Ayrton Senna, fully named Ayrton Senna da Silva, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 21, 1960. His family was wealthy and long supported his dreams of becoming a racer. At just the age of four Ayrton showed a massive interest in cars and racing. His first ever race was in a go-kart when he was four. Aryton began competing in karting competitions at the age of thirteen, his first kart was built by his father and a little before the end of the race he dominated the run and won.
In 1977, after he had studied subjects like physics, English, mathematics, and chemistry and graduated from Colegio Rio Branco. Also in the year 1977, his father hired Lucio Pascal Gascon to become Aryton’s manager and Aryton went on to win the South American Kart Championship.
Moving to England in the early 1980s helped further his racing career. In 1981 he won the British Formula Ford 1600 Championship and the following year he competed in the European and British Formula Ford 2000 and won that as well. In 1988, Aryton joined one of the top Formula One teams, Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda, and went on to win the World Championship at just the age of 28.
In 1994 his fellow racers Rubens Barrichello and Roland Ratzenberger got into fatal accidents leaving Aryton to discuss how they could improve driver safety with his fellow drivers in his last morning meeting. On May 1, 1994, Aryton Senna himself was in a fatal crash when he hit a concrete wall at around the speed of 135 miles per hour. He was sadly declared as dead upon arriving at the hospital.
Aryton Senna Quotes
- “And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.” – Ayrton Senna
- “When you’re not happy, you need to be strong to change, resisting the temptation of turning back. The weak goes nowhere.” – Ayrton Senna
- “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.” – Ayrton Senna
- “You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood.” – Ayrton Senna
- “You either commit yourself as a professional racing driver that’s designed to win races or you come second or you come third or fifth and am not designed to come third, fourth or fifth, I race to win.” – Ayrton Senna
- “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.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.” – Ayrton Senna
- “If a person has no dreams, they no longer have any reason to live. Dreaming is necessary, although in the dream reality should be glimpsed. For me this is a principle of life.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Racing, competing, it’s in my blood. It’s part of me, it’s part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Money is a strange business. People who haven’t got it aim it strongly. People who have are full of troubles.” – Ayrton Senna
- “As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Because I believe in God and have faith in God, it doesn’t mean I am immortal. It doesn’t mean I am immune, as has been claimed. I am as scared as anyone of getting hurt, especially driving a Formula One car.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than others.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence.” – Ayrton Senna
- “The main thing is to be yourself. Many times its through a mistake that you learn. And the main thing is to make sure you learn through your mistakes and get better.” – Ayrton Senna
- “It 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.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.” – Ayrton Senna
- “The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge is to find new dangers.” – Ayrton Senna
- “The past is just data. I only see the future.” – Ayrton Senna
- “These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile.” – Ayrton Senna
- “It’s going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I’ll risk saying that we’ll be lucky if something really serious doesn’t happen.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I believe if you are doing something like competing, like motor racing, you either do well or forget it.” – Ayrton Senna
- “You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have, everything, absolutely everything.” – Ayrton Senna
- “With regard to performance, commitment, effort, dedication, there is no middle ground. Or you do something very well or not at all.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Women.. Always in trouble with them, but can’t live without them.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I believe in the ability of focusing strongly in something, then you are able to extract even more out of it.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Whoever you are, no matter what social position you have, rich or poor, always show great strength and determination, and always do everything with much love and deep faith in God. One day you will reach your goal.” – Ayrton Senna
- “When you’re not happy, you need to be strong to change, resisting the temptation of turning back. The weak goes nowhere” – Ayrton Senna
- “I don’t know driving in another way which isn’t risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other’s.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I believe that we start to see our true personalities when we go through the most difficult moments. This is when we get stronger.” – Ayrton Senna
- “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.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Pure driving, pure racing, that’s what makes me happy.” – Ayrton Senna
- “On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I cannot live on an island of prosperity when I’m surrounded by a sea of misery.” – Ayrton Senna
- “My biggest error? Something that is to happen yet.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I want to live fully, very intensely. I would never want to live partially, suffering from illness or injury. If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs my life, I hope it happens in one instant.” – Ayrton Senna
- “Fear is exciting for me.” – Ayrton Senna
- “I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.” – Ayrton Senna
- “You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not.” – Ayrton Senna
- “We are made of emotions, we are all looking for emotions, it’s only a question of finding the way to experience them.” – Ayrton Senna
- “There are no small accidents on this circuit.” – Ayrton Senna
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Video – Top 10 Moments of Ayrton Senna Brilliance
To many people, he’s the greatest F1 driver of all time. This is an excellent tribute video from our friends at Top Gear.
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Summary
When Aryton’s body was being returned to Brazil, it was estimated that three million people lined the Sao Paulo streets in one of the biggest recorded memorials ever in Brazil!
These people gathered not only because he was known as one of the most skilled drivers of his time, but also because he was an inspiration to many. While he was alive, Aryton Senna donated millions of dollars to the less fortunate people of Brazil, and a short time before his death he started the Ayrton Senna Institute.
The institute that he started had the main goal of helping the people of Brazil. Some of these quotes can be used to inspire others just as Senna had inspired millions of people.
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Image Credit: “Tributo à Ayrton Senna” by Wilson Severino is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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