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| Roland Ratzenberger; Death | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 30 2014, 12:58 PM (415 Views) | |
| ELUSIVEJIM | Apr 30 2014, 12:58 PM Post #1 |
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Just wanted to remember Roland Ratzenberger as today is the 20th anniversary of his death during qualifying for the 1994 Imola GP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT1ysM7NgyY R.I.P Roland
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| Rob | Apr 30 2014, 01:50 PM Post #2 |
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The Ratzenberger crash was one of the more gruesome I can recall. It was obvious he was seriously injured. |
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| ELUSIVEJIM | Apr 30 2014, 05:13 PM Post #3 |
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I think what really hit me personally about the Imola weekend was that everything was LIVE on TV. The deaths previously as far as I can remember were not shown live. I had just past my driving test and to me watching that weekend really had an effect on me as a human. When you are 17 years old you think you are invincible but when two F1 drivers are killed you really do realise how fragile life is. Thank god F1 is so much safer now but in a way I personally feel drivers are taking it for granted but I really hope we as F1 fans NEVER see another Imola or driver being killed. |
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| P1 | Apr 30 2014, 05:35 PM Post #4 |
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Chief Engineer
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Rubens Barrichello was lucky to survive his somewhat similar crash the day before. Most of the current drivers have never experienced how consequential and brutal F1 used to be penalizing errors when going off track. |
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| Lex | Apr 30 2014, 10:44 PM Post #5 |
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Driver
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http://the-pit-lane.co.uk/index.php?showto...8211&st=0&#last It was a shocking weekend, but a decade or two earlier, at least one driver was killed in virtually every race! Senna was the last driver to be killed in an F1 race. |
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| Norbert | May 1 2014, 12:25 PM Post #6 |
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The fact that such severe consequences happened for going off the track meant that to a certain extent going fast meant taking a huge risk. I believe that some of Senna's speed in F1 was down to his belief that his God was looking after him and that when his time came, that was it. These days, it is so safe to push to the limit that almost anyone with the talent to drive an F1 car can take it to 99% of what it can do very easily. One year, Senna took pole at Monaco from Prost in an identical car by the thick end of two seconds. When the turbo cars were at their peak, new drivers were miles slower than experienced teammates until they got used to how everything worked and how mot to scare themselves senseless. These days, there's almost zero penalty for making a mistake, apart from a few areas at Monaco, and even that track has been sanitised. Drivers are at the limit almost immediately, because there's no consequences to running off at a corner, or pushing your opponent off the side of the track. In recent years, the closest we have come to losing a driver was Bob K's crash at Canada that was down to an unfortunate set of circumstances. My biggest fear is that when, as is sadly almost inevitable statistically, another driver is lost, the accident will probably be colossal, and caused by a complete disregard of physics brought about by the complacancy of the drivers towards the speed they are travelling at and the consequences of dangerous driving. Look at what happened to Dan Wheldon when his car tripped over another and imagine such an incident at somewhere like Monza or Silverstone. Dario Franchitti went airbourne into a fence last year and people in the stand were hurt, never mind the fact it ended his career. The stewards are starting to crack down on crappy driving, but the drivers still seem to like pushing each other around far too much for comfort. Remember Alonso and Vettel at Monza? I don't like either driver, but for a split second I was mentally crapping myself expecting an explosion of carbon fibre across the track and disastrous collateral damage. Fortunately nothing untoward happened, but that might have been more luck than judgement. |
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| ELUSIVEJIM | May 1 2014, 12:39 PM Post #7 |
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Totally agree. The modern drivers are living in a bubble of safety which unfortunately will burst at some point. I really hope not but like you mentioned regarding Alonso and Vettel at these speeds anything can happen. |
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| Rob | May 1 2014, 04:56 PM Post #8 |
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I think there have been 4 or 5 open wheel drivers in the US die since then. Most if not all on speedways. |
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| TheCompleteGuitarist | May 2 2014, 12:46 AM Post #9 |
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Driver
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Well, with Maldonado still on the loose, expect something soon |
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