Ayrton Senna regularly defied logic when he was behind the wheel of a racecar \u2013 and it didn\u2019t happen just once or twice. The driver made history on four wheels several times.<\/p>\n
Check out five true stories that may sound like complete fabrications \u2013 especially when told on April Fool\u2019s \u2013 but aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
1 –<\/strong>Becoming a Formula 3 Champion with the help of duct-tape<\/b><\/p>\n Senna and his West Surrey team hatched a plan for the final and decisive race of the British Formula 3 championship: they closed the air-vent of the oil radiator with duct-tape, to purposefully make the oil heat faster, giving Senna the chance of using an unusual strategy. \u201cIt was perfect. The oil reached the right temperature after a single lap, give or take, instead of the usual six or seven.\u201d On the sixth lap, as expected, the water\u2019s temperature started to climb. So Senna loosened his seatbelt and reached out to remove the tape. \u201cI thought I was going to lose control for a second. Suddenly, I wasn\u2019t part of the car anymore. I was sliding inside it. It was very tricky\u201d, said Ayrton, who won and took the title of the category after a year-long battle with Martin Brundle.<\/p>\n 2- Clocking the race\u2019s fastest lap going through the pit-lane<\/b><\/p>\n The 1993 race in Donington Park is etched in most fan\u2019s minds because of Ayrton Senna\u2019s unbelievable first lap. But besides the epic lap on a wet track, the same race yielded another lap for the annals of motor sports: For the first time in F1 history, a driver posted the race\u2019s quickest lap by going through the pit-lane.<\/p>\n Ayrton had a theory that he could shave 200 meters off his lap by going that way. Since there was no speed limit for the pit-lane at the time, he stepped on it while McLaren readied themselves for a pit-stop. He clocked a 1min18s029 lap, while his previous ones had been around 1min22s. Only after the race he revealed his ingenious plan to a few close friends.<\/p>\n