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At the 1985 Monaco Grand Prix, the French oil company Elf sponsored a crew to film the drivers and the teams as they readied themselves for the race. The result was Anatomie d’un Depart (“Anatomy of the Start”), ten mostly silent minutes set to a loopy Serge Franklin score, interspersed with the occasional squeak of a racing glove on a visor and some burbly turbos. More »
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Asif Kapadia's phenomenal Senna was overlooked by a confused and self-obsessed Hollywood, but the Brits did the right thing by nominating and awarding the film with a "Best Documentary" award in the BAFTA — their clearly superior version of the Oscars. The film also won for best editing. More »
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This is Noel Fielding’s take on the iconic color combination of white, red, yellow, green and black better known as Ayrton Senna driving the wheels off one of his McLarens, drawn upside down in felt-tipped pen on the back of a Royal Mail envelope for The Guardian. Fielding, who discussed his artistic influences, referred to Senna as enigmatic and spiritual and called his racing “almost like an act of poetry." More »
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Former HRT driver Bruno Senna is going to race for Williams F1 in 2012. I kept "Bruno" off the headline for this F1 update because it's a little jarring if you have the proper context and know the history. Senna's uncle, the great Ayrton Senna, died 18 years ago in his third race for Williams. More »
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Hunting game and racing cars are generally pursued as separate pastimes, but not by Tazio Nuvolari at the 1938 Donington Grand Prix, where, as evidenced by a severed head, he did both with great aplomb. More »
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If you haven't seen the Ayrton Senna F1 documentary Senna you must be sick of hearing other car guys constantly talk about how great it is. Now here's your chance to see it for free, on your computer, right now. More »
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Lewis Hamilton contested the season’s last Formula One race on Sunday in this yellow-and-green helmet, which is even more Senna-esque than his regular yellow helmet. Hamilton, who is something of a Senna incarnation on his good days, is looking to end his stormy season on a roll: hot off his victory in Abu Dhabi, he topped the timesheets in Practice Two. More »
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Left: the poster advertising the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix. It shows Ayrton Senna’s #8 McLaren MP4/8, which he drove to victory at the 1993 event. More »
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Most Formula One cars end up on display or in the private collections of the über wealthy. A car like the McLaren MP4/6 Ayrton Senna drove to the F1 World Championship in 1991 should be in a museum. That's why I thought it was so strange when I thought we found it collecting dust in the space above the shipping-and-receiving office of an aerospace company in Salt Lake City, Utah. More »
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Senna may be the highest grossing documentary this year, but the only other person in the theater with me yesterday for a mid-afternoon screening of it was one old woman who "doesn't like racing." She was the perfect person to see it with. More »
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We've told you to see "Senna." Our readers have told you to see "Senna." Now a Los Angeles woman who'd never heard of Ayrton Senna before the movie is giving away 100 tickets. There's no excuses left. More »
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Asif Kapadia's acclaimed documentary "Senna," the story of legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna, found "glowing numbers" in its limited debut this weekend. In fact, the numbers were so good Senna's currently, eight months into the year, the best documentary debut of 2011. Take that, New York media elites and your silly obsession with the insider-y "Page One." More »
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Ayrton Senna was a legend. He was one of the greatest Formula One racing drivers in history — that's not my ruling, that's the verdict of 217 world championship drivers. His statistics are legendary: 41 F1 wins, 65 pole positions, three world championships, so on and so forth. More »
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It looks like one of those plastic parts trees from a model kit, but this is Ayrton Senna's 1991 F1 championship-winning McLaren MP4/6, deconstructed and transformed into a wall sculpture back in the '90s. Now the art piece is up for auction. More »
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The two-disc set for the "Senna" documentary is now available for pre-order. Time to convert to whatever religion has the most proximate holiday... ALL PRAISE PAN! (Hat tip Crossdrilled!) More »
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This is the podium ceremony after the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna’s second home victory. As he waves the Brazilian flag to the manic crowds, 82-year-old Juan Manuel Fangio walks onto the stage, hands the constructors’ trophy to McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, then drags Senna from the podium and gives him a big hug. Behind them, third on the podium, there’s a very happy Michael Schumacher in his yellow Benetton overalls. More »
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What made Ayrton Senna such an epochal sensation that 217 living F1 drivers voted him Formula One’s greatest driver ever was neither his deranged rivalry with Alain Prost nor the freak accident that claimed his life in Tamburello corner. It’s how he drove whatever car came his way. Like in this clip from 1993—incidentally, against Alain Prost in Tamburello corner. More »
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We all know where we were when Ayrton Senna died. But do we really? Asif Kapadia’s documentary is only the latest chapter in the 17 years of collective remembrance which has turned Senna’s death into the epochal event it now is. A new piece of amateur footage from the grandstands of Imola shows a very different reality on the ground. On the afternoon of May 1, 1994, all one saw was a confusing but rather mundane motor race in the Italian spring. More »
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When the 1988 Formula One season began in Rio de Janeiro, nobody knew that the record book on dominance was about to be rewritten. But that’s just what happened. When the bottom half of this car, the McLaren MP4/4, was attached to the carbon fiber shell photographed at dusk before the race, all mayhem was let loose. The 900–1,200 676 hp Honda V6 in that bottom half didn’t hurt either. More »
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Yeah, it’s that lap. Laps, in fact. His third race for McLaren, the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, when Ayrton Senna got himself into the mother of all flow experiences and out-qualified Alain Prost by a second and a half, then out-qualified himself lap after lap in the McLaren MP4/4: More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5814087&view=rss&microfeed=true The fantastic Senna documentary is set to be released in U.S. theaters on Aug. 12, but those of you who subscribe to Netflix can stream it to your homes today, the 17th anniversary of his death. UPDATE: And it's gone... More »
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The "Senna" documentary arrives in the United States in July, and a few hundred people got to see it last night. Here's how to talk your friends and family into seeing it in theaters. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5794358&view=rss&microfeed=true The writer/director behind the much-lauded Senna documentary just confirmed a U.S. distribution deal via Twitter. They're aiming for a July release, which gives you three months to get the best F1-themed costume together for the premier. More »
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By 1993, when this exposition kart race happened, the epic rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had mostly peaked. But the fiercest rivals the sport had ever known did take their karting seriously. Check out the technique. More »
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Director Asif Kapadia's documentary on "perhaps the greatest race car driver who ever lived" is scheduled to play at the Sundance Film Festival tomorrow. Who do we need to have sex with to get a ticket? Seriously, whom? More »
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A few months before his death, Ayrton Senna remarked the now-famous line about his sister Viviane's 10-year-old son: "If you think I'm fast, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno." We've now seen him race. But have we really? More »
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Did you just win a Grand Prix and witness your rival run out of fuel? Since Formula One cars come with aerodynamic sidepods, it’s easy to do the decent and brotherly thing: drive up and give a lift. More »
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Before he became a Formula 1 legend, Ayrton Senna had a rival named Tommy Byrne, whom some observers considered his superior. This is the story of how Byrne's one shot at the top echelon of F1 ended in mystery. More »
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Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were recently filmed walking through the McLaren Formula 1 team's warehouse of old cars. This video is rumored to be unscripted. Get ready to geek out on some serious Senna. More »
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Jalopnik reader solracer was in attendance at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the motor race which saw the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, along with a major accident which almost killed Rubens Barrichello. More »
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Bereft of Honda power yet still supernaturally fast, Senna here is zooming for his record-breaking sixth and last win at the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix. More »
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Here is Ayrton Senna hosing down his red Honda NSX with a manly jet of water. Further commentary is wholly unnecessary. Go and wash your car! More »
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Speaking of Ayrton Senna, look how Japan’s elite sports cars have grown over the years, with Nissan's modern GT-R towering over the Honda NSX which Senna helped develop. More »
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After a two year detour to Fuji Speedway, the Japanese Grand Prix returns this Sunday to Suzuka Circuit, Honda’s scintillating test track where Ayrton Senna ran a pulverizing qualifier to take pole position twenty years ago. More »
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This photograph was taken at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix, which was the 500th Formula One race held. Ayrton Senna is all grins after taking the world title at the previous race at Suzuka. More »
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Published hours before his team became one of only two to enter next year’s world championship, Brad Spurgeon’s interview with the F1 veteran is a touching portrait of a man who lives and breathes racing. More »
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In 2007, Royal Mail issued a set of stamps commemorating Britain’s Formula One greats. With six slots for eight world champions and Sir Stirling Moss, the stage was set for a philatelic battle royale. More »
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Following his second pole, Jenson Button of Brawn GP maintains his immaculate record in a race suspended after 31 laps of torrential rain. BMW's Nick Heidfeld and Toyota's Timo Glock round out an unusual podium. More »
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It was 14 years ago to the day that this world lost Ayrton Senna. More »
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The Formula One season gets started this weekend in Australia, so of course Jackie Stewart (number 8 on the top 100 F1 drivers of all time list) is talking. We were struck by how much...well, flat-out human carnage that the man has witnessed. More »
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