Senna movie raises thousands for GPMCT

3 May 2011: Grand Prix Mechanics Charitable Trust trustee James Allen tonight hosted a screening of Senna, the award winning documentary at the Curzon Mayfair in central London with all proceeds from the evening going to the GMPCT.

An audience of 320 people including GMPCT founder Sir Jackie Stewart, trustees Martin Brundle, Prof Sid Watkins and Dave Ryan, the film makers Asif Kapadia and Manish Pandey, Formula 1 personalities and some of Ayrton Senna’s former mechanics attended the event.

The event was supported by TAG Heuer with the proceeds, totalling £5,000, being donated to the Grand Prix Mechanics Trust.

Before the screening, Stewart talked about why the Trust was set up and how it is helping current and former mechanics who have worked in Formula 1 before giving his thoughts on the movie.

“It’s slightly biased towards Ayrton in certain aspects of the film,” said Stewart. “But that’s what you’d expect. There are good guys and bad guys in cowboy movies let alone motor racing movies.

“I think it’s good for Formula 1 that such a film has been made.”

After the screening, Kapadia and Pandey took part in a Q&A session hosted by Allen where they talked about the challenges they faced when making the movie.

There were also contributions from Senna’s former F3 rival Martin Brundle, Formula 1 doctor and one of Senna’s good friends Prof Sid Watkins and Terry Fullerton, the karter whom Senna famously named as his the best driver he had faced.

Check out the video below for the highlights from the night.