Thursday 10th December 1992
Ayrton Senna took to the wheel of a Penske Indy car in a secret test in Phoenix, Arizona, US. Fed up with the domination of Williams in F1 Senna considered taking a year out. Encouraged by his friend Emerson Fittipaldi he tested the IndyCar – he beat Fittipaldi’s lap time by half a second. Nigel Beresford, head of engineering remembered the day: “He came back into the pits and said ‘thank you very much, I’ve learned what I need to know.’ Then he got out of the car and that was that.” Senna decided to stay in F1 and never drove an Indycar again.