Roland Ratzenberger

Roland Ratzenberger

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patmahe

5,744 posts

203 months

Monday 3rd May 2021
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F1 had become complacent by 1994, there had been some big accidents in the years running up to that but drivers had miraculously walked away. It took a weekend like Imola and the death of a very high profile driver to snap the sport out of it, one wonders if the same levels of improvement would have taken place had Roland been the only driver killed that weekend, sadly I doubt it.

I feel much better watching F1 now knowing everything within reason is being done to keep drivers safe and only a freak accident would result in a fatality. The fact that Grosjean got out of that awful crash last year with only minor injuries is astonishing. Of course we can never do too much as a sport but looking back at old footage/photos it's scary just how exposed drivers were and how their heads pinballed around during/after a big impact. I hope we never have a weekend like Imola '94 ever again.

coppice

8,564 posts

143 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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I agree entirely - nearly . It is possible to do too much - I don't want to see a Bugatti T35 or an ERA with a safety cage , and I loathe so many of the Tilke circuits with huge runoffs . Even - or especially perhaps - Silverstone has been ruined for the spectator, who is now rarely in the same post code as the cars on track.

vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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coppice said:
I agree entirely - nearly . It is possible to do too much - I don't want to see a Bugatti T35 or an ERA with a safety cage , and I loathe so many of the Tilke circuits with huge runoffs . Even - or especially perhaps - Silverstone has been ruined for the spectator, who is now rarely in the same post code as the cars on track.
Tilke isn't purely to blame for the runoffs, and he has designed some good tracks - COTA, Mexico and Istanbul leap to mind.

LukeBrown66

4,479 posts

45 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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Sorry chap but if you think ANY of those tracks are good, well enough said.

vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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LukeBrown66 said:
Sorry chap but if you think ANY of those tracks are good, well enough said.
The drivers like them. COTA has some good sections. Istanbul turn 8 is a remarkable challenge and I recall that the drivers really like the circuit, but hey, what do they know.

Crafty_

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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Istanbul is regarded as a modern classic as I understand it.

As someone said above, the Simtek was a good looking car, I read something from one of the designers (Nick Wirth maybe?) that said it was probably the last F1 car to be designed/drawn entirely on paper, mostly on the account of the team not having the budget to use CAD in any significant way.






zetec

4,465 posts

250 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
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KR158 said:
Me too, I remember so much detail of that weekend, such an incredibly Sunny, Hot & beautiful Spring day. Mowing the Lawn, came in for a Drink, pulled up Ceefax & was just stunned by what I read. I'd been following Simtek since I fIrst saw a Picture in the long defunct "F1 News" Magazine, such a pretty Car from a plucky little Team. Roland seemed like a good Guy, achieved his dream to race in F1. That's how I choose to remember him. smile
I had to wait to find out about Senna, we flew to Corfu later that evening and in those days you had to wait a day or so before you could get a UK newspaper.