by Mike Simmons
A small group of High Desert PCA club members recently made the trek to Portland to attend the Portland Art Museums' presentation of the Allure of the Automobile and as well, to catch the only showing of the movie " Senna ' in Oregon.
It was a car lovers paradise when we entered into the museum display of the 1930 to 1960 hand crafted cars on display. The 1961 Aston Martin DB4 that welcomed us was a perfect example of design, beauty and automotive history. A 1952 Porsche coupe that had raced in the Carrera Panamerican race was nearby. Bugatti, Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Corvette, Hispano-Suiza and on and on. It was fun to see the history of the cars and the beautiful designs that we call the automobile.
After our trip down aThe utomotive memory lane we attended the show about Aryton Senna. The Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna was killed in a horrific car crash in 1994 due to an equipment failure on his race car. He had been a shooting star in the F1 community and had won three F1 championships. The movie "Senna" chronicles his life story leading up to that fateful day and if you get a chance to watch it, the movie provides a penetraring view into the complicated character of a brilliant race driver.
The Allure of the Automobile is in Portland until September 11th. If you have not had a chance to view the cars it is well worth the trip. I am not sure where the movie about Ayrton Senna is available but if you get a chance to find a copy and like F1 racing, be sure to pick it up.