A children’s dream
From the Santana neighborhood at São Paulo, Ayrton Senna was born with the speed running through his veins. Encouraged by his father (Mr. Milton), at the age of 4, he already had an incredible ability with Kart and, from there, the passion for the accelerated engine only increased. At age of 9, he was driving jeeps with a dexterity characteristic of a lot of experience; at 13, he already competed officially. He finished at second place several times, which was not enough. That was when, in 1977, he could feel for the first time the taste of a victory - and decide that he belonged there.
Senna’s development as a pilot started in his childhood, as the inspired boy dedicated several hours of his days training. In 1981, he started competing in Europe, winning the English Formula 1600 Championship - with a record of 12 wins in 20 races. It was during this period that he decided to use his mother's maiden name, Senna, because Silva is a very common name in Brazil. In 1983, he won the British Formula 3 championship with the Dick Bennets team, with 13 wins in 21 races, 9 of them in a row. He also won the Macau Grand Prix for Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing Team. The pilot was in top form and in an impressive rise - absolutely nothing was taking him away from the focus he had.