(Ed. We as motorsport fans all know the risk our favourite drivers take when they step into their cars, no matter the formula it always comes home when we lose a driver, today sees the 20th Anniversary of the death of Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, the follow post is a recollection of that weekend back in 1994 of a young fan, Dave Render)
The first time I ever watched a Formula One race was Monaco 1992. I remember seeing this red & white car, the driver had a yellow helmet. His name was Ayrton Senna!
During the closing stages of the race Nigel Mansell tried in vain to pass, Senna would not give way. From that moment I was hooked! Sadly I only got to see Senna race for two more years, this included the magical drive at Donnington Park in 1993, the best driving performance I've ever seen.
I remember the weekend of May 1st 1994 as if it was yesterday. It was a Bank Holiday weekend, there was a Grand Prix and the World Snooker Championships was on (something else I always enjoy watching). It was also to be the weekend when I got my new bike. 12 months previous to this my school report was not very good. I wasn't a bad lad I just wasn't interested in some subjects, I just wanted to play football, cricket and things like that. I wanted a new bike for my birthday but because of my report I was told "no"! My family said if I improved over the next school year and my grades were good I could get my new bike. So two weeks before that fateful weekend, my parents read my new school report and I was told I could have my new bike. I was to go and pick one on the Saturday morning of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend. I remember being so excited, this was going to be a brilliant weekend, one of my favourite snooker players Jimmy White was in the world final, no school on Monday, new bike and a Grand Prix. Perfect. Now back then, of course, there was no Twitter, no 24 hour news, F1 qualifying wasn't even on live on the BBC. I spent the Saturday morning riding around on my new bike, I went home and put teletext on to see who had got pole. Keeping my Fingers crossed I hoped it wasn't Schumacher (I am not a fan) I couldn't believe what I was reading a driver by the name of Roland Ratzenburger had been killed during qualifying. I had never experienced a driver die in Formula One before so this was a big shock. I mean, I knew the risks but I never expected it to happen. It played on my mind all evening and when I woke up on the Sunday morning I was not looking forward to the race as much as I normally would. I sat down to watch the race with my granddad & uncle keeping everything crossed for a good race & for a Senna win. This race was meant to be the start of Senna's season after he had retired from the first two races.
Sadly we all know what happened during that race, a race littered with incidents, start line crashes, debris flying off into the crowd, wheels coming off cars in the pit lane and striking mechanics. I remember Murray Walker saying that he wished they would just stop the race... enough was enough. How can one weekend produce such incident and tragedy. After the race finished we found out the greatest and my favourite racing driver had died after his crash. I was stunned, how had this happened? For a while I don't think I looked forward to watching Formula One quite as much after what happened, watching the races just wasn't the same. The weekend I had looked forward to so much had turned in to a nightmare. In my opinion Ayrton was the greatest racing driver ever, and one of the greatest sportsmen to ever live. Many people don't know about the millions he gave to underprivileged children in Brazil. Or about the Ayrton Senna foundation. The world is a poorer place for his passing.
Rest in peace Ayrton Senna
The first time I ever watched a Formula One race was Monaco 1992. I remember seeing this red & white car, the driver had a yellow helmet. His name was Ayrton Senna!
During the closing stages of the race Nigel Mansell tried in vain to pass, Senna would not give way. From that moment I was hooked! Sadly I only got to see Senna race for two more years, this included the magical drive at Donnington Park in 1993, the best driving performance I've ever seen.
I remember the weekend of May 1st 1994 as if it was yesterday. It was a Bank Holiday weekend, there was a Grand Prix and the World Snooker Championships was on (something else I always enjoy watching). It was also to be the weekend when I got my new bike. 12 months previous to this my school report was not very good. I wasn't a bad lad I just wasn't interested in some subjects, I just wanted to play football, cricket and things like that. I wanted a new bike for my birthday but because of my report I was told "no"! My family said if I improved over the next school year and my grades were good I could get my new bike. So two weeks before that fateful weekend, my parents read my new school report and I was told I could have my new bike. I was to go and pick one on the Saturday morning of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend. I remember being so excited, this was going to be a brilliant weekend, one of my favourite snooker players Jimmy White was in the world final, no school on Monday, new bike and a Grand Prix. Perfect. Now back then, of course, there was no Twitter, no 24 hour news, F1 qualifying wasn't even on live on the BBC. I spent the Saturday morning riding around on my new bike, I went home and put teletext on to see who had got pole. Keeping my Fingers crossed I hoped it wasn't Schumacher (I am not a fan) I couldn't believe what I was reading a driver by the name of Roland Ratzenburger had been killed during qualifying. I had never experienced a driver die in Formula One before so this was a big shock. I mean, I knew the risks but I never expected it to happen. It played on my mind all evening and when I woke up on the Sunday morning I was not looking forward to the race as much as I normally would. I sat down to watch the race with my granddad & uncle keeping everything crossed for a good race & for a Senna win. This race was meant to be the start of Senna's season after he had retired from the first two races.
Sadly we all know what happened during that race, a race littered with incidents, start line crashes, debris flying off into the crowd, wheels coming off cars in the pit lane and striking mechanics. I remember Murray Walker saying that he wished they would just stop the race... enough was enough. How can one weekend produce such incident and tragedy. After the race finished we found out the greatest and my favourite racing driver had died after his crash. I was stunned, how had this happened? For a while I don't think I looked forward to watching Formula One quite as much after what happened, watching the races just wasn't the same. The weekend I had looked forward to so much had turned in to a nightmare. In my opinion Ayrton was the greatest racing driver ever, and one of the greatest sportsmen to ever live. Many people don't know about the millions he gave to underprivileged children in Brazil. Or about the Ayrton Senna foundation. The world is a poorer place for his passing.
Rest in peace Ayrton Senna
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