pk951

Here is the link for the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-zbfdPfRg

To bad it wasn't a 944

Fishey

Aryton Senna was the man..

pk951

Would have been interesting to see him and Micheal on the track. Who would be faster?

special tool

Michael was behind him when he died.

TheRealLefty

Ahhhhh, grasshoppah...you ask the question that has no answer.

There is a special place in racing history for both, Michael as the all time winningest F1 pilot and the departed Senna as the only equal of the late Jimmy Clark for pure open wheel driving talent in the modern era.

Schumie did not have the measure of Aryton when they were on the track together, but he did not have an equal car on most of those days. Schumacher's unequalled winning ways after Senna's death are blurred by the fact that, by then, he did have a far superior car compared to the field, season after season.

Thus we can only say conclusively that no one in F1 history has so dominated their competiton for as long as did Michael. Single season F1 dominance is a different and interesting historical debate. FWIW my vote in that category would go to Clark in 1967. Without getting into the exact details of that season, IIRC, Clark essentially led every race in his revolutionary Lotus 49 DFV and won every time the fragile Lotus finished intact.

f1rocks

His throttle modulation was interesting. He really jabbed at the throttle when rolling back in to the power.

I miss seeing him race. I think he and Michael would have been worthy adversaries.

f1rocks

Which wasn't very often. The Lotus was the superior chassis in those days so he had a slight advantage to the BRM's and Honda's of the day. Similar to the Ferrari advantage that Michael helped create. When he started at Benneton and Ferrari neither were particulary dominant. They built the dream teams IMO.

TheRealLefty

All true. Interestingly, Lotus under Chapman's seat of the pants genius as an inventor, surfaced to win F1 titles based entirely on huge leaps in layout or design...the Lotus 49 was the first monocoque tub that used the engine/transaxle as a stressed member...the 72 was the first effective design to move the radiators midships..and the 79 was the first functional underbody ground effects F1 car.

If the 60s and 70s were the "decades of death" and the 80s were the ground effects revolution years, the 90s may be known more as the era of "no passing" time trials than the Schumie era, which isn't really fair since, as Brent observes, Benneton and Ferrari both did remarkable jobs mastering the game as it was defined in front of them.

rage2

Sweet, finally someone that understands! I've been saying forever that Schumacher's legacy is pretty much from superior equipment. Hell, the Ferraris are so good that guys like Fillipe and Rubens can win races driving with one hand (only when Schumacher has equipment problems). He gets crappy drivers as teammates, making him the most overrated driver of the century.

Smooth == consistency.
Agressive == fast.

Now If you can be agressive AND consistent... .

Reminds me of the "Days of Thunder" test that I did with an instructor a few years ago. I had GPS telemetry equipment in my car so I can do laptimes, sector times, and even find entry speed, apex speed, exit speed for each corner. I was told by instructors that I was way too agressive and overdrove the car (I heavily trail brake into each corner, and very agressive with throttle at exit, and very agressive with steering during turn-in). So try a 5 laps my way, then try 5 laps his way. Even though the smooth laps I had hotter and grippier tires, AND the instructor betting me $20 that he felt the smooth laps were faster after all the laps were complete with him riding as a passenger, my slowest agressive lap was a full 2/3 of a second faster than my fastest smooth lap. All together, I cut close to 5 seconds off the total laptimes.

For the curious, the agressive laps I had higher entry speed before the apex, same speed at the apex, and higher top speed for every straightaway after a corner. The only downside was I was well into 5-figures a year for tires .

SoloRacer

Rage2: Welcome to forum. This forum is for owners of 944 turbos. The following image is the trademark of the current owner. Any use, misuse or display without the expressed written consent of the current owner is strictly prohibited.

Fishey

I don't think Senna would do well in the modern car as its controlled to much by electronics. As a driver his car control skill was just leaps and bounds superior to everyone elses. Schumacher on the other hand is absolutely amazing technically but he doesn't have the pure driving control/skill that Senna had what he does have is the experiance and thats what makes him so fast.

I think if on the same DAY in the same car I have to say it all comes down to the car.
Honestly, newier car I would give Schumacher the win but in a car that the driver really has to drive and control there is no doubt even for a second that Aryton would be way faster.

I personally find Senna to be the greatest of all time not for his wins but purely for his competitive spirit. Would Schumi really put someone into the wall to win the championship? I don't think so but Senna... Yea, Senna would and did... He went out everyweekend to win not to race but to win and I don't think you can say that about any other driver.

Gator_86_951

Senna wasn't a douche bag.

rage2

lol. So can I use that picture PLEASE???

Oh ya, give me a call sometime this weekend. I have to figure out budgeting if we want sponsorship for the run in the Motec, if you're still interested.

pk951

Here is a video on the different driving styles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAF9mOmWhQw

TheRealLefty

I saw Jackie Stewart's last F1 laps at speed at Watkins Glen the year Cevert was killed in the esses during Saturday practice and I vividly remember how different Stewart looked and sounded from other drivers.

The Tyrell 008 (IIRC) was a very middle of the road design, cookie cutter for the early 70s, but everywhere on the track...the anvil, the chute...you name it, Stewart's throttle note was always the same and his hands never bobbled or corrrected. Although he didn't race that weekend or any thereafter, he was the master of that era...the most aggressive AND the smoothest.

By contrast, James Hunt, Ronnie Peterson and the rest were twitching in and broadsliding out with as many different entry lines as they had laps in some cases. Then to read that Stewart was a bit of a tortoise to Jimmy Clark's hare, how fast must HE have been!