Senna

Very exciting and emotional documentary, highly recommended.

I agree - very enjoyable. Not an active fan of F1, but it didn't matter.

I have been waiting for this for a very long time.
A big F1 for the last 15 years.

Senna died before my interest in the sport began, but his ghost still looms large to this day.

I'm sure you will find this film very enjoyable. I've never been a hugh F1 fan but I was completely drawn into this movie and the life of Ayrton Senna. He was an amazing and talented driver.

Speaking of talented drivers and if you like racing films check out the documentary "Racing Dreams". A feature documentary following three young racers as they compete in the World Karting Association's National Pavement Series.

Especially noteworthy is the young female driver, Annabeth Barnes who could possible be the first female driver to ever win the Daytona 500. She is only 16 years old and has all ready won 17 championships.

Thank you for that link!
I was ignorant of this stuff.

I would love to see this. Senna was the best driver of his time, although i rooted for Alain Prost against him. F1 is incredible to follow, i love it, and this looks very interesting, thanks for posting.

I saw an interesting thing on tv awhile ago about how the accident that he died in happened. This show claimed that he was driving into a turn, started to lose it a little, and just as he turned his wheels in the opposite direction to correct the problem the car went over a teenie bump and was off the ground for a split second. When the car landed, the wheels were facing the wrong way due to him trying to correct for the potential spin, and with the downforce and grip of the car the car shot off in the direction that the front wheels were facing the moment the car hit the ground and put him right into the wall. True or not i dont know, but they explained it in really great detail and it sounded right.

This might be a stupid question, but i see people here talking about documentaries, well where do you see these when they come out? I never see them listed at the movie theaters near me.

In Dallas, TX we have the showing on the 26th of August at the Angelika Film Center:

http://angelikafilmcenter.com/angeli...=Coming%20Soon


To the OP, lwright84, are you a big racing fan? I'm a kart racer, if you're interested let me know, always looking for more people to join us!

I don't really know the exact cause, but I do know his death led to several changes in car safety and design.
Chief among them is the front wheel/suspension assembly is now tethered to the car with a cable.
Reason being a front suspension piece whipped around to Senna's cockpit and went thru his helmet and head, killing him instantly.

I saw him race live at the inaugural opening of the raceway in Budapest [Hungarian Grand Prix], when I was a kid in '86, I think he was still with Lotus at the time. I did like him but always favored Nigel Mansell. Senna followed another Brazilian's footsteps in F1, Emerson Fittipaldi, who was very popular in Europe in the 70's. Sadly I lost interest of F1 after I moved to the US, and haven't kept up with current drivers. Nevertheless this docu will be making it into my rig soon as it is released in disc format. Thanks for posting this.

I have been watching F1 since I was a child. My dad always had it on so early on I knew all the drivers, teams, etc. In the '80s and '90s when I was a teen / early twenties, Ayrton Senna was hands down my favorite driver. He was awesome to watch. The only other driver who came close (for me) was Schumacher.

I remember May 1, 1994 like it was yesterday. I was devastated. Just thinking about this now as I write is making me a little emotional. My interest in Senna has led me to travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil and Imola, Italy. I have been waiting for this movie for a long, long time. I'll be seeing it next week when it opens in the Bay Area. I'm pretty sure I will cry like a little girl. I can't wait.

WOW, thanx for sharing some personal perspective.

Please post your take on Senna after you have seen it.

I finally saw this movie Thursday night with my wife. WOW!! What a great movie. Although I already knew the whole story going in, I was still hooked from the first few frames. Lot's of details were revealed that I was not aware of, so that definitely kept it interesting, as well.

Although this movie is a documentary, it plays out much like an action movie. The movie is composed entirely of archival footage and the occasional voice-over. The fact that the filmmaker was able to be this creative without ever lifting a camera is a testament to his skills.

The movie chronicles Senna's entry into F1 in 1984, his rise to greatness including his three world championships and bitter rivalry with Alain Prost, and climaxes with the tragic event of May 1, 1994. The drama is extremely compelling. As I predicted, by the end I was in tears (as was my wife).

My only complaint about the movie is that it seemed too short. The amount of on-track footage showing Senna's brilliance behind the wheel was not what I thought it would be. I could have easily watched another hour of just that. But this is coming from a die-hard fan, so I understand that approach may not have as much mass appeal. I will definitely be picking this up on Blu-ray. Hopefully it will include the extended version.

I am about to watch the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium, and i really have the hots for seeing this Senna documentary, looks great.

Awesome doc. I've followed his career all the way to the end and this is a fitting tribute. They neglected to mention in the doc. that he was one of the highest paid athlete in his time. On his death he had close to half a billion dollars. It looks like his nephew Bruno is on the fast track to follow in his footsteps.

Racing is a VERY VERY dangerous "sport."

Today's cars are seemingly invulnerable, but tragedies DO happen and probably always will.

250 MPH can kill in a heartbeat...

Why'd you put quotes around sport?

I don't necessarily, but some consider racing to be more of an activity than an athletic event.
Try driving an F1 car at 4Gs.

I took several classes @ Laguna Seca and I think my driving skills are "ok". Certainly better than the average joe with a driver's license but when the instructors took me out for a few hot laps in a 997s they scared the hell out of me. I can vouch for the serious G forces around the turns. Even with the 4 point harness I didn't feel safe not being in control. Way scarier than a roller coaster ride. Anyways, after taking the high performance driving school I'm actually more aware of the idiots out there. Basically, no one knows how to drive out in public. Scary.

I have always wanted to take some classes (Bondurant perhaps), but never got there....maybe someday.

I do like to drive fast (without getting a frickin' ticket) and often do so.
Today, while transporting cars to my snow-less winter home, I might have set the land speed record between Bend, Oregon and Salem, Oregon in my XLR.

Last winter, I went to Vegas (http://exoticsracing.com/) and drove the new Ferrari 458 Italia.
5 laps around the infield course and my neck hurt for a week.
To be a racecar driver, you better be in shape.

You should try karting, really easy to get started in (as long as you have a track relatively close to you) and a lot of fun. My track is about 45 mins from me and we pretty much have a race every other Saturday.

I took the Skip Barber classes at Laguna Seca. Bondurant had classes there in the 80's with the old version of the track. You should go for it. Makes driving more fun knowing you know how to toss a car around without killing yourself.

Karting scares the poop outta me....
Being all exposed like that....



For years I have been threatening to shoot down Interstate 5 and catch the ALMS race down there (can make it within one day of driving).
Sadly, something always comes up.
Maybe I can put the 2 things together next year...

If you like karting you should check out the movie "Racing Dreams" I listed in an earlier post.

It's so much fun though! I come from motorcycles, so I guess being exposed never bothered me, but it's definitely something you should try at least once!




Added to my netflix queue.

FYI Available on Netflix streaming.

I'll wait for NF's disks...or find another way of seeing it.