38 replies to this topic

[Honza]

Hi,

Knows anybody something about Streiff´s accident in March 1989?
What caused this accident? Tried AGS team something new or was the car worst then i think?

Thanks for replay

Honza

[Muzza]

Hello, Honda,


Philippe Streiff was victim of a terrible cartwheel accident at Jacarepaguá in which the roll bar of his AGS ripped off the chassis during one of the rolls. This happened during the 1989 Formula 1 pre-season testing sessions. I am Brazilian and I was living there at the time and would like to present a local perspective of Streiff's accident, which is quite different from what has been published from some European media outlets.

(I am writing away from my personal files and I don't want to quote names and dates without checking them, but please let me know if this information is needed and I can arrange for them to be shipped to me)

This page at Dan King's Racing Circuits website displays the configuration of the Jacarepaguá circuit used at the time. Note the kink called Suspiro ("Sigh") at the map: this is the site of Streiff's accident. It is a very fast bend that was usually taken flat out (some racing conditions, like heavy fuel load, worn tyres or the car's own set-up would sometimes require a light lift on the throttle right before the turn so it could be pointed the right way though it). I estimate (from memory) that the Formula 1 cars of the time would take it at some 250-260 km/h.

The name of this turn tells a lot about its characteristics: it is not a true turn, but merely "the sigh of one"; also one would "let a sigh of relief go" when getting safely to its exit. In later years the always misinformed and misinforming Brazilian tv narrator Galvão Bueno made popular another name for that bend - Cheirinho, or "Smelly": the meaning is similar to the one above - it is no more than the "smell of a real turn”. Older folks like me prefer the original denomination. Whatever its name, it is usually not a difficult turn, but any accident there is reason for concern because the car is developing high speeds whilst changing direction.

Most likely Streiff made a driving mistake on the approach to Suspiro - maybe a lapse of concentration, maybe he misjudged the turn-in point, maybe he missed a gear on the run from Pace to Suspiro and got to the turn in too high rpms trying to make up for the earlier mishap. Or maybe the AGS was aerodynamically imbalanced (remember, that was a pre-season test) with too much of its downforce coming from the front end of the car. In any case, Streiff's AGS ran wide at the exit of the turn and hit a kerb in an unusual angle (maybe 45-degree with the edge of the track); the kerb became a lauchpad and the car took off.

The AGS hit the ground upside-down and wildly barrel-rolled through the run-off area outside of the turn, coming to a stop almost upside down against the barriers, quite far from the point where it left the track. Regrettably the rollbar had been stripped off the monocoque during the rolls (unclear if in the first hit or upon one of the subsequent impacts), and Streiff was critically injured. It was a major shunt: few people saw the accident, but those that and spoke to the press had seen enough to believe that Philippe was injured beyond help. Fortunately they were proved wrong and he still amongst us, even though he is seriously handicapped: he suffered fracture of several cervical vertebrae and extensive damage to his spinal cord when his helmet hit the ground, and he lost the ability to control most body movements.

The main disagreements between what was vented in Europe at the time and the Brazilian version of the facts involve the events that followed the accident. As some of you may recall, several magazines - particularly Autosprint - were very critical of the treatment given to Streiff in Rio de Janeiro. I would like to clarify that some of the statements made by these media outlets are not correct: it is not true that there were no marshals or doctors at the track. Actually the people that rescued Streiff were quite familiar with automobile accidents and were quick to identify which injuries he had suffered and take care of him in the best possible way.

Naturally the AGS team members and Streiff's wife (my apologies for not remembering her name) wanted to have him transferred to a hospital in the most expedite manner, but the doctors were trying to make sure that Streiff was properly imobilized and stable for the trip. As it was said by one of the presents "the damage was already done, we were just trying to keep the guy alive". Remember that this happened in 1989 and techniques for caring of victims of severe neck or spine injured were not as widely known as now. Having said that, the track management failed to have an emergency transportation team with the ability of handling a case like Streiff's at the circuit, as the ambulances at the track were not suitable to injuries like his.

Contrary to what has been written by Autosprint, Streiff was not taken to a dirty hospital and was not operated by inexperience doctors (I think even the word “butcher” was printed). The articles published by the Brazilian media (usually - and correctly - quite critical of the condition of the local hospitals) describe a very different scenario. The fact that Autosprint only published statements by Streiff's wife and his team - that were, of course, very stressed after the accident - without hearing the doctors is very misleading. Additionally, the fact that the team spoke poor English and the doctors no French caused confusion.

I remain convinced that the statements made by the Autosprint reporter in Rio (again, my apologies for not giving his name, I simply can't remember it) about the conditions of the hospital are not the result of a first-hand experience. The scenes shown at Brazilian tv could not be made up and are in contradiction to what was printed. Also, the comments about the rescue at the track are very different from what was printed in Brazil. This episode made me lost the little trust I still had in Autosprint as a decent racing magazine and a serious journalism vehicle. It seemed me that its coverage of Streiff's tragedy in Rio was yet again a case of "drenching the pages with scandal or blood, as this sells".

Another misconception broadcasted by several magazines (and I dare to think that Autosprint was one of them) about Jacarepaguá is that the circuit was equipped with "killer kerbs", ready to send a car into the stratosphere upon the minor driving mishap. This is absolutely wrong. The track was inspected and certified by FIA officials before the test; after the accident the kerbs were measured are were found to be in agreement with the organ's specifications. Interestingly enough, Streiff's and other similar accidents - when a car takes off when hitting a kerb at an odd angle - were investigated by the FIA Safety Group, that a while later came up with very different kerb design, using concrete logs imbedded on a "sidewalk" along the edge of the track instead of the traditional ramp profile. Several different proposals were tested, and I remember that we redid the kerbs in Interlagos almost every year under recommendations by the FIA. The problem with that the "imbedded logs" is that they would be adequate only to Formula 1; they were terrible to series racing softer suspension set-ups and absolutely unfeasible to motorcycle racing for obvious reasons (imagine a rider hitting one of those logs with his knee, for example). The "plissé" kerb style used today is a consequence of these developments.

As it is often the case, while most people remained finger-pointing each other or looking for clues in the wrong places the main factor on the outcome of Streiff's crash - the fact that the rollbar was removed from the monocoque, thus leaving the driver unprotected - was little discussed. As one can see in pictures, the rollbar of the AGS JH23 was actually a substructure attached to the monocoque, and not an integral part of it. The AGS was not a unique car on this aspect; most racing cars of the time used a similar design. As far as I was able to investigate the two main reasons for this approach were manufacturing problems associated to the integration of the rollbar into the main chassis (like difficulty to properly lay and orient the composite in that section of the monocoque) and the concept that rollbars should present some deformability upon impact that could not be obtained by a rollbar made with composite (that under extreme loads would not deform but shatter).

Of course, the FIA regulations regarding roll bar design are much more strict today then at the time, when they were mostly concerned towards the dimensions of such devices. Additionally, it is likely that the rollbar of the AGS failed not only owing to vertical loads but due to a combination of both vertical and sheer loads: when the car hit the grassy area outside of the track the rollbar may have dug enough into the soil to allow sheer forces to develop - and, as it had been seen in other accidents, it is possible that the rollbar of the AGS was not conceived with such things as a key consideration.


Muzza


[edited by Muzza - I had spelled Philippe Streiff's name incorrectly in two occasions.]

[JohnS]

What with the Tom Pryce thread too, TNF's a bundle of laughs today.

John

[Buford]

As Dan Gurney once said after killing a spectator, "This is a cruel sport." I am surprised at the Pollyanna attitude of several forum members who seem to want to gloss over or totally ignore actual events in a sport that has historically created one of the biggest non-war bloodbaths mankind has ever come up with for fun. Toughen up people. To quote a line from the movie "Heart Like a Wheel."

"This is racin'. It ain't damn golf."

[Paul Taylor]

A very short video of this exists...

[Honza]

Thank´s Muzza , great story.
I know ,some teams had ploblems with rollbars in past. I were by similar accident of Euroboss championship in Czech Republic. Austrian Frederico Carreca hits kerb at the end of finish line with his Arrows Footwork (don´t remember what year was the car) and roll across the grass to barriers. Roll bar of his car was damage too badly that the driver was seriously injured on the neck and died in hospital few hours ago.
Somewhere I have photo of this car remains.

Can send me anybody scanned article about Streiff´s accident from Autosprint or another magazines??

Paul Taylor: Do you know somebody who has this video? I prepare some article about AGS history and every information is helpful.

Tank´s Guys

Honza

[philippe7]

By coincidence, Philippe Streiff was interviewed on the 8.00 o'clock news on one of the major french channels a few days ago . He has helped with the development of some new "joystick"- style car controls which enable him, although he has only very limited hand and fingers movement, to drive a road car on the street. Although hand-controls for paraplegic people ( ie paralysed from the waist down ) are today fairly common, this was the first showing of these "electrical" controls enabling tetraplegic people ( ie from the neck down ) to drive a car on the road in full autonomy. Besides the interview part, they also showed images of Philippe driving his car on the streets of Paris ( oh yes, and also this short clip of the accident......)

Philippe Streiff has shown a great deal of courage and determination since his accident, he never allowed himself to fall into despair and has been very active in the sport, as an organiser of the Bercy kart masters for many years for instance. He never misses an occasion to use his notoriety as a former F1 driver to gain media space for all actions towards the help of spine-injured people.

[Teapot]

Originally posted by Muzza

Additionally, it is likely that the rollbar of the AGS failed not only owing to vertical loads but due to a combination of both vertical and sheer loads: when the car hit the grassy area outside of the track the rollbar may have dug enough into the soil to allow sheer forces to develop - and, as it had been seen in other accidents, it is possible that the rollbar of the AGS was not conceived with such things as a key consideration.

That's exactly what happened to Pedro Diniz's Sauber shortly after the start of the 1999 European Gp, but in this case the driver was able to lower his head under the cockpit's side protections and to avoid any serious damage. So, nowadays concern still remains about rollbar resistance under horizontal loads: I remember that not many years ago a young F3 driver (I'm sorry, I can't recall his name) was seriously injured when, the car upside down, the roll bar came off after an impact with a kerb.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Originally posted by philippe7


Philippe Streiff has shown a great deal of courage and determination since his accident, he never allowed himself to fall into despair and has been very active in the sport, as an organiser of the Bercy kart masters for many years for instance. He never misses an occasion to use his notoriety as a former F1 driver to gain media space for all actions towards the help of spine-injured people.

These are very good news! Thanks, Philippe. I didn't know anything about the life of Streiff after Jacarepagua: so he goes well, and I am happy!

[sieb]

Originally posted by Teapot


That's exactly what happened to Pedro Diniz's Sauber shortly after the start of the 1999 European Gp, but in this case the driver was able to lower his head under the cockpit's side protections and to avoid any serious damage. So, nowadays concern still remains about rollbar resistance under horizontal loads: I remember that not many years ago a young F3 driver (I'm sorry, I can't recall his name) was seriously injured when, the car upside down, the roll bar came off after an impact with a kerb.

That was the Dutch Driver Wouter van Eeuwijk on the Nürnburgring 1999. He was only 19 years old. They interviewed him a couple of weeks ago on Dutch radio. He is paralysed from the neck down.
For the Dutch members, you can listen to it here here

[Muzza]

Originally posted by philippe7
(...) Philippe Streiff has shown a great deal of courage and determination since his accident, he never allowed himself to fall into despair and has been very active in the sport, as an organiser of the Bercy kart masters for many years for instance. He never misses an occasion to use his notoriety as a former F1 driver to gain media space for all actions towards the help of spine-injured people.

I am very ashamed for having failed to mention Philippe's life after the accident on my posting above, and I am thankful to philippe7 for having done that. When I was living in Switzerland I attended the Bercy Kart Masters in Paris and Streiff received a long, loud and deserved standing ovation every year.

His accident came at a very unfortunate time (well, there is never a fortunate one for such a thing) because he had had a good year with AGS in 1988 at the wheel of the single car of the team and 1989 could have been much better. Amongst Streiff's performances with AGS in '88 I would remark Imola (where a late race engine misfire put him out the points), Canada (a memorable dice with Nelson Piquet), Detroit (idem - and Piquet crashed out of the race trying to outbrake Streiff) and Suzuka.

In 1989 the AGS team was expanding to two cars running Streiff and Gabriele Tarquini, and everything seemed very promising. For a moment it seemed that AGS could become what Ligier had failed to be, and the lack of internal conflict at AGS was very different from the environment at Guy's team... AGS needed a good start that season to renew the sponsorship with Bouygues, the construction company that paid the bills the year before, but then Streiff's accident happened and the whole team was crushed by that (Streiff had raced with AGS in Formula 2 in 1983 and 1984, and the whole thing was run like a family...).

Joachim Winkelhock was brought in to replace Streiff but failed to prequalify in all races he entered, Bouygues did not renew the sponsorship, the team had to run a second season with the JH23 model and the whole thing went downhill after that.

What a pity.

Originally posted by sieb


That was the Dutch Driver Wouter van Eeuwijk on the Nürnburgring 1999. He was only 19 years old. They interviewed him a couple of weeks ago on Dutch radio. He is paralysed from the neck down.
For the Dutch members, you can listen to it here here

Thanks, Sieb,


I remember Wouter's accident - I think his car rolled at the chicane after touching another competitor's wheels, wasn't it? I am glad to learn that he is coping as well as one could in such circumstances.

I heard the whole nineteen minutes or so of the interview but, as I don't speak Dutch, I failed to understand it (I just got some sentences here and there). How is Wouter doing? Was anything learned from his accident?

Regards,


Muzza

[Cris]

Muzza, outstanding information, details, and the like in your posts on this thread. Thanks for the insights.
Cris

[fines]

Tarquini was the replacement for Streiff, not Winkelhock who was signed as #2 driver from the beginning.

[sieb]

Some details for Muzza on the radio interview:

The interview is mainly about what he did after the accident and how he copes with live.
It's very sad indeed, because he talks about his racing ambitions before the accident, and then
his struggle for live and in live after the accident. He still got no feeling from his breast down, and can't move his arms. He has to be on a machine a couple of hours a day because he can't breath by himself for 24 hours.
He doesn't remember anything of the accident, and his passion nowadays is the internet, where he follows racing and does a bit of stock-brocking .
But he is amazingly positive about his live to come.

(With excuses for my english, but I hope you'll understand it)

I remember there where some pictures of him visiting Jos Verstappen in the arrows-box a couple of years ago. Maybe I find somethin on that.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by fines
Tarquini was the replacement for Streiff, not Winkelhock who was signed as #2 driver from the beginning.

You are absolutely right, Fines - my error, thanks for correcting me.

AGS had informed the FIA before the season that it would be expanding to cars in 1989 - a year in which the number of cars entered grew so much that a pre-qualification session on Friday morning became necessary - and that Philippe Streiff and Joachim Wilkenhock would be its drivers. Since AGS had already competed in Formula 1 in 1988 (with Streiff, as per my previous posting), and as per the ranking of teams established by the FIA, the French team would need to prequalify one car - the second one, driven by Winkelhock. You are correct also saying that Gabriele Tarquini replaced Streiff - and, by doing that, was waived of pre-qualifying.

The fact that the replacement driver Tarquini did well whereas the one included in the original AGS line-up for that season - Winkelhock - failed made me think that Winkelhock was the person that took over Philippe's role. Wrong, Smoking Jo was already in the AGS second before the season began.

Thanks,


Muzza

[fines]

It seems "Smoking Joe" got a rather raw deal from the Gonfaronaises ( I'm sounding like Keir here!;)), no testing and little attention at the races so he left the team early, being replaced by Yannick Dalmas who didn't do all that much better - the team was on its last legs!

[sieb]

I realize it's of topic but Muzza I found some pics on the jos verstappen site.
van eeuwijk visits jos in 2001

[Nikos Spagnol]

Originally posted by fines
Tarquini was the replacement for Streiff, not Winkelhock who was signed as #2 driver from the beginning.

Exactly. Tarquini was, before that, involved with the FIRST team, which never materialised. Well, it actually did, somewhat, because the chassis designs would be used by laughing stock Life team in the following year...

[Nikos Spagnol]

BTW, was Streiff's accident somehow related to the Brazilian GP moving back to Interlagos?

Or was it mostly about money, and facilities?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by sieb
.....(With excuses for my english, but I hope you'll understand it).....

Sure, you're doing a great job... but I'd like to point out the one thing that makes it a little hard to understand.

There are two words, 'live' and 'life'.

'live' can be pronounced 'liv'... as you would without the 'e'... as in 'you live for the day'... 'he lives there'... etc... and it can be pronounced 'live' with the long 'i' as in 'bike'... this would be 'we have a live one here' or 'it was a live concert' (or 'live telecast').

Then 'life' is the word you should have used most of the time in your post. 'Life' is the living force, it can be a noun or a verb.

I hope this helps...

[sieb]

Originally posted by Ray Bell


Then 'life' is the word you should have used most of the time in your post. 'Life' is the living force, it can be a noun or a verb.

I hope this helps...

Thanks Ray, I think you're right, it has to be life

[Muzza]

Originally posted by Nikos Spagnol
BTW, was Streiff's accident somehow related to the Brazilian GP moving back to Interlagos?

Or was it mostly about money, and facilities?

Hello, Nikos,


No, Streiff's accident had nothing to do with the move of the Brazilian GP from Jacarepaguá to Interlagos. This is another nonsense that some magazines got printed at the time. The fight to host the race was just because the two cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, wanted it, and there is a strong – and sometimes joking and funny, but in a few instances bitter – rivalry between them.

When Piero Gancia (then president of the CBA, the maximum car racing federation of Brazil, and the man that started the movement to take the race back to Interlagos) made the first moves the folks at Jacarepaguá screamed and shouted, but actually did quite little. There was never a true “counterbid” from the “Rio Faction” to keep the Formula 1 race in their town – just some blanket statements in the like of “we are going to sue you”, “Rio is Beautiful, São Paulo is ugly” (no kidding!) and so forth. Unsurprisingly the non-specialized media, such as large-circulation newspapers, published these statements, but nothing actually happened – for example, the “Rio Faction” didn’t even think of sending a delegation to meet Bernie Ecclestone or the FIA. Contrary to what was printed, for example, Jacarepaguá did not have a contract to held the race beyond 1989 – there was a clause of intention covering, if I am not mistaken, up to 1991, but nothing more than that.

Gancia, on the hand, is a skilled businessman and a smart man, and invited Támas Rohonyi (a friend of Ecclestone’s) to run the race, and “gave” the race to the Gnome as well: in case you don’t know, the Brazilian GP is organized by a company called International Promotions, whose ownership is publicly shaded by a complicated holding structure but actually belongs to Ecclestone himself. The Hungarian GP is operated under the same method by the same folks.

In the “media war” to get hold of the race the “São Paulo Faction” also made blanket statements against Rio, but Streiff’s accident was never mentioned, to the very best of my knowledge. I was involved with the organization, promotion and scrutinizing of races in Interlagos then and I think I know this story from inside out. Also, it was the common perception both in Rio and in São Paulo that Streiff had been properly rescued and treated in Rio – there was never a criticism from the paulistas about that. A close friend of mine worked at the medical company that provided such services to races in Interlagos, Hungaroring and other tracks and according to her the Streiff case was not even debated (*). The FIA did not considered the treatment given to Streiff inadequate – in spite of what some European magazines printed.

And, as I mentioned above, Jacarepaguá had been inspected and approved by the FIA before the 1989 pre-season tests. There was also a post-accident investigation carried by the organ, in which the kerbs were a subject of particularly attention as I described above- and again the circuit was “cleared”.

(*) : with the important exception that there was no fast transport service at the track with the ability of caring for a person with severe neck and spine trauma as Streiff.

Regards,

Muzza
(a paulista that loves Rio...)

[Muzza]

Dear sieb,


Thank you very much for your postings on the condition of Wouter van Eeuwijk, I much appreciated reading them. Thanks also for the pictures: seeing the face of a driver who is now handicapped gives a much larger - and more humane - dimension to these terrible events.

I hope Wouter can live as well as possible and allowed by the current knowledge on injuries like his. Who knows what the future may hold...

May he be strong - he was not forgotten, and there is a lot of people "out there, somewhere" wishing him well.

Kind regards,


Muzza

[Nikos Spagnol]

Thanks, Muzza!

Those disputes between São Paulo and Rio are quite commom, aren't they? When both cities wanted to apply for hosting the Olympics (or the Pan-American Games?) there was a similar deal. Some Rio's authority said "apologies to the ugly ones, but beauty is basic!"

BTW, something that has always puzzled me: WHY did the Formula One teams made the trip to Brazil to pre-season testing? And why don't they do it anymore - even with gazzilions more money than, say, AGS in 1989?

[DXB]

Great info there Muzza. I googled Streif as Im currently watching on DVD the 1993 Bercy event.

I also rememBer reading in Autosport the week after Wouter accident. Poor guy.

[rallen]

Great info there Muzza. I googled Streif as Im currently watching on DVD the 1993 Bercy event.

I also rememBer reading in Autosport the week after Wouter accident. Poor guy.

Impressive and moving thread guys. Phillipe Streiff was a bit before my time. Can people tell me how he was regarded before the accident and how good he was?

[Seebar]

Regarding this incident, Heinz Prüller wrote that there was something wrong with Streiff's (or AGS's) insurance. His repatriation and specialist treatment cost an enormous amount of money, for which he wasn't (fully) covered. Prüller claims the FIA helped out by imposing huge fines for misdemeanors on other teams and drivers (abandoning a car with the steering wheel not properly connected, being a minute late for a press conference or a briefing, stuff like that would all of a sudden cost you thousands of dollars); money which then went to Streiff's care.

[Paolo]

In this week's Autosprint Tarquini is interviewed after his World Touring Cars title.
In the interview he states that 1989 AGS was the worst car he ever drove, as the team was in such a dire financial situation that parts were left on the car after their life limit was reached, making it dangerous to drive.

Of course, this will hardly apply to preseason testing.

[f1steveuk]

I've met Phillipe at a few Grand Prix, and he was always happy to talk about his career, and as has been said, has no bitterness, and enjoys his life.

This picture comes from a magazine article about him




He also has a wicked sense of humour!!

Edited by f1steveuk, 04 December 2009 - 09:51.

[rallen]

Regarding this incident, Heinz Prüller wrote that there was something wrong with Streiff's (or AGS's) insurance. His repatriation and specialist treatment cost an enormous amount of money, for which he wasn't (fully) covered. Prüller claims the FIA helped out by imposing huge fines for misdemeanors on other teams and drivers (abandoning a car with the steering wheel not properly connected, being a minute late for a press conference or a briefing, stuff like that would all of a sudden cost you thousands of dollars); money which then went to Streiff's care.

Wow I never new that, thanks Seebar. Who would have thought the FIA would have been so honourable and decent. Does anyone know who decided that?

[f1steveuk]

Wow I never new that, thanks Seebar. Who would have thought the FIA would have been so honourable and decent. Does anyone know who decided that?

My guess? Bernie. That's how I got to meet him, Bernie would/does always make sure Phillipe is looked after, and it wouldn't surprise me about BCE to do such a thing. I was surprised and honoured when Phillipe contacted me through Facebook, recalling who I was, and putting me on his friends page, that's the sort of man he is..................

Edited by f1steveuk, 04 December 2009 - 13:12.

[F3000man]

Hello, Honda,


Philippe Streiff was victim of a terrible cartwheel accident at Jacarepaguá in which the roll bar of his AGS ripped off the chassis during one of the rolls. This happened during the 1989 Formula 1 pre-season testing sessions. I am Brazilian and I was living there at the time and would like to present a local perspective of Streiff's accident, which is quite different from what has been published from some European media outlets.

(I am writing away from my personal files and I don't want to quote names and dates without checking them, but please let me know if this information is needed and I can arrange for them to be shipped to me)

This page at Dan King's Racing Circuits website displays the configuration of the Jacarepaguá circuit used at the time. Note the kink called Suspiro ("Sigh") at the map: this is the site of Streiff's accident. It is a very fast bend that was usually taken flat out (some racing conditions, like heavy fuel load, worn tyres or the car's own set-up would sometimes require a light lift on the throttle right before the turn so it could be pointed the right way though it). I estimate (from memory) that the Formula 1 cars of the time would take it at some 250-260 km/h.

The name of this turn tells a lot about its characteristics: it is not a true turn, but merely "the sigh of one"; also one would "let a sigh of relief go" when getting safely to its exit. In later years the always misinformed and misinforming Brazilian tv narrator Galvão Bueno made popular another name for that bend - Cheirinho, or "Smelly": the meaning is similar to the one above - it is no more than the "smell of a real turn”. Older folks like me prefer the original denomination. Whatever its name, it is usually not a difficult turn, but any accident there is reason for concern because the car is developing high speeds whilst changing direction.

Most likely Streiff made a driving mistake on the approach to Suspiro - maybe a lapse of concentration, maybe he misjudged the turn-in point, maybe he missed a gear on the run from Pace to Suspiro and got to the turn in too high rpms trying to make up for the earlier mishap. Or maybe the AGS was aerodynamically imbalanced (remember, that was a pre-season test) with too much of its downforce coming from the front end of the car. In any case, Streiff's AGS ran wide at the exit of the turn and hit a kerb in an unusual angle (maybe 45-degree with the edge of the track); the kerb became a lauchpad and the car took off.

The AGS hit the ground upside-down and wildly barrel-rolled through the run-off area outside of the turn, coming to a stop almost upside down against the barriers, quite far from the point where it left the track. Regrettably the rollbar had been stripped off the monocoque during the rolls (unclear if in the first hit or upon one of the subsequent impacts), and Streiff was critically injured. It was a major shunt: few people saw the accident, but those that and spoke to the press had seen enough to believe that Philippe was injured beyond help. Fortunately they were proved wrong and he still amongst us, even though he is seriously handicapped: he suffered fracture of several cervical vertebrae and extensive damage to his spinal cord when his helmet hit the ground, and he lost the ability to control most body movements.

The main disagreements between what was vented in Europe at the time and the Brazilian version of the facts involve the events that followed the accident. As some of you may recall, several magazines - particularly Autosprint - were very critical of the treatment given to Streiff in Rio de Janeiro. I would like to clarify that some of the statements made by these media outlets are not correct: it is not true that there were no marshals or doctors at the track. Actually the people that rescued Streiff were quite familiar with automobile accidents and were quick to identify which injuries he had suffered and take care of him in the best possible way.

Naturally the AGS team members and Streiff's wife (my apologies for not remembering her name) wanted to have him transferred to a hospital in the most expedite manner, but the doctors were trying to make sure that Streiff was properly imobilized and stable for the trip. As it was said by one of the presents "the damage was already done, we were just trying to keep the guy alive". Remember that this happened in 1989 and techniques for caring of victims of severe neck or spine injured were not as widely known as now. Having said that, the track management failed to have an emergency transportation team with the ability of handling a case like Streiff's at the circuit, as the ambulances at the track were not suitable to injuries like his.

Contrary to what has been written by Autosprint, Streiff was not taken to a dirty hospital and was not operated by inexperience doctors (I think even the word “butcher” was printed). The articles published by the Brazilian media (usually - and correctly - quite critical of the condition of the local hospitals) describe a very different scenario. The fact that Autosprint only published statements by Streiff's wife and his team - that were, of course, very stressed after the accident - without hearing the doctors is very misleading. Additionally, the fact that the team spoke poor English and the doctors no French caused confusion.

I remain convinced that the statements made by the Autosprint reporter in Rio (again, my apologies for not giving his name, I simply can't remember it) about the conditions of the hospital are not the result of a first-hand experience. The scenes shown at Brazilian tv could not be made up and are in contradiction to what was printed. Also, the comments about the rescue at the track are very different from what was printed in Brazil. This episode made me lost the little trust I still had in Autosprint as a decent racing magazine and a serious journalism vehicle. It seemed me that its coverage of Streiff's tragedy in Rio was yet again a case of "drenching the pages with scandal or blood, as this sells".

Another misconception broadcasted by several magazines (and I dare to think that Autosprint was one of them) about Jacarepaguá is that the circuit was equipped with "killer kerbs", ready to send a car into the stratosphere upon the minor driving mishap. This is absolutely wrong. The track was inspected and certified by FIA officials before the test; after the accident the kerbs were measured are were found to be in agreement with the organ's specifications. Interestingly enough, Streiff's and other similar accidents - when a car takes off when hitting a kerb at an odd angle - were investigated by the FIA Safety Group, that a while later came up with very different kerb design, using concrete logs imbedded on a "sidewalk" along the edge of the track instead of the traditional ramp profile. Several different proposals were tested, and I remember that we redid the kerbs in Interlagos almost every year under recommendations by the FIA. The problem with that the "imbedded logs" is that they would be adequate only to Formula 1; they were terrible to series racing softer suspension set-ups and absolutely unfeasible to motorcycle racing for obvious reasons (imagine a rider hitting one of those logs with his knee, for example). The "plissé" kerb style used today is a consequence of these developments.

As it is often the case, while most people remained finger-pointing each other or looking for clues in the wrong places the main factor on the outcome of Streiff's crash - the fact that the rollbar was removed from the monocoque, thus leaving the driver unprotected - was little discussed. As one can see in pictures, the rollbar of the AGS JH23 was actually a substructure attached to the monocoque, and not an integral part of it. The AGS was not a unique car on this aspect; most racing cars of the time used a similar design. As far as I was able to investigate the two main reasons for this approach were manufacturing problems associated to the integration of the rollbar into the main chassis (like difficulty to properly lay and orient the composite in that section of the monocoque) and the concept that rollbars should present some deformability upon impact that could not be obtained by a rollbar made with composite (that under extreme loads would not deform but shatter).

Of course, the FIA regulations regarding roll bar design are much more strict today then at the time, when they were mostly concerned towards the dimensions of such devices. Additionally, it is likely that the rollbar of the AGS failed not only owing to vertical loads but due to a combination of both vertical and sheer loads: when the car hit the grassy area outside of the track the rollbar may have dug enough into the soil to allow sheer forces to develop - and, as it had been seen in other accidents, it is possible that the rollbar of the AGS was not conceived with such things as a key consideration.


Muzza


[edited by Muzza - I had spelled Philippe Streiff's name incorrectly in two occasions.]

Adding to all this awesome information given by Muzza, I recently read some new information about Streiff after the accident.

Contrary to what's usual to say, Streiff wasn't unconscious right after the accident. He even tried to stand when he was brought out from the car, but he couldn't because of a huge cut on his knee. He was then laid down on a stretcher to be put into a helicopter to be airlifted to a hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital was under strike action and the helicopter had to turn to another available medical centre. But suddenly, Streiff said he wasn't feeling the lower parts of his body and this sensation was increasing. When they came to an hospital, Streiff didn't have his movements anymore. Later, the spine injury was detected.

And the name of Streiff's wife is Renée.

PS: I'm brazilian too. And I agree with him that we listen to stupid things about Streiff case as Rio de Janeiro was a big unstructured jungle with no skilled medical outfit. Everything could be avoided if AGS did a better job as regard of the ridiculous roll-bar: wasn't it the only car between the twenty that had the roll-bar as a simple arc of metal, not integrated to the monocoque?

Edited by F3000man, 04 December 2009 - 12:19.

[taran]

Impressive and moving thread guys. Phillipe Streiff was a bit before my time. Can people tell me how he was regarded before the accident and how good he was?

He was another product of the excellent French feeder programme of the 70's and 80's and showed a decent turn of speed in 1985 before falling out with Ligier for daring to race his team leader Jacques Laffite in the Australian race where he scored a podium.

He switched to Tyrrell where he was fast but a little unpolished. In both years, he was beaten by his English team mates which probably destroyed his chances of moving to a better team. Probably a mix of being the de facto #2 driver as a foreigner in a very British team and not being a very 'technical' driver while Brundle and Palmer were good in that regard without being all that fast. At the end of 1987, I'd say it was fair to consider Streiff a decent journeyman. Competent behind the wheel but hardly a potential Grand Prix winner.

There were a few remarkable races in 1988 in the unfashionable AGS but its hard to see if it was Streiff getting the most out of an average car or a matter of a neat little car driven well. Remember, this was the year atmos and turbos mixed and even a Rial could score points.

I'd put Streiff in the same category as Grouillard, Dalmas and Bernard and below Alesi and Comas and far behind the likes of Prost, Arnoux and Laffite.

[Andre Acker]

Hi Muzza,

I like your opinion about Galvão Bueno (our "Murray Walker") : always misinformed and misinforming ...

And you were very generous !

Best regards.

André Acker.

[seccotine]

He was another product of the excellent French feeder programme of the 70's and 80's and showed a decent turn of speed in 1985 before falling out with Ligier for daring to race his team leader Jacques Laffite in the Australian race where he scored a podium.

He switched to Tyrrell where he was fast but a little unpolished. In both years, he was beaten by his English team mates which probably destroyed his chances of moving to a better team. Probably a mix of being the de facto #2 driver as a foreigner in a very British team and not being a very 'technical' driver while Brundle and Palmer were good in that regard without being all that fast. At the end of 1987, I'd say it was fair to consider Streiff a decent journeyman. Competent behind the wheel but hardly a potential Grand Prix winner.

There were a few remarkable races in 1988 in the unfashionable AGS but its hard to see if it was Streiff getting the most out of an average car or a matter of a neat little car driven well. Remember, this was the year atmos and turbos mixed and even a Rial could score points.

I'd put Streiff in the same category as Grouillard, Dalmas and Bernard and below Alesi and Comas and far behind the likes of Prost, Arnoux and Laffite.

I disagree about a few drivers, but that looks like a very clear and accurate analysis.

[Formula Once]

In this week's Autosprint Tarquini is interviewed after his World Touring Cars title.
In the interview he states that 1989 AGS was the worst car he ever drove, as the team was in such a dire financial situation that parts were left on the car after their life limit was reached, making it dangerous to drive.

Of course, this will hardly apply to preseason testing.

In an interview with RTL GP Magazine out this week, Gabriele recalls that same car being quite good intitially and that he received a phone call from Streiff just prior to the Monaco GP because Phillipe wanted to give him some tips which Tarquini found very valuable. In fact, I think he was quite quick that year in Monte Carlo if I remember correctly.

Not to defend AGS, but I believe, or rather know for a fact, that some cars some of the smaller teams in the 1984-94 period ran weren't/couldn't be always as safely constructed, run and/or maintained as they could/should have.

[seccotine]

In an interview with RTL GP Magazine out this week, Gabriele recalls that same car being quite good intitially and that he received a phone call from Streiff just prior to the Monaco GP because Phillipe wanted to give him some tips which Tarquini found very valuable. In fact, I think he was quite quick that year in Monte Carlo if I remember correctly.

Not to defend AGS, but I believe, or rather know for a fact, that some cars some of the smaller teams in the 1984-94 period ran weren't/couldn't be always as safely constructed, run and/or maintained as they could/should have.

The AGS team had the reputation of being very serious with the design and the building of the cars. Some details were very carefully handcrafted.
But that is what this was about : a small team, well-organised and serious, that could have been good in the 70s, competing against huge structures. If you add to that money concerns...

[bigears]

Motoring News 22nd March 1989.


Motorings News 10th May 1989


Motoring News 12th July 1989


Motoring News 31st August 1989


Motoring News 20th December 1989

[rallen]

Did the team change or modify the design of the car/roll bar after this accident? or did it race the rest of the season with the same design of the roll bar?