A "Book Review": 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' (by Richard Williams)

Article Title: A "Book Review": 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' (by Richard Williams)
Shared by: Craig Lock
Category (key words): Motor racing, Ayrton Senna, Richard Williams, books, book "reviews", elite performance, champion, champions, Formula 1, great racing drivers, racing drivers, champion drivers, Grand Prix drivers, Grand Prix champions, Formula One champions/drivers, "Inside the Mind of a Grand Prix Champion" , motivation, champion, excellence (enough there now, craig!)

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This article (as with all my articles) may be freely published

"We share what we know, so that we all may grow."
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A "Review": 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' by Richard Williams

(Publisher Viking, Part of the Penguin Group, first published 1995)

A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE, GREAT RACING DRIVER, AYRTON SENNA

“A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it’s life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.”

• Steve McQueen in the film ‘Le Mans’ (1971)

“One thing that perhaps we all have in common, apart from our differences, is that we are all racers, we love our activity. We take chances, we take risks, we go through pain, we sacrifice lots of things in love just to be P1. We are made of emotions, we're all looking for emotions. It's only a question of finding a way to experience them. One particular thing with Formula one can provide you, is that we know we are always exposed to danger, danger of getting hurt, danger of dying, you either face it, or you just drop it, just leave it, and you don't do it anymore." - "the late, great" Ayrton Senna

Submitter's Note:
Craig is currently "working"* on a new manuscript 'Inside the Mind of a Grand Prix Champion', which forms part of true stories of 'Endless Possibilities: Let the Jou
ey Begin'.

*It's not really "work", but a "labour of love"
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INSIDE THE MIND OF A GRAND PRIX CHAMPION

Firstly, here are some thoughts on Senna's Faith and Spirituality:

"I am able to experience God's presence on earth. If I go to church, I go on my own and I like to be there alone. I find more peace that way."

His Christianity needed work. "God gives me strength ...and life is a present that God has given to us and we are obliged to keep it, to handle it carefully."

Senna's faith was about individual self realisation and provided him with the 'armour of self belief'.

"When I am competing against the watch and against other competitors, the feeling of expectation, of getting it done and doing the best I can gives me a kind of power, that some moments when I am driving actually detaches me completely from anything else as I'm doing it...corner after corner, lap after lap. I can give you a true example.

Monte Carlo 1988, the last qualifying session... Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, including my team mate with the same car. And
suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more."

'This sort of thing happens to people at a very high level of mental and physical activity, where the intellect and the body combine and it becomes hard to say who is pulling the strings.'

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Quotations sourced from 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' by Richard Williamsrn(Publisher Viking, Part of the Penguin Group, first published 1995)

Finally, the contradiction, the anachronism (big word, eh?) of supreme self belief, mixed with a quiet humility in the man. On being accused of blocking a competitor, he retorted:

"But I am Senna!"

"Lest we forget a great champion...

Shared by Craig Lock ("Information and Inspiration Distributer + motor racing fanatic"

“One thing that perhaps we all have in common, apart from our differences, is that we are all racers, we love our activity. We take chances, we take risks, we go through pain, we sacrifice lots of things in love just to be P1. We are made of emotions, we're all looking for emotions. It's only a question of finding a way to experience them. One particular thing with Formula one can provide you, is that we know we are always exposed to danger, danger of getting hurt, danger of dying, you either face it, or you just drop it, just leave it, and you don't do it anymore." - "the late, great" Ayrton Senna

"Champions aren't made in the gym. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - an inner flame that burns brightly...with purpose, desire and passion. True champions live the dream, the vision of who and what they can one day become.... even a long time before it happens." - craig

"Together, one mind, one life at a time, let's see how many people we can impact, encourage, empower, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials...and so become 'ever more champions of life'."

Discover the champion in YOU

This article may be freely published

PPS
“I want to write the way Gilles Villeneuve drove and slid his blood -red Formula One Ferrari… with wild enthusiasm, a sense of abandonment and youthful exuberance, yet also with the artists craft of a Stirling Moss, a Jim Clark, and especially an Ayrton Senna, living on the razor-blade edge of life.”