For a racer who lived for a short span, Ayrton Senna is clearly the most celebrated racer. We still talk about Fangio, Moss, Jackie Stewart and even Alain Prost and hail them as one of the finest of racers Formula One has ever seen. Yes, they are legends in their own right but no one has been immortalized in so many forms like Senna. The films, the articles and the documentaries might look like a posthumous tribute but had he lived, we are sure that there would have been many more.
We are talking here about Senna again because there is a new book out and it tells the story of motor racings most charismatic, complex and driven characters. Penned by Tony Dodgins, one of the world's leading F1 journalists, the book takes you through a journey of every single race in which he competed. So everything right from karts to Formula One gets equal attention.
The book is published ahead of the 20th anniversary of Senna's death at Imola in 1994 and features fresh interviews with many of Senna's rivals and colleagues. Martin Brundle writes the foreward for this book and says, "I have nothing but total respect for the man and his brilliance. He was a complex character but then aren't all great champions?"
The book covers everything from Senna's Karting years in Brazil and South America, to his yeas in Formula Ford 1600 and 2000, Formula 3 and finally Formula 1. His time with F1 has been documented in a way that tells people about his stint with Toleman, Lotus, McLaren and his final years with Williams.
Senna's life was all about racing and though his famed on-track madness has been well documented, there is another side to the man - the public figure who did so much for the people of Brazil. His death is still mourned but his legend stays on and through books like these immortalized.
