Thursday, April 5, 2012
Senna's car expected to attract high bids
There has been a renewed interest in the life and times of legendary formula one racer Ayrton Senna since the release of Asif Kapadia's biographical film, and the emergence of the great man's nephew in the motorsport world.
Such is the feeling of awe that one fan recently paid £74,750 for one of Senna's old helmets and race suits. However, the really big news is that an elegant high speed Toleman racing car, driven by Senna during the 1984 Grand Prix season is set to be auctioned off at Silverstone.
It is expected that the vehicle featuring a 1.5 turbo charged Hart engine will fetch somewhere in the region of £750,000. This may seem like a reasonable price to pay for any affluent racing fanatics who have long dreamed of cruising about in an authentic F1 vehicle.
A spokesperson for Silverstone Auctions said, “We are thrilled to bring this iconic race car to auction as it's undoubtedly one of the most important lots we've ever offered.
“It goes without saying that this will be one of the star attractions at the sale as it's a very rare chance to own a much sought after piece of motorsport and Ayrton Senna history.”
For those Senna fans who baulk at the thought of spending all their hard earned money there is the option of the limited edition Senna DVD pack, which comes complete with a 1:12 F1 Lotus Model.
Photo © kemeko1971 via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Ayrton Senna, F1, Formula One, Grand Prix, helmet, motorsport, racer, Silverstone, Toleman racing car
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wheelie embarrassing
If you pulled out of your driveway or away from the roadside and one of your car’s wheels just fell off, it would be a bit embarrassing wouldn’t it?
We’d certainly look around and hope no-one saw.
Now imagine how embarrassed Jenson Button must have been at the British Grand Prix in front of a more than 120,000-strong crowd at Silverstone this year when, just a few metres out of the pit-stop, his front right wheel came loose.
As it happens, this was due to a simple human error by a member of the pit-stop crew, but it unfortunately meant that the Formula One driver was unable to finish the race and that McLaren was fined £4,433 from FIA for its unsafe pit-stop release.
Reportedly Button was initially irate at the slip-up, but after calming down he said, "We all make mistakes, and you always hope they won't happen, but this is even more disappointing as it's in front of my home crowd."
Well, if Jenson Button feels bad, we can’t imagine how the mechanic feels right now!
Photo by amika_san via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: British Grand Prix, Jenson Button, McLaren, pit-stop, Silverstone, wheel