ALWAYS MEET YOUR HEROES...
Motor Sport Magazine|August 2024
It's 40 years since Senna arrived in F1. James Elson joins Pierre Gasly as the Alpine driver takes Ayrton's first Toleman on the track
James Elson
ALWAYS MEET YOUR HEROES...

The tension’s almost unbearable as a chilling breeze sweeps down the old Silverstone pitlane. Will it, won’t it? Silence descends for a second, and the atmosphere ratchets up one more notch, before being brutally shattered: an 800bhp turbo beast roars into life.

The machine in front of us is the Toleman TG183B – Ayrton Senna’s first grand prix car. We’re here to see it run today, as Sky F1 shoots a tribute film signifying 30 years since the F1 legend’s death to air over the Emilia-Romagna race weekend. It’s a precursor to the car joining a bumper Senna demonstration at this summer’s Silverstone Festival.

Fears allayed that the 1980s monster might not stir, the man sourced to get behind the wheel is nothing less than a bona fide Senna fanatic – grand prix race winner and current Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.

“I’m so stoked,” he says beforehand, clutching his special-edition Senna crash helmet. “I get the chance to drive this beautiful piece of engineering.”

The future three-time world champion, already a man to watch when he made his 1984 F1 debut, first raced the TG183B in anger at his home race in Rio de Janeiro, before scoring a first world championship point next time out in South Africa, and another at the following race in Zolder. In historic racing terms, this is a highly significant car.

Also making his grand prix bow for Tyrrell that Brazil weekend was Senna’s British F3 archrival from the previous season, Martin Brundle. More than a little au fait with slightly unwieldy turbo grand prix cars, the Le Mans winner, F1 veteran and broadcaster is on-hand – along with Sky presenter and racer Naomi Schiff – to give Gasly a few pointers, while key Toleman figures are also present: team manager Alex Hawkridge, press man Chris Witty and mechanic Barney Drew-Smythe.

This story is from the August 2024 edition of Motor Sport Magazine.

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This story is from the August 2024 edition of Motor Sport Magazine.

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