Young and winless going into his second Formula One season, Ayrton Senna should have been nervous.

The race was minutes away, and rain was drenching the track.

The Lotus team manager, Peter Warr, was struck by the 25-year-old's unwavering focus that Sunday in Portugal.

"All he wanted to do was talk about how to set the car up for the wet . . . and he went out there and just blew everyone else away. It was one of the motor races of all time," Warr said in the film tribute "A Star Named Ayrton."

With that 1985 triumph, Senna made a serious splash onto the Formula One scene, earning the nickname Rain King for his mastery over Mother Nature.

Senna's secret was simple. He practiced.

Years before, he was dominating the go-kart circuit in Brazil — until his first race amid rain. The defeat devastated the confident driver.

"On that day I learned I knew nothing about driving in the wet," he said.

Older sister Viviane recalls that Senna was furious.

"After that, whenever it started to pour, he went out in his kart and drove around until nightfall," she said in "A Star Named Ayrton."

A relentless work ethic, focus and perfectionism drove Senna to an awe-inspiring career, tragically cut short in May 1994 when he hit the wall at Italy's Imola circuit and died. He was 34.

In just over 10 years, Senna earned three world championships, won 41 races and set a record of 65 pole positions. Many believe that had he lived longer, his records would still stand.

Rich Road

At the tail end of his career, Senna demanded and received at least $1 million per race. Team owner Frank Williams described facing Senna at the bargaining table.

"He had prepared in his mind at least three countermoves to every possible countermove by myself," Williams said in "Memories of Ayrton" by Christopher Hilton. "He was gifted with a propensity for extraordinarily clear thinking and an outstanding ability to outguess, outthink and outmaneuver his business opponent."

Off-track, Senna meticulously developed his Driven to Perfection brand. The sale of his products — including boats, watches and bikes — helped feed Senna's personal fortune of $400 million.

Before he died, Senna secretly donated millions to children's charities. To ensure that his efforts would continue, he directed his sister Viviane to start the Ayrton Senna Institute. Today it is one of the largest private organizations aiding children in the world.

In turn, Brazilians showered Senna with adoration, naming hundreds of roads and public buildings after their favorite son.

Ayrton Senna da Silva — he dropped his surname, since it's as common as Smith in Brazil — was a child of constant motion. His mother, Neide, even considered having him evaluated by a physician.

His father, Milton, a Sao Paulo businessman, instead gave the 4-year-old a go-kart. Senna was immediately fascinated and practiced every day. Bordering on obsessive, Senna devoted endless hours to preparing just his brakes.

The die was cast at the phenom's first official kart race. Drivers drew from a hat for track position. Senna drew the pole and led every lap.

The 13-year-old liked being in front and decided he'd always do whatever it took to qualify first.

Over the next decade, Senna drove up the ranks from karts to Formula Fords and to his Formula One debut in 1984 with Team Toleman.

Senna's work habits got him there, according to Stefan Johansson, a former teammate. "Had he not been the best racing driver, he would have been the best banker in the world or whatever he decided to do with his life," Johansson said in "Memories of Ayrton."

An ability to retain items earned Senna another moniker: the Mobile Computer. One lap around the track yielded an immense amount of data.

"He could come back and he could recall it in the minutest detail, and the engineers from Renault and subsequently Honda were simply aghast because what he told them was what the printout on the data logger was showing," Warr said in "A Star Named Ayrton."

Gerhard Berger, another ex-teammate, also lauded Senna's focus.

"Once he got into the racing car he was into it so deep that there were no other things around him," Berger said in "Memories of Ayrton." "He could do that more than anybody else. His ability to concentrate was just bigger."

"I believe in the ability of focusing strongly on something," Senna said in the film. "Then you are able to extract even more out of it. It's been like this all my life, and it's only been a question of improving it and learning more and more."

Senna wanted to be at one with the car, so he trained intensely — physically by running and mentally with meditation. If he was going to push himself to the limit — which was his goal — he had to be prepared.

Once, Senna drove himself a little too far. It was 1988 at Monaco, where, after a particularly quick qualifying run, Senna suddenly braked, drove slowly to the pits and fled the track for his apartment.

"He felt detached from his body and was hovering above it all," recalled Patrick Faure, manager of Renault Sport. "It was very interesting because this was what fascinated Senna. Of course, what mattered most was winning, but also a desire to transcend ordinary life."

The racing press already had mocked Senna for talking about God's presence in his car's cockpit. Undeterred, the driver held tightly to his spirituality.

"The main thing is to be yourself and not to allow people to disturb you — to be different because they want you to be different," Senna said. "You've got to be yourself. Some people may like you; some people dislike you. You're just a human being like everybody."

Senna's human side caused controversy. Dubbed a champion arguer, Senna's most notorious fight was in Suzuka, Japan, in 1990.

After he won the pole position, Senna asked track officials to move its position from the right to the left side, where the track had better grip. As pole sitter, Senna expected to have the faster lane, but track officials refused. Senna was livid and vowed that if teammate Alain Prost — starting second — gained an advantage in the first corner, he would drive as if Prost's car did not exist.

Bumper Cars

Senna bumped Prost's car out of the way, ending the race for both drivers. The aggression drew fans' ire, especially since Senna won his second season title in the process.

"I refuse to walk away from the fight. It is my nature to go right to the end," he said of his tenacity.

Prost told reporters that Senna did not simply race — he went to war.

"But our war was so wonderful, so incredible," Prost said after Senna's death. "I doubt we'll ever find anything like it again."

Intensely serious at the track, Senna was equally playful and practical-joking during private moments. He particularly enjoyed days off in his beloved Brazil.

"I've always had a good life," Senna said. "But everything that I've gotten out of life was obtained through dedication and a tremendous desire to achieve my goals — a great desire for victory, meaning victory in life, not as a driver."


BY SONJA CARBERRY