RIP SENNA: Burgess on the practical jokers at McLaren

Adrian Burgess, Team 18’s Team Principal was at McLaren from 1991, as a mechanic, primarily on the test team before moving up to number one mechanic, for Mikka Hakkinen, in the mid-90s. 

“Everything you hear about Ayrton’s  sensitivity inside the car is true. He’d be driving in down pit lane, back in the days before we had TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems) to monitor things on the run, on the radio, telling the mechanics it needed half a pound more in the right-front, or whatever, before anyone got near the car with a tyre gauge. And he was inevitably correct.

READ THE FULL SIX PAGE SPECIAL FEATURE ABOUT MORE UNTOLD AYRTON SENNA STORIES HERE

“It made our job, when he was in the car, easy. The feedback was phenomenal.”

At that stage, Gerhard Berger had already joined McLaren and it is well-and-truly acknowledged that the German’s penchant for practical jokes started to relax Senna a little – who had always erred on the serious side.

Yes, all that stuff is true – Ayrton’s brand new carbon-fibre ‘indestructible’ briefcase being ‘tested’ by Gerhard by throwing it out of the helicopter they were in …

There were fire extinguishers going off in hotel bedrooms in the middle of the night; passport photos being replaced by ‘other’ images; credit cards glued together; but there was an occasion when the McLaren test team itself got involved in the frivolity:

“We were going to do some laps at a little track in Wales – Pembrey. Ayrton had never been there before so, after we’d warmed the car up in the Paddock we sent him out – in the wrong direction,” recalls Adrian.

“It took a couple of laps before the penny dropped. He stopped on the straight, did a huge burn-out turnaround and set off in the right direction! …”

Burgess isn’t quite sure the Brazilian thought through his move to Williams:

“When he decided to leave McLaren, for 1994, the Williams team had a huge advantage with its active suspension set-up, and I presume he thought he’d walk in there and make the most of it, as Prost had.

“But he hadn’t reckoned on Ron (Dennis – McLaren team boss). The day after he learned from Ayrton that he would be leaving, Ron started lobbying … as you do … and of course active suspension was banned.

READ THE FULL SIX PAGE SPECIAL FEATURE ABOUT MORE UNTOLD AYRTON SENNA STORIES HERE

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Podcast: Stunning Taupo Shines Through the Gloom | Supercars back in New Zealand

We’re back from our weekend in Taupo (Tow Paw), and what an unbelievable first weekend for that venue. It was, we felt, the start of this season, too, despite it being the third round. Andrew and Bruce were there, and PG was on the couch.

Brodie Kostecki was back for Erebus, Andre Heimgartner won for Brad Jones Racing, and Will Brown battled his teammate Broc Feeney for the other win. Anton De Pasquale also won the Jason Richards Trophy for the best performer over the two races – is Dick Johnson Racing back?