna’s last race was the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. A disastrous weekend of racing that many will never forget. During the Friday afternoon’s practice Ruben Barrichello’s car was launched onto the tyre wall, with enough force to keep him out of the race on Sunday. Saturday saw disaster as Senna’s young friend Roland Ratzenberger was killed during his practice. Upsetting Senna incredibly, the following morning before the race he began to talk to all of the other drivers, arranging a safety meeting. Furthermore he accepted the role of leader in an effort to establish a drivers safety group. Senna even went to his rival Alain Prost, apologising for his manoeuvre that took the championship from him.

The race was just as disastrous, beginning with a crash between JJ Lehto and Pedro Lamy ensuring that the safety car was out for several laps. Just two laps after resumed racing Senna left the track on the corner known as ‘Tamburello’. The race was red-flagged as medics and race marshals rushed to the track side, attempting to revive the young racing driver. A helicopter was called in to take him to hospital and the race restarted. No-one at this point was aware of the severity of Senna’s condition. Within hours it was announced on television that Ayrton Senna was on a life support machine, not capable of making a recovery. His parents rushed to the hospital, taking the advice from the doctors they then agreed to remove Senna’s life support. Ayrton Senna, the motor racing legend died at the young age of 34 years. Brazil immediately began to mourn its famous racing drivers death.

Senna was truly a motor racing legend, who had stopped mid race on numerous occasions to help other drivers who had encountered crashes. It was announced after his death that he had secretly donated millions of pounds over the years to children’s charities. His family started the Ayrton Senna Foundation to carry on this good work.

This concludes our article on Senna – The motor racing legend. If you would like to read more please view our motor racing legend gallery or perhaps read about some of our past motor racing legends.

This series follows but a few of the motor racing legends of all time, we have already seen Stirling Moss the Formula One Champion and Mike Hailwood the Grand Prix Motorcycle Champion. Motor Racing Legends this week looks at Jimmy Clark, the Scottish Formula One Racing Driver that made his mark in the 60’s.

Jimmy (or Jim) Clark OBE was born on the 4th March 1936 in a country farming family in Kilmany, Fife. Jimmy was the only boy out of 5 children and although his parents did not really agree, Jimmy started his racing career in local road rally/hill climb events. He drove his own Sunbeam-Talbot (pictured) in the local races and proved his driving ability from the beginning. It took Jimmy 2 years from his first ever race (16th June 1956 behind the wheel of a DKW sonderklasse at Crimond, Scotland) to get start racing for a team. Clark drove Jaguar D-Types and Porsches for the local Border Reivers team in national events, claiming 18 wins that year.

By boxing day that year, Jimmy had met the man who would catapult him to super stardom – Colin Chapman. Chapman was driving a Lotus Elite and beat Jimmy, however was impressed with Jimmy’s driving and so let me take a ride in one of his Formula Junior Cars.

Jimmy’s first year of Drivers’ World Championship (1963) was a phenomenal one, driving the Lotus 25 he won seven out of ten races which in turn gave Lotus its first Constructor’s World Championship title. In the same year he had also one rookie of the year honours for coming a close second in the Indianapolis 500, as he was slowed by oil on the track left by the winner (Parnelli Jone’s) car. The next year he had similar problems, loosing his World Championship title due to oil on the track and the Lotus’s fouled suspension meant Indianapolis 500 was not achievable.

This didn’t stop Jimmy Clark, who by the following year (1965) won both the Drivers’ World Championship and the Indianapolis 500. He also entered the history books for driving the first mid-engined car to a win at “Brickyard” – a famous track, this year was a good year for Clark, he was at this point the only driver to ever win both that race and the F1 title on the same year.

From 1966 the FIA decreed that new regulations would come into force, limiting engines to 3Litre Capacity. As a result Lotus lost some of its competitive spark and starting with a 2litre Coventry Climax engine (in a Lotus 33) were not very successful. But after the Italian Grand Prix Lotus started using the highly complicated BRM H16 engine (in a Lotus 43). Coupled with this car Jimmy Clark won the United States Grand Prix and second place at the Indianapolis 500.

1967 saw three completely different drives as Lotus used the Lotus 43, Lotus 33 and the Lotus 49. The Lotus 43 performed badly at the opening South African Grand Prix, which led Clark to use the older Lotus 33 in the next race at Monaco. However this car then retired with suspension failure. However these two unimpressive cars led to the use of the most successful Formula 1 engine in history. Lotus began its association with Ford-Cosworth, the resulting car was the Lotus 49 featuring the Ford-Cosworth DFV (the most successful Formula 1 Engine in history). Driving this car to its first win at the Dutch Grand Prix, Jimmy Clark then went on to win the British, United States and Mexican Grand Prix and in January of the following year (1968) the South African Grand Prix.

Jimmy Clark’s drive in the 1967 Italian Grand Prix makes Clark a motor racing legend, and is regarded by many as the greatest ever drive in Formula 1. He started in Pole Position, leading in the Lotus 49, when he encountered a punctured tyre, he lost an entire lap while having the wheel replaced. He then rejoined the race in 16th position, from which point he pushed his driving to its limits, lowering the lap record consistently until he was equal with his pole time of 1m 28.5s. He had made his way back to the lead and completely recovered his lost lap, unfortunately just before the finish he was to realise that his car had not been filled with enough fuel to maintain his limit pushing racing performance. He coasted across the finishing line in third place. Jimmy Clark’s performance on that race is still considered unmatched in Formula 1 history.

Unfortunately Jimmy Clark’s life and career ended in early April 1968. A tragic car crash saw the conclusion of a motor racing legend, Clark was supposed to have driven in the BOAC 1000km race at Brands Hatch but decided differently. He chose to race in a minor Formula 2 Race for Lotus. The race was held at Hockenheimring, Germany and he chose it largely due to his contractual obligations with Firestone. On his 5th lap tragedy struck as his Lotus 48 veered off the track and crashed into the trees, Jimmy Clark died instantly. The exact reason for the crash was put down to the rear tyre deflating, although never formally announced. Fellow racing driver Colin Chapman was devastated by the crash and publicly noted that he had lost his best friend. In respect Chapman ordered the traditional Lotus Badge (Yellow and Green) to be replaced with a black badge for the month following. The Lotus Team then won the 1968 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, Graham Hill was driving, pulling the heartbroken team together and holding off Jackie Stewart. He dedicated this win to Jimmy Clark.

Jimmy Clark was a Motor Racing Legend, he achieved 33 pole positions and won 25 races out of 72 Grand Prix starts. A great driver in whatever car he sat in, from a Lotus Cortina (with which he won the 1964 British Touring Car Championship), NASCAR (driving a Ford-Galaxie), IndyCar, RAC Rally (in 1966 he almost won until he crashed the Lotus Cortina.) Also driving in Le Mans 24 Hour race in an Astom Martin DBR1 he achieved a second and third place in 1959 and 1960.

Loved by many Clark left a wake of sorrow across racing. Chris Amon a fellow racing driver was quoted with saying “If it could happen to him, what chance do the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we’d lost our leader.” after Clark’s death. A life-size memorial of Jimmy Clark racing stands by the bridge over a small stream in the vilage of Kilmany, Fife.

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This weeks Motor Racing Legend – Jimmy Clark. If you would like to see more photographs of Jimmy Clark click here to go to our motor racing legend gallery, where you will find more info and photo’s of all the racing legends in this series. If you would like to read more on other Motor Racing Legends Click here to visit Stirling Moss’s article or here to read about Mike Hailwood.

Or if you would like to read more about Jimmy Clarke, we would recommend the following books -

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For this weeks instalment of Motor Racing Legends we turn our attention to the world of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing. Our series will look at some of the better drivers, riders and motor racing legends to ever race. Mike Hailwood (Stanley Micheal Bailey Hailwood) was born April 2nd 1940 in Oxfordshire. Born into comfort Mike’s father owned a large motorcycle distributorship and himself used to race pre world war II.

Hailwood is considered by many to be one of the greatest racers of all time, with his natural motorbike riding ability quickly gaining him the nickname ‘Mike the Bike‘. But his racing skills did not just encompass 2 wheeled machines, he is one of the few men to compete at Grand Prix level on both Motorcycles and in Car Racing.

Riding motorbikes from an early age, he started on a minibike as a small boy. Practising his motorbike riding in an eight-acre field close to his residence he managed to wear an oval track from the consistent laps he had rode on Sunday afternoons after church.

Mike Hailwood’s Motor Racing career then got started in 1957 when he was 17 and by 1961 he had won the 250cc World Championship for then a Japanese upstart factory named Honda. He then went on to claim the following wins in Grand Prix World Championships: 250cc (1966 and 1967), 350cc (1966 and 1967), 500cc (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 – 4 consecutive Wins!) He closed his Grand Prix Motorcycle career with 76 wins and 112 podium finishes in total. As well as these amazing totals he also won the Isle of Man TT Island Mountain Course 12 times including 3 consecutive wins in the 1961 TT.

Moving on to cars Mike Hailwood never really had the same level success as he had done on motorbikes, however his achievements are noteworthy: He won the 1972 Formula 2, and earned a podium finish at the 24 hour LeMans. It should also be noted that Mike won over the hearts of the fans when in 1973 in the South African Grand Prix he stopped mid circuit to pull out Clay Regazzoni from his burning car caused by an accident, for this he won the George Medal – the second highest gallantry award that a British civilian can be awarded.

Mike Hailwood made a comeback at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, re-retiring the next year with 76 Grand Prix victories, 14 Isle of Man TT wins and 9 World Championships.

Mike Hailwood OBE, GM is this weeks Motor Racing Legend of the Week. For more information and some great racing photographs click here to go to our Motor Racing Legend Gallery.