Book Review: Ayrton Senna – Portrait of a Racing Legend by Bruce Jones
Positives
Negatives
I recently picked up a copy of Bruce Jones’ 2019 Senna tribute book “Ayrton Senna – Portrait of a Racing Legend” sight unseen purely based on the book’s cover and that it was published to mark the 25th anniversary of the passing of Senna.
Senna fans will recognise this book has the same title as the 1994 book by Richard Hawkins and Hugh Gollner, and am a bit surprised that Bruce Jones, former Autosport magazine editor, decided use the same title.
The author has relied on several previous Senna books (that have also been reviewed in the past) including Tom Rubython’s ‘The Life of Senna‘, Professor Sid Watkins ‘Life at the Limit‘, Tony Dodgins ‘Ayrton Senna – All his races‘ and Autocourse, Motorsport and Autosport magazines. So hardcore Senna fans will have seen and read the content all before.
The photos are a compilation from the libraries of Getty Images and Motorsport Images with largely colour race photos. Again, all the photos have been previously published in F1 magazines and books.
There’s nothing really in this book to distinguish it from other Senna books. Bruce Jones is known for his F1 history books like ’60 Years of Formula One’ and ‘Treasures of Formula One” (both of which are very good F1 books) that are targeted to the more general sports fan rather than knowledgeable hard core F1 or Senna fans who will no doubt find this book a bit underwhelming.
This one is ok maybe as a gift to an newcomer fan only. As far as Ayrton Senna biographies go, there are other better Senna books around.
Wow Factor/Money shot: Very little, although there are a few choice close up race photos of Senna behind the wheel in his McLaren cockpit.
Suitable for: New casual Senna fans.
