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Presents another car tested by Ayrton Senna da Silva, the Penske P20 IndyCar. If Senna had signed with Penske, Penske would have put a third car on the track and he probably Senna could have won the IndyCar Championship in 1993 or 1994 and was still alive, we will never know.
Senna's contract with McLaren had ended and his beloved Honda were leaving the sport.
He attempted to sign with the dominant Williams for 1993, but Alain Prost, who was returning to F1 from a one year sabbatical, had written a “No Senna” clause into his contract with the Sir Frank’s squad. So with no contract of his own signed and McLaren toying with an underpowered Lamborghini lump and a customer Ford block that was two specifications down on the factory Benetton team, Ayrton took up a long standing offer from his old friend Emerson Fittipaldi.
In December of 1992, Senna flew to the States to test one of Roger Penske’s Marlboro-Penske-Chevy Indy cars at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix , Arizona . Along with the Penske team and fellow Brazilian Fittipaldi, Ayrton was joined at the test by four time Indy winner Rick Mears and Penske’s latest recruit, a young Paul Tracy. Emmo warmed the car up with a few fast lap before handing it over to Senna. After a couple of installation laps of his own, Ayrton brought the Penske in for a quick check before going back out to see what an Indy Car could do.
Actual lap times seem to vary depending on what you read or who you believe. Rick Rinaman, then Emmo’s crew chief, claimed that after just three laps, Senna was faster than Fittipaldi. Up to half a second quicker, I have read elsewhere. Other sources show that, over the twenty-five laps he ran, Ayrton ‘only’ got within four tenths of his countryman’s best time. Even if that were the case, Senna was running more than competitive lap times in a car he didn’t know on a circuit he had never been to. Either way, Ayrton was impressed, especially with the view that he had of F1’s over-use of technology at the time.
The exact reasoning behind Senna’s test will probably never be known.
Technical specifications
Suspension (front): Pushrod
Suspension (rear): Pushrod
Engine: Ilmor-Chevrolet 265A V8 90° turbocharged Mid-engined, longitudinally mounted
Transmission: Manual
Fuel: Methanol, supplied by Mobil
Tyres: Goodyear Eagle
THE OTHER SENNA CARS ARE HERE:
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