When Senna went Rallying in Wales - I was there

[FellowHQ]

Hello! Back in the '80s I was a staffer on SuperBike Magazine. A mate of mine, Steve Bennett, worked on CCC, the car mag next to us. Obviously that was boring, as only motorbikes were fun and exciting! But when they got Senna to go rallying with them in 1986 everyone took notice. Now, about a hundred years later, I got Steve to go back and remember what it was like spending a day with Ayrton Senna on a dank Welsh hillside. 20 years after Senna's death, it seems a good time to remember him without all the gloss and glamour of F1 around him.
The link is here if you wanted to have a look (there are no ads or sign ins or anything, just the story):

http://www.fellowhq.com/?p=1796

[Chipmunk1]

Thanks for sharing, amazing !

[RicksAlfas]

Great read, thank you.

I'm lucky enough to have Russell Bulgin's book at home and it's well worth trying to get a copy.

[TheExcession]

What a fantastic story!

Thanks for posting it here. About a decade ago I did a year with the WRC. I have so many memories that I simply can't put into words. It's truly an emotional thing to be around the top flight rally/race lads.

I can imagine a day with Senna out in the Welsh forests must have felt utterly normal but completely awesome all at the same time.

Great stuff.


P.S. Performance Bikes was way better than SuperBike Mag

[BlackpoolRock]

Great story ! you sir are one very lucky person to be able to say you spent that much one to one time with Senna. Thanks for posting this I enjoyed reading that.

[Ranger 6]

Thanks, very good - I've still got a that issue in the loft.

[tyrrell]

Fantastic many thanks for posting

[rallycross]

I remember this well

http://blog.neillwatson.com/wp-content/uploads/sen...

[FellowHQ]

Hey, The Excession, that sounds pretty fantastic. I once did a rally with Colin McRae as his navigator when he was in the classic Rothmans Subaru. I don't like the word 'awesome' but it was. And we won. Or, to be more accurate, Colin won and I failed to lose it for him. Again, I wrote a post on that you might like, which is here:

http://www.fellowhq.com/?p=1067

And Perf Bikes better than SuperBike? No way! We had the writing talent, they just rode fast (although I miss John Robinson).

[tobinen]

I'd forgotton this but you have reminded me and I can now remember the article. Thank you for posting

[HDM]

Graham,

Thanks for posting this, I have the Bulgin book, it's a great read, not sure if it is still available, but does have some of his best writing in it.

And also, nice job on your website, some thought provoking reading.

[sideways man]

I still have the original triple c magazine with this story.
Reading that article for the first time,it came accross as slightly unreal- could Senna really be be bothered to spend time doing this? I couldn't believe the premise, and just devoured the article. Great link to the background story, thanks op.
Always thought the cars involved were a bit meh,learning that Ford,Lancia and Peugeot were to be involved but pulled out explains a lot to me. Do you know why?

[FellowHQ]

Hey Sideways Man. Apparently the reason the others pulled out was never given, but Steve Bennett reckons two possibilities: that the other manufacturers couldn't really believe Ayrton Senna was going to show up on a Welsh hillside, or the other reason is that it was simply too much admin hassle to get crews, kit etc from all over Europe to said hillside. Either way, Senna showed - and they didn't!

[Logie]

Cool story !