Klon wrote:DonTirri wrote:Gilles and Ayrton were in my opinion the last true *Racers* in the sport, just fast men who wanted to drive fast and be best at it, damn the consequences.
a.k.a.
"idiots".
Damn right, you people heard me - I just called Senna and (Gilles) Villeneuve idiots and I am sticking with that. A win is only worth it if you live to enjoy it. Therefore people who think with their brains instead of their feet will always trump "true racers": it's why Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Juan Manuel Fangio will forever be so much more worthy of GOAT accolades then Senna was. It's why Sebastian Vettel will be at least a four-time world champion and Kimi Räikkönen will "only" be a one-time world champion. Passion is useless unless combined with reason.
Maybe the above post is looking to get a reaction, and the associated attention as CoopsII correctly points out. However I do feel one need to stand up on behalf of ‘racers’ like GV & Senna. Okay I understand there will always be some people who may never fully understand the ‘Gilles Villeneuve thing'. But to call him or Senna “idiots” is going a bit too far don’t you think? May I ask what do you look for in racing drivers? For instance do you want to see a driver driving for results, thereby cruising to a safe 3rd position consistently every week? Or do you want to see a driver risk it all & go for the win?
I suspect the majority of REAL F1 fans are in the latter category, hence the reason why drivers like Senna or Gilles Villeneueve are so revered. Much more than one would expect given their records in comparison to Fangio, Prost & Schumacher. Sure danger and inconsistency in terms of WDC points can be a by product of their attitude. However I believe Both Senna & GV knew and accepted these costs beforehand. Yet still choose to carry on with their ‘flat out’ approach despite its many draw backs. For the simple reason that they wouldn’t have been comfortable trying to race any other way. Nor did they cave in to pressure forcing them to change their approach.
For instance here is Senna talking about how his character had costed him a race or a good result, but the main thing is to be yourself...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWP38I4Mt0o Simliarly IIRC Gilles Villeneueve once spoke of how "results" were of secondary interest to him - he wanted simply to be the fastest. I'm sure he would have been happy to win a championship, but only on his own terms; only by being the fastest day in day out, and not by driving strategically. Did that compromise his career statistics? Absolutely. Does that mean he was daft, or wrong? I don't think so - it merely reflects that he brought his own values to his racing, and stayed true to those values in a world where few drivers shared it. And fewer still are brave enough to put this attitude into practice.
I believe that has everything to do with why people still revere true racers like Villleneuve & Senna even today nearly 31 years & 19 years since their respective deaths. To illustrate this point, I’m willing to bet there are at least as many books on Villeneueve as there are on either Fangio, Prost or Schumacher. All of whom were vastly more ‘successful’ than Gilles in terms of statistics. Whereas there seems to be at least twice as many books on Senna as any other F1 driver. My point to all this; attitudes towards their motor racing like those GV or Senna held appear to inspire the public much more than their achievements or statistics ever could. Which for me personally is a greater achievement than the 7 WDC's M Schumi won.
Very simply put its not what they did. Its how they did it.In regards to the “A win is only worth it if you live to enjoy it” bit you said. Perhaps Gilles & Senna disagreed. Instead, maybe they felt that ‘living for’ & ‘enjoying the moment’ was more important than savouring a victory afterwards? Hence the reason why for instance, they would go flat out, where mere mortals would not have the balls to do so. As this gave them as much, if not more of a buzz then say winning certain races? Sure a win had some degree of enjoyment attached to it. However I vividly remember GV describe his Spain 1981 victory as a “grind”. Similarly how much enjoyment would Senna (or anyone) really have taken for those victories when he had a clear car advantage?
Where as if I was to look around, I’m sure I could dig out various quotes them both talking about the pleasure of driving a racing car at its limits & the joy of fighting fairly on track which Senna despite being an idiot at certain times like Suzuka 1990. Senna did occasional fight fairly, like with Alesi at Phonenix in 1990. So maybe for them, it was worth taking the chances & risks they did to experience such pleasurable moments. I mean isn’t that called living your life to the full. I for one always felt that Gilles did more living in his 32 years on this planet then most people do in 100 years.
Finally I shall leave you to ponder a quote from Gilles...
I never think I can hurt myself - not seriously. If you believe it can happen to you, how can you do this job? If you are never over eight-tenths, or whatever, because you're thinking about a shunt, you're not going as quick as you can. And if you're doing that, you're not a racing driver. Some guys in Formula 1... well, to me they're not racing drivers. They drive racing cars, that's all. They're doing a half job. And in that case I wonder why they do it at all.
p.s I would also like to add Stefan Bellof to the name of ‘racers’ as well. Anyone who has the balls to drive as quick as he did around the Nurburgring in his Porsche 956 & try some of the overtaking moves he did, is a true ‘racer’ in my book.