The day they learned the name Senna

Thirty years ago this week Ayrton Senna announced his arrival as a star of the future - and at the same time kickstarted his complex relationship with Alain Prost, the man with whom his name would be inextricably linked for the next decade.

It happened not at a grand prix but a race for Mercedes saloons, a one-off event that featured perhaps the most star-studded grid ever assembled. The field included nine past world champions, and in Senna and Prost two men who would claim the crown in the future.

The occasion was the opening of the new, shorter Nurburgring in May 1984. Formula 1 was due to return that October, and the organisers were keen to do something to showcase their revitalised venue.

Mercedes launched its new 190E 2.3-16v to the media that week, and the company agreed to provide 20 cars for what turned out to be the greatest celebrity race of all time.

Straight off the production line, they were prepared by special project engineer Gerhard Lepler. A racing seat and rollcage were added and the suspension adjusted, but that was pretty much it.

James Hunt was among the F1 champions tempted to take part

This was quite a commitment for a company that had steered clear of motorsport for decades, and had a staid image that it had long struggled to shake off. It had only recently started a 'Stuttgart Technik' division in an attempt to make its range a little more exciting. The new car had a Cosworth engine and aggressive bodywork, but it said a lot that the examples provided for the race were mostly black, grey or silver...

What Mercedes did enjoy was good connections with past and present F1 drivers, thanks to a long-running scheme that allowed the big names to buy heavily discounted road cars. The man who took orders from the drivers was Gerd Kramer, and he helped to put the stellar entry list together.

It was led by world champions Jack Brabham (1959, '60 and '66), Phil Hill (1961), John Surtees (1964), Denny Hulme (1967), Niki Lauda (then 1975 and '77), James Hunt (1976), Jody Scheckter (1979), Alan Jones (1980) and Keke Rosberg (1982).

Mercedes ambassador Juan Manuel Fangio was also present, but didn't feel fit enough to take part. The only living champs missing were BMW-contracted Nelson Piquet, the Ford-affiliated Jackie Stewart (who had always stuck to his promise of avoiding such events), and Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi, who were both busy with Indianapolis 500 qualifying.

There were other F1 greats: former Silver Arrows team members Stirling Moss and Hans Herrmann were joined by Carlos Reutemann and John Watson, the latter recently dropped by McLaren. Sportscar racing was represented by three past winners of the Nurburgring 1000km in Udo Schutz, Klaus Ludwig and Manfred Schurti.

Along with Lauda and Rosberg, four other drivers from the current F1 grid came along to get a taste for a track they would visit in October. Commitments to rival manufacturers ruled out a few established names, but GP winners Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Elio de Angelis were obvious choices.

And then there was Senna. He was the youngest driver in the field, and was only four races into his F1 career with Toleman. While he'd already taken a couple of sixth places, he still had a low profile. Many other drivers were far better qualified - imagine Daniil Kyvat joining the stars of the past at a similar event today - but Kramer had met him and liked him, and sneaked him onto the entry list.

Domingos Piedade, who worked with AMG and was also part of Senna's management team, helped to make it happen. He says that the Brazilian went into the weekend with a clear goal.

Senna saw the race as a big opportunity

"Ayrton thought if he really got his act together he was going to be on the front page," he recalls. "He thought that if he beat them all he'd get some attention. I think he was the only guy who took it seriously.

"He was the only guy who saw the chance of his life, correctly thinking that, if he beat them, people would know he beat Alain Prost and Niki Lauda. He'd be beating world champions."

Although he'd taken part in F1 driver briefings, Senna was unfamiliar even to other current drivers.

"It was the first time I met Ayrton," remembers Prost. "I picked him up at the airport, as we arrived 15 minutes apart and Mercedes asked me if I could bring him. We spent half a day together. He didn't know anybody, which was really funny."

Once the drivers got together much fun was had, especially at a relaxed dinner the night before.

"It was a nice weekend, the kind of thing that only a manufacturer could lay on," says Watson. "The hospitality that they provided for us was outstanding. It was a quid pro quo thing, as they were giving us generous deals on the road cars. It was a way of returning their generosity."

"It was a super gathering," recalls Surtees. "More so because it was a fairly unusual event in those days. Many of us hadn't been near a racetrack for quite a while! I think we rather underestimated the nature of the thing."

Watson remembers some drivers taking it more seriously than others

"It was the kind of event that I really loved, because it was fantastic to meet all these guys," says Prost. "We had fun, but even with the fun and the fact that we met all together, it was unbelievable how the competitive spirit was there. Everybody, even the older guys, was really serious!"

While none of the veterans wanted to look silly, some took it more seriously than others, and Senna wasn't too happy to be beaten to pole by Prost.

"I treated it in the manner I felt it should be," says Watson. "It was a fun thing, and there was a mixture of drivers of varying generations and ages; old friends, old adversaries, and some were both. I wanted to do well, but I wasn't trying to prove anything. I would say for Prost and Senna particularly it was more of an event in which they wanted to do well. Most of the others didn't take it quite so seriously."

None of the drivers found it easy to adapt to the novelty of ABS on a race circuit, and when it rained for the start of the 12-lap event, things got even trickier. Poleman Prost was hit hard on the first lap - probably by de Angelis, who had to stop for repairs, although Senna was also in the vicinity, and took advantage by jumping into the lead. Once in front he put on a demonstration run as his rivals slithered around in his wake.

"Ayrton did a very professional job," says Surtees. "But he was helped by the fact that one or two of the others got into clownish situations and went off the track and generally muddled everyone else up, as Ayrton just drove away!

"The big thing was people not keeping to the track. They just whistled over the kerbs, took short-cuts, and came out onto the circuit halfway down the straight, especially just after the start. James Hunt was the ringleader on doing the grasscutting! I think they got a few bent cars back..."

"I tried to pass Niki down the inside into Turn 1 and got caught out by the ABS," says Watson. "I was going to beat him whatever happened, and show McLaren they should have kept me! I think it just ended up being a typical celebrity race, the cars got a bit damaged and bashed."

Scheckter had no idea who Senna was

"I got the lap record," says Scheckter. "I went straight over the Esses or something! There was a guy leading that I'd never heard of called Senna. I didn't even know who he was."

The record books show that in the end Senna beat Lauda to the flag by 1.38 seconds, with Reutemann, Rosberg, Watson, Hulme, Scheckter, Brabham, Ludwig and Hunt completing the top 10. Ayrton had done exactly what he'd set out to do: make a lasting impression, and not just on the public.

"It was the first time I'd ever heard of Senna," recalls Moss. "It impressed me that a guy I'd never heard of actually won the race. I think it was probably the most important race of his career up to then, because it was such a high profile deal."

"Ayrton went there with the sole purpose of making a statement," adds Watson. "I wanted to win it if I could, Niki wanted to win it if he could. But we were treating it for what it was, it was a promotion. Ayrton was going to win that race, he had to beat every F1 driver.

"I saw him on the circuit at the chicane before the final corner - he was over it like a rash, and I would drive through it, because that's what I was brought up to do. He was from a different generation, and he was just hitting the kerbs and hopping over them."

Surtees was so impressed that he even wrote to his former boss Enzo Ferrari, suggesting that Ayrton was a man to watch.

Surtees immediately recommended Senna to Ferrari

"The most outstanding thing of course is how Senna went," he says. "You had a lot of people who were making exhibitions of themselves by driving straight across the grass, and there was Senna driving round, staying on the road, and pulling away. After that event I said to the Old Man, 'If you want a driver, there's the one you should get!'"

Meanwhile the partying continued after the race, at least for those who were in the mood.

"My main memory is of the Lufthansa tent afterwards, with James," says Alan Jones. "That was the most enjoyable part!"

"All I remember is I needed to get back to my girlfriend," says Scheckter. "And the race was getting later and later. I gave them a real hard time and said, 'You need to get me a private plane!' Eventually they did."

Most of the cars were sold off after the race, some to the drivers who took part; Watson recalls that his went to Manfred Winkelhock, whose family still owns it.

Before the race Mercedes had decided to keep the winning machine for its museum, so initially there was some disappointment when it carried a name that nobody knew. That would soon change. Indeed, just weeks later Senna put in his storming drive to second in Monaco.

Over time the very ordinary looking #11 car earned its place alongside legends such as the W154, W196 and 300SLR.

"It's a nice memory," says Prost. "And I think we should do it again. The cars were very good, but that wasn't the point. We could have had touring cars, F1 or go-karts. It was a competition."