Netflix
Netflix’s six-part series Senna dramatises the life and motorsport career of Ayrton Senna. It focuses largely on his intense rivalry with Alain Prost and battles wih the FIA, all the way up to his tragic death in 1994.
In a press conference a few months before he was killed at Imola, Senna revealed who his greatest ever rival was. Shockingly it wasn’t Prost, Piquet, Mansell, or any other Formula 1 driver. It was in fact a driver that you’ve probably never heard of, and one who’s true story isn’t told in the Netflix drama.
At that press conference after the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, Ayrton revealed his biggest rival was a go-kart racer from Norfolk, England, called Terry Fullerton.
The rivalry between Senna and Terry Fullerton was born in 1978 when both raced for the Italian karting team DAP. Senna was a rising star from Brazil, 17 years old and hungry for victory.
Fullerton, 7 years older, had already made his name in the world of karting. Infact, he was the king of karting. By 1973 the English driver had already become British Champion, FIA European Champion and then World Champion.
In an interview with Jalopnik in 2016, Fullerton said “The first time I saw Ayrton in a kart I was like, hold on a minute. This kid’s a bit special.” But he wasn’t Fullertons main rival – “He was one of three or four,” he said. “Someone you’d pay attention to, but by no means the only one.”
Fullerton’s confidence was well placed. In 1973 he won every single race he competed in, except for one where his engine failed.
The intensity of their battles reached a breaking point in Jesolo, Italy, in 1980 at the Champions Cup. Senna had led for much of the race, only to be overtaken by Fullerton for the win in the final laps.
Furious at losing to Fullerton once again, Senna later stormed over to Fullerton and pushed him into a swimming pool at the team hotel. A moment that is very briefly referenced by Fullerton’s character in the first episode of the Netflix series.
As we all know, Senna went on to become a legend of Formula 1. But Fullerton never ventured out of karts, a decision which he made with purpose.
The inherent dangers of Formula 1 in the 1970s and ’80s—when multiple drivers lost their lives each season—convinced him to stay in karting. Having lost his brother to a motorcyle race a few years earlier, no-one could blame him for the choice he made.
But if circumstances were different and Fullerton had decided to move up to single seaters, the Senna story as we know it may have played out very differently.
Instead, Fullerton led a quieter life out of the spolight, became a professional kart racer and later a highly respected coach, training future stars like Allan McNish, Anthony Davidson, Dan Wheldon and Paul di Resta. He still coaches young drivers today, and builds his own karts for his team Fullerton Karts.
So in 1993 when Senna, who was sat next to Alain Prost at the time, revealed that his best ever opponent was Fullerton, the media were stunned.
In that press conference Senna said “He was very experienced, and I enjoyed very much driving with him because he was fast, he was consistent.” Senna continued “He was, for me, a very complete driver. It was pure driving, pure racing. There were no politics or money involved. It was real racing.”
In total, Fullerton’s character is on screen for only a few minutes across the whole 6-part drama on Netflix. His bit-part is long forgotten as you move through the later episodes which focus mainly on Senna’s battles with Prost and the FIA, not doing justice to Fullerton’s exceptional talent.
But Netflix leave in a couple of poignant moments that pay tribute to what Senna really thought of his go-kart rival.
In the first episode, just as Senna is trying to make it in the early steps of his single seater career, he bumps in to his old rival Fullerton in a pub in Norwich. After a bit of chat, Fullerton says “You’re welcome back to the track whenever you like, so I can beat you again.”
So I can beat you again. A very fitting line to be delivered by the only man who Senna could never get the better of.
In Fullerton’s appearance in the show in episode 3, Senna, now a successful F1 driver, returns to Norfolk to find Terry still at the kart track, coaching some young drivers. After receiving a few pearls of wisdom, Ayrton says to Fullerton “You know, when they ask my who was my greatest rival on track, I always answer the same. You”.
An apt way for Netflix to pay tribute to Fullerton who was named the best ever British go-karter by KartingMagazine.com, beating the likes of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
Multiple other racers have named Fullerton as the best ever, including 6-time World Karting Champion Mike Wilson and 15-time Australian Kart Champion John Pizzaro.
And what does Fullerton think of the other ‘greats’ in Formula 1? In interview with the Eastern Daily Press in 2011 he said:
‘I raced against Prost for years in karting, before Senna, and he wasn’t even in the game. You’d just catch him, get past him and forget about it. Mansell was another, he never won a thing in karts.’
‘But Senna? He was the most gifted I ever raced against. It was good to measure myself against him; he’s a driver that comes along once in a lifetime’.
