May 1, 1994
1994 San Marino Grand Prix
"Race had begun. He was leading the race with Michael Schumacher behind him in second place. Successfully completing six laps, they were in seventh. At one corner, when his car was at 310 KMPH lost balance. He realized that the front tires were slipping. In some hundredths of a second, he reacted by releasing the throttle and pushing brakes hard which made the car to slow to 211 KMPH. In less than 2 seconds, his car hit the concrete wall. Moments or some time later at the hospital, he was declared dead due to fatal head injury." (See footnote 1)
He's Ayrton Senna.
Its the video of that crash, which I tried to put in words, introduced me to this famous personality. Following that, I watched some more videos and some more videos and some more videos ending up watching the mainstream film (a documentary) of his life.(Senna, See footnote 2)
I found myself very emotional at the end of the film. But its not I'd like to write here. I've learned a few things of them some are very important, I think.
Opportunity
I believe that success is a combination of things like opportunity, talent, hard work, luck etc with different weights according to the situation or field of study. And opportunity gathers more weight because lacking the opportunity other things won't be able to take you to your prime.
Opportunity arrives. But sometimes we just don't notice it. And some other times it disguises us and leaves from the back door. The main motto is that you should be prepared and wait with utmost patience to catch it.
Okay, granted that you got an opportunity. Lets suppose you got it under very bad conditions or unfortunate conditions. Like, you are called for an interview with a big MNC, when you go there you find yourself competing with several hundreds of other people who are in a desperate need of the job just like you are. Then, despite the very competitive conditions, you've to give your best shot.
The same thing happened with Ayrton Senna at his first Formula-1 race. Weather was in total bad condition, it was raining yet the race continued. Because of the large bulky rear tires of Formula-1 car, the rain water gets sprayed over making it a view look like its filled with a thick fog for the driver coming behind. For example...
Ayrton started from 13th position as he's the new entrant then. With those conditions some of them hit the side dividers and some stopped driving, Ayrton didn't. He continued chasing the two players who are in the lead, despite some minor skids.
Later, the second racer hit the rails. And Ayrton Senna went on approaching the first car fiercely. However, owing to the bad conditions the race was stopped. Senna finished in second place. Some pundits of F-1 race said that Had the race continued further, we'd have seen him in winning position. (See footnotes for the video of that race)
I thought more about that race, that situation. He knew that there was no other driving on that time except him and Alain Prost ( Driver leading the race). But he din't go for the second place willingly. He didn't accept or compromise with the conditions to give up. He went on and on and took total damage or fatal risks to win. To win is his goal. Following are his quotes: (See footnote 3 for race video)
"Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that."
"I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win."
"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
Risk
There is so much complexity, fragility & uncertainty around us, involving risk. Combined with that our brains won't like uncertainty. To overcome these its better to think of everything as a gamble or in terms of probability. Likes odds in favor and odds against.
When we look at driving cars or riding bikes in this view, it can be concluded that its a huge gamble involving fast assumptions, quick probabilities and possibilities of the situation. (Quick as in milliseconds)
We face risk all the time, I don't have to specify how risk is involved with driving. I drive bikes. I don't about other's opinions but I think when I'm riding my bike, a process runs in my brain which keeps on making assumptions, probabilities and possibilities. And it also takes the help of the past data which is stored already in brain.
Being a racing driver, he understood this thing in depth. We use these skills such as probabilities, possibilities to put ourselves on safe side but racing drivers use this to take advantage. Of them, Ayrton Senna is a top notch racing driver.He used these skills to make the car dance around corners. (See footnote 6 for a great lap overtaking two cars at a time)
Some people claimed that he's gifted with sixth sense that sees the grip where it lies. Some people's comments:
John Bisignano(Journalist): There's only one word that describes Ayrton's style, and that is: fast. He would take the car beyond it's design capabilities. He would brake later, fly into these corners where the car was just over the edge, and somehow, he could dance and dance with that car, to where it stayed on track. (From the movie: Senna, click on the link for the interview video)
“Senna made the car dance," says former F1 driver John Watson. "He did things with the car that I hadn't even thought about, let alone put in to practice.” Watson added “after witnessing this, I knew that my time as race car driver was effectively over.”
In 1984, a racing track was opened with a joint venture with Mercedes and 20 star-studded racing drivers were invited to race with equal cars. Of them, Mercedes recruited F-3 (Formula-3) racing champ Ayrton Senna, and old F-1 champions.
It was considered as a fun event by everybody except Senna. The event was won by Ayrton, no one expected this.
Some former champions said like this:
John Watson remembers,"The main memory I have of it all is of Ayrton and how he attacked the circuit and in particular the chicane, which in those days was much quicker than today. He was just launching the car over the kerbs like a stone skimming across the water. He went to a different level.
"It was, I suppose, his calling card. That was the minimum accepted standard from him on display. He was clearly exceptionally gifted. Everyone else had turned up basically for the beer. It was a fun event, a thank you for Mercedes, a nice weekend in Germany in a hotel and nobody got stressed about it - except Ayrton, that is" (See footnote 5)
That's it.
P S: After writing this I found something else which is against what I thought. In the opportunity section, I wrote that he grabbed that opportunity very nicely at the race on rainy day. In one of his interviews, he said that, he was very bad initially with wet roads at cart racing. This made him to work and work and work on the wet tracks. And he improved.
P P S: The writing style with pics is inspired from my professor.
Thanks for reading!
Footnotes:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpp7OCngXQM (His last lap of life, on board camera, not for the faint hearted!!)
2. http://previewsandreviews.blogspot.in/2011/10/senna-no-fear-no-limits-no-equal.html ( A blog review on the movie Senna)
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUWuR2Dj78 ( Monaco GP 1984, first race)
4. http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-ayrton-senna-remains-greatest-racer-history-191054410.html (Comments taken from this.)
5. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/54800.html (Twenty equal cars-ESPN article)
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4pun6j0Fg ( On board camera)
7. Quotes taken from Brainyquote
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9qZu7h5ys0 ( Lap of life)
1994 San Marino Grand Prix
"Race had begun. He was leading the race with Michael Schumacher behind him in second place. Successfully completing six laps, they were in seventh. At one corner, when his car was at 310 KMPH lost balance. He realized that the front tires were slipping. In some hundredths of a second, he reacted by releasing the throttle and pushing brakes hard which made the car to slow to 211 KMPH. In less than 2 seconds, his car hit the concrete wall. Moments or some time later at the hospital, he was declared dead due to fatal head injury." (See footnote 1)
He's Ayrton Senna.
Its the video of that crash, which I tried to put in words, introduced me to this famous personality. Following that, I watched some more videos and some more videos and some more videos ending up watching the mainstream film (a documentary) of his life.(Senna, See footnote 2)
I found myself very emotional at the end of the film. But its not I'd like to write here. I've learned a few things of them some are very important, I think.
Opportunity
I believe that success is a combination of things like opportunity, talent, hard work, luck etc with different weights according to the situation or field of study. And opportunity gathers more weight because lacking the opportunity other things won't be able to take you to your prime.
Opportunity arrives. But sometimes we just don't notice it. And some other times it disguises us and leaves from the back door. The main motto is that you should be prepared and wait with utmost patience to catch it.
Okay, granted that you got an opportunity. Lets suppose you got it under very bad conditions or unfortunate conditions. Like, you are called for an interview with a big MNC, when you go there you find yourself competing with several hundreds of other people who are in a desperate need of the job just like you are. Then, despite the very competitive conditions, you've to give your best shot.
The same thing happened with Ayrton Senna at his first Formula-1 race. Weather was in total bad condition, it was raining yet the race continued. Because of the large bulky rear tires of Formula-1 car, the rain water gets sprayed over making it a view look like its filled with a thick fog for the driver coming behind. For example...
Ayrton started from 13th position as he's the new entrant then. With those conditions some of them hit the side dividers and some stopped driving, Ayrton didn't. He continued chasing the two players who are in the lead, despite some minor skids.
Later, the second racer hit the rails. And Ayrton Senna went on approaching the first car fiercely. However, owing to the bad conditions the race was stopped. Senna finished in second place. Some pundits of F-1 race said that Had the race continued further, we'd have seen him in winning position. (See footnotes for the video of that race)
I thought more about that race, that situation. He knew that there was no other driving on that time except him and Alain Prost ( Driver leading the race). But he din't go for the second place willingly. He didn't accept or compromise with the conditions to give up. He went on and on and took total damage or fatal risks to win. To win is his goal. Following are his quotes: (See footnote 3 for race video)
"Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that."
"I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win."
"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
Risk
There is so much complexity, fragility & uncertainty around us, involving risk. Combined with that our brains won't like uncertainty. To overcome these its better to think of everything as a gamble or in terms of probability. Likes odds in favor and odds against.
When we look at driving cars or riding bikes in this view, it can be concluded that its a huge gamble involving fast assumptions, quick probabilities and possibilities of the situation. (Quick as in milliseconds)
We face risk all the time, I don't have to specify how risk is involved with driving. I drive bikes. I don't about other's opinions but I think when I'm riding my bike, a process runs in my brain which keeps on making assumptions, probabilities and possibilities. And it also takes the help of the past data which is stored already in brain.
Being a racing driver, he understood this thing in depth. We use these skills such as probabilities, possibilities to put ourselves on safe side but racing drivers use this to take advantage. Of them, Ayrton Senna is a top notch racing driver.He used these skills to make the car dance around corners. (See footnote 6 for a great lap overtaking two cars at a time)
Some people claimed that he's gifted with sixth sense that sees the grip where it lies. Some people's comments:
John Bisignano(Journalist): There's only one word that describes Ayrton's style, and that is: fast. He would take the car beyond it's design capabilities. He would brake later, fly into these corners where the car was just over the edge, and somehow, he could dance and dance with that car, to where it stayed on track. (From the movie: Senna, click on the link for the interview video)
“Senna made the car dance," says former F1 driver John Watson. "He did things with the car that I hadn't even thought about, let alone put in to practice.” Watson added “after witnessing this, I knew that my time as race car driver was effectively over.”
In 1984, a racing track was opened with a joint venture with Mercedes and 20 star-studded racing drivers were invited to race with equal cars. Of them, Mercedes recruited F-3 (Formula-3) racing champ Ayrton Senna, and old F-1 champions.
Some former champions said like this:
John Watson remembers,"The main memory I have of it all is of Ayrton and how he attacked the circuit and in particular the chicane, which in those days was much quicker than today. He was just launching the car over the kerbs like a stone skimming across the water. He went to a different level.
"It was, I suppose, his calling card. That was the minimum accepted standard from him on display. He was clearly exceptionally gifted. Everyone else had turned up basically for the beer. It was a fun event, a thank you for Mercedes, a nice weekend in Germany in a hotel and nobody got stressed about it - except Ayrton, that is" (See footnote 5)
That's it.
P S: After writing this I found something else which is against what I thought. In the opportunity section, I wrote that he grabbed that opportunity very nicely at the race on rainy day. In one of his interviews, he said that, he was very bad initially with wet roads at cart racing. This made him to work and work and work on the wet tracks. And he improved.
P P S: The writing style with pics is inspired from my professor.
Thanks for reading!
Footnotes:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpp7OCngXQM (His last lap of life, on board camera, not for the faint hearted!!)
2. http://previewsandreviews.blogspot.in/2011/10/senna-no-fear-no-limits-no-equal.html ( A blog review on the movie Senna)
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUWuR2Dj78 ( Monaco GP 1984, first race)
4. http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-ayrton-senna-remains-greatest-racer-history-191054410.html (Comments taken from this.)
5. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/54800.html (Twenty equal cars-ESPN article)
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4pun6j0Fg ( On board camera)
7. Quotes taken from Brainyquote
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9qZu7h5ys0 ( Lap of life)
