Rare Book Review: Driving to Perfection Ayrton Senna de Silva by R. Schlegelmilch & U.Berberich-Martini
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There aren’t too many F1 books that don’t easily sit on a standard size bookshelf. “Driving to Perfection – Ayrton Senna de Silva” by Rainer Schlegelmich and Ulrich Berberich-Martini is definitely one of them. At a colossal 41cm high, this heavy quality slipcase book is a trip down yesteryear both in terms of photos and lithograph production quality. They just don’t make these types of books anymore.
Released in 1994, this photo book was a tribute publication for collecters after Ayrton Senna’s death. At 96 pages, it’s a compilation of some of Schlegelmilch’s classic Senna photos.
Many of the photos are now also published in Schlegelmilch’s later books. So if you’re looking for a Schlegelmilch Senna photobook, nowadays you’ll be better off getting a copy of Rainer’s “50 Years of Formula 1 Photography” which contains many of the same photos (and is a massive photobook compilation to boot). This book is a more expensive one due to its limited print run and high quality paper and binding.
Gerhard Berger writes the foreword alongside Rainer’s and Ulrich’s introductions. Typical of Schlegelmilch books, the text is multilingual in English, German, Italian and Spanish.
The photo gallery includes a range of car & portrait shots (many of them capturing Senna’s various moods of intensity) but they are largely during his McLaren career. Photos of the Tolemann & Lotus are limited.
Wow Factor/Money Shot: When first released, it was the large format size, page quality and slipcase.
Suitable for: die-hard Senna collectors only.
Signed by Barichello & co…
Lots of McLaren Honda pics
Famous shots
This book is huge (comparison to 1:43 scale Senna Minichamps)!
I currently have a copy of this book in very good condition all round. I bought it in 1994/5, so is a genuine 1st edition.
It would be nice to know what the true value is to a collector of such items
If you look on Amazon, copies of this book are usually priced around $US300. There are also several listings on ebay, one recently sold for £240.
Does this book always have the signature page included? do you know if they are facsimilie or orginal? Thanks for your help. I have been offered one with some slight water damage. The person selling thinks it was a one off with signatures which it seems not. (he is genuine, not trying to con me just ignorant of facts). Thanks
Hi, if you mean page 1 – my copy has the signature page (with Rubens & Jo Ramirez signatures) but they are reproduction as part of the book, not the original signatures.
Yes that’s the one. Thank you so much for the information, I will look more closely, good production. Will buy the book as real Senna fan, appreciate your help. Thanks again.
Regards
The seller who gave me this book also confirmed that it is a limited edition, but he couldn’t tell me the print run … do you know more about this?
Not sure, most slipcase books have limited print runs. My guess is at least 2,500 copies at the very least but might have to investigate further.