In The Footsteps of Ayrton Senna – 30th Commemoration Tour 2024 –

On May 1, 1994 at 2:17pm tragedy struck Tamburello corner during the San Marino Grand Prix race at Imola, Italy as Ayrton Senna’s Williams FW16 went off the track and struck a concrete barrier taking the life of its driver.  On May 1, 2024 at 2:17pm 68 members of the NSX community from around the world joined the crowd for a moment of silence. I was one of those NSX owners who joined the NSX Club of Europe and the NSX Club of UK on an emotional and poignant memorial journey of the legendary driver and amazing man Ayrton Senna.  I would like to share my experiences with you here.

Thank you to Dan Murphy, attendee of this years tour for sharing his experiences.

Day 1
J.A.S. Motorsport
Our adventure started at the 3,700 square foot headquarters of J.A.S. Motorsport located in the outskirts of Milan, Italy. J.A.S. Motorsport was founded in 1995 to compete in professional racing categories (ITC/DTM, Super Touring, GT) on behalf of car manufacturers. Since 1998 it has been nominated Honda’s official partner in racing, building and developing winning cars for various categories as WTCC, TCR, ERC, CTCC, etc.
J.A.S. is very sophisticated outfit that clearly takes their work very seriously with the capability of chassis construction, custom part fabrication, data acquisition and electronics, subassemblies, and everything else you could want to turn a fast car in to a race car.
I was particularly impressed with their Race Simulator rig; they took the time to include a brake system to give realistic pedal feel for their drivers. I would imagine that sort of attention to detail translates to the extra seconds on the track and the difference between a podium finish or disappointment. I was also entertained by their office furniture – with an excess of Type R seats the clever engineers converted them in to office chairs. Entire conference rooms were furnished with these lovely chairs!
J.A.S. CEO Alessandro Mariani was present at Imola on April 30, 1994 and shared some of his personal thoughts on Ayrton Senna as well as generously answering group questions about J.A.S. and their racing production.

Pagani Factory Tour

From JAS we headed south for about 2 hours before meeting up at the Pagani Factory where we did the standard museum tour as well as small group guided tours through the factory to see the carbon fibre fabrication process first hand.  This is the only Pagani factory in the world so the ability to get an inside look at this exclusive brand was quite something and extremely informative.  Afterwards company founder Horacio Pagani joined us outside his factory for a group photo.

Hotel Castello

From Pagani it was straight to Hotel Castello for a wonderful welcome reception and check in.  Hotel Castello is located about 20 minutes from the Imola Race track in the peaceful town of Castel San Pietro Terme.  As you approach the hotel, you can quickly see why Ayrton choose to stay here in this tranquil oasis rather than in the significantly larger and busier town of Imola.

Ayrton developed a close relationship with the owners of Hotel Castello over the years and they were devastated over his loss and kept Suite 200 where Ayrton stayed largely unchanged over the years as a way to keep a connection to him.  In the lobby is a touching corner memorial filled with items collected over the years – including a scale McLaren Honda model given by Ayrton to the children of the owners of Hotel Castello, one of the 11 authentic helmets created in Brazil and donated to the Hotel and now a crystal NSX paperweight from the NSX Club of Europe.

Largely unknown for years, the Hotel Castello gained popularity after a motor racing magazine published the details of Senna’s stay several years ago and is now well known amongst fans.  It was quite busy while we were there and it is a real testimony to the forward thinking planning of the Commemoration Tour planners to lock in so many rooms.  It also explains why numbers were so limited – there simply aren’t that many rooms available in the hotel.

Trattoria Romagnola

After everyone was settled in and luggage stowed, we took a walk through town to Trattoria Romagnola a lovely traditional Italian restaurant that was a favourite of Ayrton for obvious reasons.  Again, this was a modest and tranquil location and you can picture how it would be a welcome refuge from the stress and intensity that Ayrton was normally subjected to prior to a race. 

Much like the hotel, the owners of Trattoria Romagnola had a warm and very personal relationship with Ayrton and always respected his privacy when he would come for dinner which made it his regular location while racing at Imola.  We all gathered to share in Ayrton Senna’s standard meal from Trattoria Romagnola – a plate of thick strings of hand rolled with red sauce, some olives and slices of parmesan cheese. 

He would come in every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night during the Grand Prix week and never requested a private room.  If the restaurant was busy he would just sit down with the other guests – he wanted to be treated like everyone else.

After our meal the restaurant staff was kind enough to stay and share stories with our group and answer any questions they might have before we wrapped up the evening and took a nice walk back to the hotel.

Day 2

30th Commemoration Day at Imola Track

After breakfast, we all gathered in the parking lot to head out to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola.  Unfortunately there was a last minute change of plans from the Formula One Group who greatly restricted access to the Autodromo so rather than being inside the circuit we were first kicked out to a lot just outside the track and then eventually booted across the Santerno river and in to a random parking lot in town.  This was a real shame because it ended up that very few people got a chance to see the large group of NSXs that had gathered.

The group made the best of the situation and we did a little private group shot and judging session while the lucky few people who noticed the gathering of cars stopped over to express their admiration and awe at the sight of so many NSXs gathered in one place.

From here, we all went in separate directions to explore the track and grab lunch prior to the 2:17pm Commemoration Ceremony at Tamburello corner.

At precisely 2:17pm silence fell over the crowd as we all hung our heads in memory of the legendary driver who lost his life at this very spot 30 years ago followed by a moment of silence for Roland Ratzenberger who also perished on that tragic weekend.  In addition to the hundreds of fan present that day, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, Ayrton’s nephew Bruno Senna, Roland Ratzenberger’s parents, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg each shared a few words with the crowd in memorial. 

After the ceremony the NSX team gathered near the chain link tribute wall to add the flag that we all had signed to the many memorial items left behind before heading out in our separate ways to participate in the many lectures, art exhibitions and talks that were going on at the track to commemorate both drivers.

Day 3

Extrema Kart

After an emotional day at the track I think we all enjoyed hitting the go karts.  In case you were wondering, NSX owners are very competitive and the driving was fierce. We had the place to ourselves and they seemed to have lost their black flags so it was no holds barred driving  The course was significantly technical and the go karts powerful enough to separate driver skills.  After 2 time attack rounds, we divided in to three groups and it was time to battle it out for the podium!

I was pretty satisfied to knock a few seconds off my time with each run and settled in at about middle of the pack which I considered to be a decent performance.  All in all, it was a really fun bit of competition and I think we all appreciated that the organisers included it in the event.  In a weird sort of way, the competitive karting might just have been the best tribute to Ayrton Senna that our group did during the tour.

Magic Ayrton Senna 1994-2024

From Extrema Cart we traveled back to Imola for a private viewing of “Magic Ayrton Senna 1994-2024” a collection of 94 black and white photos from Ayrton’s long time photographers Angelo Orsa and Mirco Lazzari at Museo San Domenico.   Mirco Lazzari was extremely generous with his time and lead our group through each of the 94 photos in the collection with extensive details about several of the photos in each collection.

The photos were carefully selected from the thousands of photos these men have collected over the years and explore both Ayrton’s racing career and personal life – not just the exploits of Senna as a driver, but the person, the man. 

“Images that enter the heart of those who observe because they are real and not posed. Details caught on the fly because they were taken by those who knew Ayrton thoroughly, he understood and knew how to capture the nuances. Photographs that still today, after thirty years, stop your breath when you look at them and make you relive the moment. An exhibition entirely in black and white because, like memories, over time the colors fade, becoming pale at first and then taking on shades of black and white. By removing the color, the superfluous is removed and the essence remains. You can concentrate on the emotions that come back to the surface and reach straight to the heart, in an even clearer, more decisive and absolute way. And with them the image of the one who ended his earthly life thirty years ago, but whom no one has ever forgotten .” – Mirco Lazzari

The photos were compiled in to a book and many of expressed an interest in a signed copy of the book to which Mirco graciously agreed.  He rejoined us at the hotel with a stack of books and pen ready.  I found Mirco to be a passionate artist and deeply skilled photographer and his addition to the tour was a real highlight.

Banquet dinner

The Banquet dinner was our final event and I was very sad to see this event end.  I was however not sad when the plates of food stopped coming as it was an insane amount of food that was put before us.  There is absolutely no chance that anyone went hungry that evening!

The NSX Club of Europe has a nice little tradition called the “NSX guru” where a series of trivia questions of varying difficulty are presented to the group.  Whomever scores the highest points wins the coveted title and more impressively a custom ring that Rene designed.  It was a really fun event and the returning champion Stephan Gro who won yet again did so with gusto and flair!  I didn’t come close to his performance I am sad to say.

The evening wrapped up with a brief auction before we all began the our farewells as many were eager to get an early start to their drives back home.