Did Ayrton kill himself as Damon Hill suggests?
Discussion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/3641633.stm
The BBC also have an analysis of hoiw the crash happened on their home page for Motorsport:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm#
it's in the bottome right hand corner of the page.
'Why Senna crashed: Revealed: The secrets of F1 icon's death'
"Just under 0.15secs after the car started to slide, the throttle reduced from fully open to 40% and the force going through the steering reduced."
"Williams say this was Senna lifting off and trying to correct the slide."
Awesome reflexes...
>>> Edited by veewhy on Wednesday 21st April 16:30
The BBC also have an analysis of hoiw the crash happened on their home page for Motorsport:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm#
it's in the bottome right hand corner of the page.
'Why Senna crashed: Revealed: The secrets of F1 icon's death'
"Just under 0.15secs after the car started to slide, the throttle reduced from fully open to 40% and the force going through the steering reduced."
"Williams say this was Senna lifting off and trying to correct the slide."
Awesome reflexes...
>>> Edited by veewhy on Wednesday 21st April 16:30
He got into the car...and he made it go quick. It was a racing car, they are known to occasionally have mechanical failures.
So he hit a wall hard while pushing a car to it's limits. Odd that. Never would have believed when you push a car to the limit occasionally "something" will go wrong. Be it an over zelous driver or mechanical failure..... It happens. But ultimately anybody on a racing circuit knows if something go's wrong badly they could die. Thats their choise.
In conclusion yes he did kill himself. He didn't want to. But it was his decision to go into that corner in that car, that fast on that day.
So he hit a wall hard while pushing a car to it's limits. Odd that. Never would have believed when you push a car to the limit occasionally "something" will go wrong. Be it an over zelous driver or mechanical failure..... It happens. But ultimately anybody on a racing circuit knows if something go's wrong badly they could die. Thats their choise.
In conclusion yes he did kill himself. He didn't want to. But it was his decision to go into that corner in that car, that fast on that day.
Exactly - Sh*t happens, and that should be the end of it.
As Damon rightly said - Ayrton Senna was a human being, and nobody is perfect.
It was a sad day - I used to have a poster of Senna on my bedroom wall at that time - but I think that this kind of speculation over his death is somewhat disrespectful.
As Damon rightly said - Ayrton Senna was a human being, and nobody is perfect.
It was a sad day - I used to have a poster of Senna on my bedroom wall at that time - but I think that this kind of speculation over his death is somewhat disrespectful.
Why are Hills comments shamefu? Senna was at the wheel of the car at the time, and so in any other circumstances the driver would of been to blame. Because it was Senna, and he lost his life, eople seem to assume that it was a mechanical failure. i am inclined to believe Hill, over anybody else as he was driving he exact same car.
pablo said:
can they not just let him rest in peace?
shame on damon for making these comemnts...
Damon did not say Aytron killed himself it makes it sound as if he commited sucicide
What he suggested is that Ayrton went through Tamburello too fast after a period of slow driving behind the safety car, instead of saying that a bit broke on the car.
Just poor wording in the title of this thread.
FourWheelDrift said:
Just poor wording in the title of this thread.
Well, it's not if you read it in the context of Italian Magistrates, F1 Team owners on manslaughter charges, etc. I did provide two links to enable the words to be put into context.
>> Edited by veewhy on Wednesday 21st April 17:02
Nothing wrong with Damon's comments at all. If you watch the on board video, Senna corrects the car as it goes sideways, then the car grips again and fires him off into the wall. He made a mistake by correcting the slide. I read something a few years ago by an IndyCar driver (may have been Emerson Fitipaldi?) that in a very high speed corner like Tamburello, you should NOT correct an oversteering car. Just let the car spin and carry on afterwards. If you correct and the car grips again, you're a passenger, and the only place you're going to end up is the wall.
Lets also remember that Ayrton was very, very unlucky to die in that crash. The impact in itself was perfectly surviveable. The suspension coming back into the cockpit and through his helmet is what killed him.
Lets also remember that Ayrton was very, very unlucky to die in that crash. The impact in itself was perfectly surviveable. The suspension coming back into the cockpit and through his helmet is what killed him.
gopher said:
can they not just let him rest in peace?
shame on damon for making these comemnts...
Not shameful imo, he is simply stating that in his opinion it was a mistake by Senna that caused his demise, not a fault with the car, which may well be the case.
i only feel that with the tenth anniversary of his death round the corner, damon could be a little more respectful, especially as he was Senna team mate. Damon was a racer and as such should not make such comments about the death of another racer. In my opinion, its just not the done thing. Its not a fantasy that all racers are best of friends, more that they know the risks and as such respect each other.
Its not about apportioning blame, or at least thats not Damon Hills job, its simply about respect.
pablo said:
i only feel that with the tenth anniversary of his death round the corner, damon could be a little more respectful, especially as he was Senna team mate. .
Damon is purely stating that nothing broke on the Williams, thus it was driver error. He needs to say this (after all he was driving an identical car) because the idiotic Italian magistrates are bringing this subject up again and dragging F1 through the mud. Looks like the Italian GP will off the calendar if they continue as no F1 team will want to race there with the threat of manslaughter charges over all the team managers if their drivers crash.
Professor Sid Watkins maintains that Senna died from a blow to the head by a blunt object - namely - the right front wheel of the Williams, not by the suspension strut piercing his helmet.
I ALWAYS thought that Senna's crash was caused by the car running too low a ride height. His car can be seen bottoming dramatically on the run through Tamburello and I think he just lost steering input for a fraction of second and speared off the track - as simple as that.
Senna made plenty of mistakes - he wasn't infallible. I remember him flipping his McLaren into the gravel trap at the scary Peralta corner in Mexico and also spinning out at Barcelona one year too.
I ALWAYS thought that Senna's crash was caused by the car running too low a ride height. His car can be seen bottoming dramatically on the run through Tamburello and I think he just lost steering input for a fraction of second and speared off the track - as simple as that.
Senna made plenty of mistakes - he wasn't infallible. I remember him flipping his McLaren into the gravel trap at the scary Peralta corner in Mexico and also spinning out at Barcelona one year too.
Eric Mc said:
I ALWAYS thought that Senna's crash was caused by the car running too low a ride height. His car can be seen bottoming dramatically on the run through Tamburello and I think he just lost steering input for a fraction of second and speared off the track - as simple as that.
Yep, that's what I've always thought as the cause. Running behind the pace car after the startline crash, the tyres cooled and lost some pressure, he then went flat through Tamburello which was too quick too soon. Driver error.
Senna was/is a God.
I have a framed print of him and his Car (Pre crash of course) in pride of place in my living room. He is looking down at me as I speak.
He died. Thats all there is to it. Whether intentional or accidental, whetehr by human error or mechanical failure, we will never know for sure.
Damon has done nothing wrong as far as I can tell.
I have a framed print of him and his Car (Pre crash of course) in pride of place in my living room. He is looking down at me as I speak.
He died. Thats all there is to it. Whether intentional or accidental, whetehr by human error or mechanical failure, we will never know for sure.
Damon has done nothing wrong as far as I can tell.
pablo said:It's not Damon you want to be aiming your ire at it's the Italian courts who will not let the matter drop.
i only feel that with the tenth anniversary of his death round the corner, damon could be a little more respectful... etc.
pablo said:and indeed he's not, he's simply stating his opinion that most likely nothing in the car broke.
It's not about apportioning blame, or at least thats not Damon Hills job
I've always found Damon to be a really genuijly nice guy (and yes I know him from his F3 days) this is not how would want his comment to be interpreted. Rich...
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