14 years since the death of Ayrton Senna
May. 1st, 2008 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
was_tansu_now_badhedgehogIt's exactly 14 years since Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna was killed during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
The previous day, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed during qualifying for the Grand Prix. His front wing broke off and went under his car, and he left the track, hitting the concrete wall at nearly 320kph. He was killed instantly. Following this fatal accident, on the morning of the 1st May 1994 the other drivers decided to reform the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to push for safety improvements in Formula One. Ayrton Senna was instrumental in this decision and was to be the leader of the association.
Entering a high speed corner during the race, Senna's car lost traction and went off the track at 310 kph (193 mph), hitting the concrete wall at a shallow angle at 218 kph (135 mph). The crash did not look especially bad, but it was soon apparent that Senna was badly hurt. He was not moving, and as the minutes went by, blood could be seen on the ground. The distress and shock that everyone watching felt was terrible. We knew we'd seen a feller die. Investigation suggests that after the impact, the right front wheel had smashed into the cockpit area, hitting the right front area of Senna's helmet, slamming his head back against the headrest and causing fatal skull fractures. Also, two pieces of upright attached to the wheel had penetrated his helmet, which would also have killed him.
(There is a degree of controversy as to the recorded time of Senna's death, and whether he was artificially kept alive until he reached hospital and why, but that is not strictly relevant to what I want to be saying).
One of the very very best drivers of his era, and indeed one of the best of all time. Gone. During a race. Senna was an incredibly competitive driver, and also a rather Good Chap, having given a huge amount of money to a charitable foundation to help the poor in Brazil. His loss was felt deeply by fans worldwide, and by the people of Brazil in particular. The Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning.
Wikipedia on Ayrton Senna
And that was fourteen years ago today.
Last Sunday, during the Spanish Grand Prix, the left front wheel of Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren Mercedes failed at the 9th corner of the Circuit de Catalunya. The tyre deflated instantly, and the steering linkage also broke. Kovalainen was unable to steer the car in any way - it carried on arrow-straight into the tyre barrier. When he wheel failed he was going at 240kph (150 mph) and when he hit the tyre wall he was at 130kph (80mph). The collision lasted 0.1 seconds, which is mercifully long, and resulted in a deceleration of 26G. The car was embedded deep within the wall, well past where Kovalainen's head would have been. To an onlooker, this did not look good. Other drivers feared the worst as they passed the crash site. The race marshalls were frantically waving for the medical car, and for assistance in removing the McLaren from the tyre wall. It took 10 minutes to extricate the car, but I understand that the medical team were able to ascertain that Kovalainen was essentially OK well before that. He was initially knocked unconscious by the impact, but was conscious and in good spirits as he was taken on a stretcher to the circuit medical centre, giving a brief wave and a thumbs up to the spectators.
I was, I don't mind telling you, enormously relieved to see that thumbs up sign. As you may have noted from my edit to my LJ post on Sunday. This is partly because, yes, the immensely likeable Kovalainen is my favourite racing driver, but mainly because when it comes to a question of dead/not dead I prefer people to be not dead. I don't like to see bad things happen to anybody. (I know many of you don't follow any form of motorsport at all, and some of you must be thinking "who is this insane speed queen and what has she done with Hallam?", and if you're not sure who the hell this Heikki Kovalainen is, observe my current icon and you will see his impossibly cute little face.) Wikipedia on Heikki Kovalainen and the official F1 site biog
Heikki Kovalainen recieved a light concussion, a stiff neck and a jarred elbow from his crash. No broken bones, no head injuries. The current design of the car meant that the tyres in the tyre wall barely brushed the top of his helmet, rather than, well, you can imagine. History is littered with the severed heads of racing drivers. The car itself absorbed an enormous amount of energy. In fact, the front bit of the monocoque failed - about 500mm broke off. The other obvious difference from the crashes that killed Senna and Ratzenberger is the tyre wall itself. Concrete barriers are cushioned with a layer of tyres and armco. Kovalainen hit a tyre wall 5 tyres thick, and was well buried within it. Had the tyre wall been thinner, things may have been different.
Report from the F1 site, McLaren Mercedes CEO of F1, Martin Whitmarsh, gives post-race comments, Official quotes from Heikki on Monday 29th April and photoset if you want to see it
Because of the improvements in Formula One safety since 1994, both in car design and in course safety, Heikki Kovalainen is still with us today, maintaining his usual gloriously sunny disposition, and preparing to race in the Turkish Grand Prix next weekend, subject to receiving medical clearance from the authorities.
So, I guess we can think back on the loss of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, and also feel grateful that Heikki Kovalainen survived his crash, and that his family and colleagues have only had to suffer brief gutwrenching uncertainty, not final and irreplaceable loss.
The previous day, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed during qualifying for the Grand Prix. His front wing broke off and went under his car, and he left the track, hitting the concrete wall at nearly 320kph. He was killed instantly. Following this fatal accident, on the morning of the 1st May 1994 the other drivers decided to reform the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to push for safety improvements in Formula One. Ayrton Senna was instrumental in this decision and was to be the leader of the association.
Entering a high speed corner during the race, Senna's car lost traction and went off the track at 310 kph (193 mph), hitting the concrete wall at a shallow angle at 218 kph (135 mph). The crash did not look especially bad, but it was soon apparent that Senna was badly hurt. He was not moving, and as the minutes went by, blood could be seen on the ground. The distress and shock that everyone watching felt was terrible. We knew we'd seen a feller die. Investigation suggests that after the impact, the right front wheel had smashed into the cockpit area, hitting the right front area of Senna's helmet, slamming his head back against the headrest and causing fatal skull fractures. Also, two pieces of upright attached to the wheel had penetrated his helmet, which would also have killed him.
(There is a degree of controversy as to the recorded time of Senna's death, and whether he was artificially kept alive until he reached hospital and why, but that is not strictly relevant to what I want to be saying).
One of the very very best drivers of his era, and indeed one of the best of all time. Gone. During a race. Senna was an incredibly competitive driver, and also a rather Good Chap, having given a huge amount of money to a charitable foundation to help the poor in Brazil. His loss was felt deeply by fans worldwide, and by the people of Brazil in particular. The Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning.
Wikipedia on Ayrton Senna
And that was fourteen years ago today.
Last Sunday, during the Spanish Grand Prix, the left front wheel of Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren Mercedes failed at the 9th corner of the Circuit de Catalunya. The tyre deflated instantly, and the steering linkage also broke. Kovalainen was unable to steer the car in any way - it carried on arrow-straight into the tyre barrier. When he wheel failed he was going at 240kph (150 mph) and when he hit the tyre wall he was at 130kph (80mph). The collision lasted 0.1 seconds, which is mercifully long, and resulted in a deceleration of 26G. The car was embedded deep within the wall, well past where Kovalainen's head would have been. To an onlooker, this did not look good. Other drivers feared the worst as they passed the crash site. The race marshalls were frantically waving for the medical car, and for assistance in removing the McLaren from the tyre wall. It took 10 minutes to extricate the car, but I understand that the medical team were able to ascertain that Kovalainen was essentially OK well before that. He was initially knocked unconscious by the impact, but was conscious and in good spirits as he was taken on a stretcher to the circuit medical centre, giving a brief wave and a thumbs up to the spectators.
I was, I don't mind telling you, enormously relieved to see that thumbs up sign. As you may have noted from my edit to my LJ post on Sunday. This is partly because, yes, the immensely likeable Kovalainen is my favourite racing driver, but mainly because when it comes to a question of dead/not dead I prefer people to be not dead. I don't like to see bad things happen to anybody. (I know many of you don't follow any form of motorsport at all, and some of you must be thinking "who is this insane speed queen and what has she done with Hallam?", and if you're not sure who the hell this Heikki Kovalainen is, observe my current icon and you will see his impossibly cute little face.) Wikipedia on Heikki Kovalainen and the official F1 site biog
Heikki Kovalainen recieved a light concussion, a stiff neck and a jarred elbow from his crash. No broken bones, no head injuries. The current design of the car meant that the tyres in the tyre wall barely brushed the top of his helmet, rather than, well, you can imagine. History is littered with the severed heads of racing drivers. The car itself absorbed an enormous amount of energy. In fact, the front bit of the monocoque failed - about 500mm broke off. The other obvious difference from the crashes that killed Senna and Ratzenberger is the tyre wall itself. Concrete barriers are cushioned with a layer of tyres and armco. Kovalainen hit a tyre wall 5 tyres thick, and was well buried within it. Had the tyre wall been thinner, things may have been different.
Report from the F1 site, McLaren Mercedes CEO of F1, Martin Whitmarsh, gives post-race comments, Official quotes from Heikki on Monday 29th April and photoset if you want to see it
Because of the improvements in Formula One safety since 1994, both in car design and in course safety, Heikki Kovalainen is still with us today, maintaining his usual gloriously sunny disposition, and preparing to race in the Turkish Grand Prix next weekend, subject to receiving medical clearance from the authorities.
So, I guess we can think back on the loss of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, and also feel grateful that Heikki Kovalainen survived his crash, and that his family and colleagues have only had to suffer brief gutwrenching uncertainty, not final and irreplaceable loss.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 10:07 am (UTC)Damn shame.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 09:58 am (UTC)I'm still terrified to watch Monaco & Canada where the tracks have more concrete walls & less space to run off & lose speed in the event of a failure. And for all people complain that the safety requirements of current F1 have made the races less exciting, they've made the drivers more alive, and that's a very good thing.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:40 pm (UTC)