Ayrton Senna da Silva, better known as
Ayrton Senna, was a
Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula
One world championship three times. His death in 1994 is still mourned by Brazilians & he remains one of the most beloved Formula One personalities, although during his career he was a rather more controversial figure that subsequent hagiographic trends have tended to portray. Senna was born in São Paulo. As the son of a wealthy Brazilian landowner, he quickly developed an interest in motor racing. Encouraged by his father, a racing enthusiast, Senna got behind the wheel of his first kart at the age of four. He entered karting competition at the legal age of 13. In 1977, he won the
South American Kart Championship. Heading for
Europe in 1981, he entered the British Formula Ford 1600 competition, which he won. He also adopted his mothers maiden name, Senna, as da Silva is a very common name in Brazil. In 1982 Senna combined the British & European Formula Ford 2000 Championships, winning both.
This DVD is simply a cash-cow for EMI & The Senna Foundation based around the anniversary of his death in
May 1994. Across two disks, the tribute is made up of three films - two about Sennas life & one about his career up to 1992 - & other extras. First impressions are the lack of racing footage, this presumably because the DVD is released without Ecclestones FIA branding & that is perhaps why so much vital on-track footage is missing. The director makes do with stills, crafted together with Euro-House music for much of two of the films. The third, specifically about his career contains rare glimpses of early Karting & loads of random footage from Sennas career in Englands junior formulas.
The talking-heads in the first film, Right To win - Sennas brother, sister & several of his partners, trainers & mechanics are Brazillian. I wouldve been very interested to hear what these people had to say - unfortunately, I dont speak Portugese & the directors have neither subtitled their words nor voiced over them.
Both disks have an 80s feel to them & menus & extras are quite poor, a lot of the narration is similarly OTT but the fact is that if you are Senna-mad, youll find a lot of it fascinating, if not wholely original. It has a great deal of the man talking on & off camera, about his life, racing, emotions & why he always had that bit extra. There is not enough covering the infamous Imola weekend but you will still be happy to see so much of Senna & his peers - many of whom speak of Ayrton in very hallowed terms.
There is nothing of the who was greatest question, aside from private observations from Ron Dennis & Frank Williams that it was undoubtedly Senna. Put simply, if you are a fan youll enjoy the little gems - First win at Estoril, Donnington 1993 & the sheer amount of interview footage, if not then this might not be the best introduction to the life of Ayrton Senna de Silva.
