I went to see the official F1 tyre test at Silverstone in 1991, and by being cheeky, and short, I walked alongside a slow moving articulated lorry , at the opposite side to the marshall controlling access at the gate to the paddock and found myself between the pit garages and the drivers motorhomes.
One by one the drivers walked past and I took a few pictures, some said Hi, I remember Gerhard Berger and Stefano Modena were particularly friendly. I turned round at the last minute when I realised somebody in red was walking the opposite way to the drivers and came face to face with Ayrton Senna, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his red Malboro padded jacket. He looked straight at me and said good morning. As I hadn't expected to meet any drivers let alone a legend like Ayrton I froze, I couldn't even mumble anything !
Ayton smiled and walked past, he'd always had a reputation for being difficult and unfriendly in the British media, probably from beating our drivers too often so I was suprised by him being so friendly to a fan he'd never met on a wet mid week tyre test.
Made my day anyway..
