47 replies to this topic

[Longtimefan]

19 Years gone.. I still remember that horrific weekend like it was yesterday.

RIP Roland.

[KTF1]

It's so sad that he was such a short time into his F1 career, after he had waited so long to get into F1. RIP Roland.

Edited by KTF1, 30 April 2013 - 13:17.

[MaxCrazyEddieCayer]

Rest in peace Roland, you died doing what you loved most...

[BoschKurve]

RIP Roland.

Time goes by, but it never removes the feelings associated with that weekend.

I happened to see this image recently in a much larger size, but this one is a smaller resolution.

[hogstar]

Rest in peace Roland, you died doing what you loved most...

Roland's tragic death often gets overshadowed by Senna's demise, but he will never be forgotten. Would of been great to see what he could of done in more competitive machinery, but we never got the chance.

[MaxCrazyEddieCayer]

Yep, that's a fact, a sad one. I made it obligatory for my self to post " for Roland " in most of my social networks page every years just to remind every body else. Just like simtek did on their cars for the remaining races of 1994 as a tribute. Also played a musical improvisation show a couples of years ago with a bud on that very date and I named our piece For Roland..

[JacnGille]

[Emery0323]

The "Senna" movie produced by Kapadia has been much commented-upon elsewhere in this forum, but one vignette that I found quite poignant was the brief clips of Ratzenburger during the Imola '94 weekend.

He was only a few months younger than Senna, but was still struggling to get a foothold in F1, to the point that he misrepresented his age because he didn't want to appear to be "over the hill" as far as starting an F1 career.

In the events leading up to his crash, there is video footage of him talking to someone (crew? manager?) in the pits and the immense pressure he was feeling is apparent. He's bearing the strain of being at the margins of F1 and makes a desperation run to make the field, with tragic results.

RIP Roland

[chrissybaby1975]

The "Senna" movie produced by Kapadia has been much commented-upon elsewhere in this forum, but one vignette that I found quite poignant was the brief clips of Ratzenburger during the Imola '94 weekend.

He was only a few months younger than Senna, but was still struggling to get a foothold in F1, to the point that he misrepresented his age because he didn't want to appear to be "over the hill" as far as starting an F1 career.

In the events leading up to his crash, there is video footage of him talking to someone (crew? manager?) in the pits and the immense pressure he was feeling is apparent. He's bearing the strain of being at the margins of F1 and makes a desperation run to make the field, with tragic results.

RIP Roland

I'm pleased you've raised this, that segment of the film probably hit me harder than anything Senna related.

Does anybody have more information about who Roland was speaking to? And was he talking about Ayrton? Or the handling problems of the Simtek?

That Saturday afternoon accident and aftermath, as played out on Eurosport, is still the worst thing I've ever seen in my many years of watching motorsport.

[Henri Greuter]

For Dutchmen, since 1949, 30-4 was always a day of festivities (being the day we celebrated the birthday of first Queen Juliana and then her doughter Queen Beatrix.)

As from this year on, 30-4 has become a regular day like any other in the year.

But I shall never forget the sad "Queens day" of 1994 and how I lost all the pleasure in what was to come later on that day.

 

Even with 30-4 being a normal day, still can't forget that one 20 years ago and what it did to me. Next day didn't hurt me as much as 30/4/94 did.

 

Rest in peace Roland. Some won't forget you because of what you were yourself instead of being `only` `that` other fatality that weekend as you regrettably appear to be for a number of race fans.

 

Henri

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Such a grim, grim meeting.  RIP, Roland. 

[byrkus]

I have this picture on my facebook profile somewhere... I hope it's not insulting for anybody.

 

 

20 years went by in a flash...

 

[Coral]

That was an awful weekend, I shall never forget it. Roland's death came as a terrible shock, it just seemed to come out of the blue. I didn't see Roland's accident as I didn't really bother with qualifying much in those days what with it being over the two days. I distinctly remember jumping up and down with joy that afternoon because my favourite horse Mister Baileys won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. However my happiness was short-lived when I switched over to BBC "Grandstand" and heard about Roland's fatal accident. It was shocking...I watched the Eurovision Song Contest later that night and all I could think about was poor Roland. I thought it couldn't get much worse, and then the following day...  

 

RIP dear Roland...you are sadly missed, but always remembered.     

[tifosiMac]

I remember hearing about Roland on the news but was only 12 years old at the time. I didn't watch qualifying as I don't think the BBC showed it in those days, but I could be wrong? I watched the race not really understanding the magnitude of what had happened the previous day and after seeing Senna killed it changed the way I followed the sport probably because of who he was. I went to my first race in 1993 so was on a high for F1 but this was the first time I had seen a sportsman/men killed and it was confusing. People often forget Roland because he was new to the sport and was killed before he really showed his potential. Had Senna not been killed the day afterwards, I think Roland may have got the recognition he deserved as a human being and driver who was killed doing something he loved. I suppose another way to look at it is that his death occurred alongside a great so perhaps he is remembered better than the likes of De Angelis, and Villeneuve yearly because the date is recent and famous. 

 

Simtek were also based on the Wildmere Industrial estate in Banbury where I lived and it was very common to see employee's sporting the MTV branded team wear around the town back then. The town felt the loss I think.

RIP Roland, we still remember.

[ensign14]

Roland's tragic death often gets overshadowed by Senna's demise, but he will never be forgotten. Would of been great to see what he could of done in more competitive machinery, but we never got the chance.

 

I think paradoxically it's because of Senna's death that Ratzenberger is better remembered.  Because the Senna retrospectives tend to refer to Roland and Ayrton's attitude to his death.

 

Who recalls Riccardo Paletti for example?  The last driver to die in a GP before Senna? 

 

tifosiMac - I watched qualifying on Eurosport, at the Oxford Union, which had a then-rare satellite feed.

[sennafan24]

I think on April 30th we should remember Roland Ratzenberger.

 

I think on May 1st we should remember Ayrton Senna.

 

Simple as that.

[Vitesse2]

IIRC BBC only showed British GP qualifying at that time, tifosiMac. They were soon forced into expanding it because Eurosport were showing it from every race. Which - O/T - means I've been listening to Ben Edwards for at least twenty years!

[tifosiMac]

tifosiMac - I watched qualifying on Eurosport, at the Oxford Union, which had a then-rare satellite feed.

Yeah I know Eurosport used to show it as my step father had a satellite dish back then and he saw it, but I wasn't too sure whether Quali appeared on the Beeb which I don't think it did. John Watson used to commentate on Eurosport didn't he? I saw it years later from a recording and remember thinking how horrific Roland's accident was in the obvious sense. You knew instantly that it was very serious whereas Senna's was big but you half expected him to regain consciousness and climb out of the car, possibly due to the camera angle. I think had I have seen Roland's accident at 12 years old, it would have affected me way more than Senna's as we didn't know the outcome until many hours later and I think I learned of it the following day. A dark weekend that I hope F1 never again experiences, and its mad to think its been 20 years!

[RedBullLee]

IIRC BBC only showed British GP qualifying at that time, tifosiMac. They were soon forced into expanding it because Eurosport were showing it from every race. Which - O/T - means I've been listening to Ben Edwards for at least twenty years!

 

Eurosport commentators at the time were John Watson & Allard Kalff. I remember watching it live at the time & Allard desperately pleading with the Producer on air to go to a commercial instead of showing the medics working on Roland.

[SophieB]

I think paradoxically it's because of Senna's death that Ratzenberger is better remembered.  Because the Senna retrospectives tend to refer to Roland and Ayrton's attitude to his death.

 

Who recalls Riccardo Paletti for example?  The last driver to die in a GP before Senna? 

 

tifosiMac - I watched qualifying on Eurosport, at the Oxford Union, which had a then-rare satellite feed.

 

That is how David Brabham prefers to see it too.

 

"There's looking at it that way or the other way, which I prefer," said Brabham, who had been exchanging letters with Ratzenberger's parents up until recently.

"Would we still be talking about Roland 20 years on if only Roland had died? The fact he died on the same weekend as Senna means he will always be remembered."

 

Something I'd completely forgotten until I read Richard Williams book on Senna reminded me was how Roland had a bit of a cult following in the UK because of the similarity of his name to that of the anarchic TV puppet Roland Rat and had even appeared on his show. Once my memory was jogged, I remembered that but I guess what happened to him was so sad I forgot all about it until then.

[tifosiMac]

A good article and can't believe there is no memorial at the circuit already.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rmula1/27068212

[Barty]

Eurosport commentators at the time were John Watson & Allard Kalff. I remember watching it live at the time & Allard desperately pleading with the Producer on air to go to a commercial instead of showing the medics working on Roland.

 

Indeed. Kalff and Watson didn't immediately realise the severity of the accident, I still remeber the chills I got when I said out loud that "he doesn't look very good..." before they started to realise how bad the situation was...

 

RIP Roland.

[Haine Kane]

In memory of Roland RATZENBERGER :

 

 

Le Mans 1992 in the paddock with Pierre-Henri RAPHANEL.

Edited by Haine Kane, 30 April 2014 - 14:20.

[Longtimefan]

RIP Roland

[SB]

So touching to read David Brabham's reflection for 1994 -

 

http://www.brabham.c...log-imola-1994/

[Spillage]

I'm too young to have seen him race, but his death was such a tragedy - one of far too many to have died in the sport they love. He may only have driven a Simtek but he kept plugging away, kept battling until he reached the sport for which he and we share a love. 

 

The clip from the Senna film where he's talking to the technical guy from his team is quite harrowing; clearly he was right on the limit that weekend and not comfortable with his machinery. I suppose it's tempting to retrospectively attach an air of inevitability to these things, but that clip really hit me.

[Richard Jenkins]

The one person who is utterly forgotten is Elio de Angelis. Paletti keeps getting remembered as a by-product of Senna, same as Ratzenberger, and that's what David Brabham so eloquently mentioned. Senna's death was the first in a race since Paletti etc.

 

But de Angelis, because he died in a test, not on camera is forgotten. Twice a GP winner, for goodness sake. Next year will be 30 years since his death, but I doubt much media outlets will cover it much.

 

 

As for recollections, I am sure I have posted this before on TNF, but the time is right again. I remember that day vividly.

I went to watch Reading vs Brighton, which if Reading won, they would win the Division 2 Championship. They won 2-0, and on a lovely day (much like today), I was euphoric and thought what a lovely day.

I listened to Radio 5 Live for other scored and news on the way home and they didn't mention Ratzenberger's death. This would be c. 6pm.

 

When I got home, my mother had put a little note by Roland's name in the pullout from F1 News that covered the race just saying "Dead". I was floored - "Dead" surely doesn't happen any more? The next feeling - and still do today was utter disgust that a news/sport dedicated radio station had not mentioned Ratzenberger's death. I remember thinking "Well, If Senna died, they wouldn't dare not mention it." And so onto Sunday....

 

RIP Roland. He tried SO hard to make to F1 and remember his utter delight at making it. How terrible his dream ended so quickly and so tragically.

Edited by Richard Jenkins, 30 April 2014 - 18:41.

[tifosiMac]

I mentioned De Angelis above as someone who is forgotten but good we both remembered

[Henri Greuter]

I mentioned De Angelis above as someone who is forgotten but good we both remembered

 

 

In that case, a driver not killed in a GP weekend in about the same era and often forgotten too by now:

 

Patrick Depailler.....

 

 

Henri

[D-Type]

I always like the story David Tremayne told:

 

"Back in 1987, when he graduated to F3 with Dick Bennetts and West Surrey Racing, my then three year-old son immediately insisted with a child's innocence, on dubbing him Roland Ratzenberger-and-chips-and- beans to his face. Roland thought it was hysterical and quickly became a small boy's hero. He was that sort of man, gentle, always unfailingly polite, tall, good-looking and with a ready smile. He would always far rather look for the best in people, offering his opinion in that slow, sing-song voice of his."

Edited by D-Type, 30 April 2014 - 19:40.

[Coral]

The one person who is utterly forgotten is Elio de Angelis. Paletti keeps getting remembered as a by-product of Senna, same as Ratzenberger, and that's what David Brabham so eloquently mentioned. Senna's death was the first in a race since Paletti etc.

 

But de Angelis, because he died in a test, not on camera is forgotten. Twice a GP winner, for goodness sake. Next year will be 30 years since his death, but I doubt much media outlets will cover it much.

 

 

Elio de Angelis died on 15th May 1986, 28 years ago. He is not forgotten by me. He and Senna were my favourite drivers at one time...the 1985 Team JPS Lotus was my "dream team." I cried buckets when Elio had his accident...I remember my Mum saying that he was still alive and there was hope, but I knew he wouldn't make it and I was right.

 

There is a lovely biography of de Angelis, "Remembering Elio" by Lorie Coffey. A lovely tribute to a beautiful man.

 

I am glad to see that Roland Ratzenberger is being remembered today...there was a nice tribute programme on Sky tonight. We should never forget that two drivers died on that terrible weekend.

[Hank the Deuce]

By 1994, I was less-than-attentive to the goings-on in F1: my interest had waned with the disappearance of some of the older heroes, and the turbo cars of the mid-80's.  The continuing "handbags at twenty paces" relationship between Senna and Prost overshadowed - for me- the sport and it all got a bit too much with which to be bothered.  I had noted Mansell's World Championship, and Prost's fourth title as noteworthy, but come the end of April/first of May in 1994, all the news struck me as immediately as it would've even if I had retained my passion for F1 past 1989.

 

Roland Ratzenberger's presence in F1 came as a bit of a surprise to me for one: he had appeared here in Australia in October 1987, as a BMW driver in the James Hardie 1000, for that year a round of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship (touring cars were then - and remain still - my first racing love) .  Rostered in a mammoth M3 assault (which ultimately amounted to disappointingly little) in arguably Australia's best-known motor race, his presence among the Pirros, the Ravaglias, Cecottos, Groulliards, Vogts et al, basically underlined him as one of the world's elite touring car drivers, even if we teenage colonial yokel-types hadn't heard of him before then.  After all, we'd never seen Klaus Niedzwiez or Klaus Ludwig in tourers here at that stage, even if we were sophisticated enough to have enjoyed the company of Tom Walkinshaw, Win Percy, John Fitzpatrick Armin Hahne etc previously (forgive me, I wasn't old enough to witness the great days of the Tasman series). 

 

When the news bulletins lit up with his name on the Imola weekend, it came as a shock; not only as the first F1 fatality since de Angelis (of whom I certainly was a fan), but as a name I knew: "he raced at Bathurst a couple of years back, man, I knew him!".

 

It's possible I reacted more to Roland's death than to Senna's.  Glad that he is remembered in his own right.  He, like every decent human being, should be remembered my someone, particularly when their life was devoted to something that means much to many.

[Siddley]

 

Something I'd completely forgotten until I read Richard Williams book on Senna reminded me was how Roland had a bit of a cult following in the UK because of the similarity of his name to that of the anarchic TV puppet Roland Rat and had even appeared on his show.

 

That's how I first became aware of Ratzenberger, his 'interview' with Roland Rat...

I remember thinking at the time " I like this guy, he doesn't take himself too seriously and has a great sense of humour. I hope he does well in F1 "

[Henri Greuter]

The one person who is utterly forgotten is Elio de Angelis. Paletti keeps getting remembered as a by-product of Senna, same as Ratzenberger, and that's what David Brabham so eloquently mentioned. Senna's death was the first in a race since Paletti etc.

 

But de Angelis, because he died in a test, not on camera is forgotten. Twice a GP winner, for goodness sake. Next year will be 30 years since his death, but I doubt much media outlets will cover it much.

 

.

 

 

Another reason as of why Elio appears to be kind of overlooked is because at about the same time we had the death of Henri Toivonen at Corsica.

And that was an accident with a lot of media attention and massive consequences: the end of Gp B.

 

 

henri

[superden]

I remember watching his crash and being so shocked. In a relatively short space of time, you had come to expect drivers to at least survive, if not walk away.

 

It saddens me that he is so often overlooked, even by some of the more 'hardcore' and supposedly 'knowledgeable' F1 fans.

Edited by superden, 01 May 2014 - 13:32.

[FerrariV12]

I'd just turned 11 at the time. Being born in 1983 I had not been alive for any F1 race weekend fatality and only three and not yet a fan so had no recollection of de Angelis - test session or not - either. Was staying at my grandparents that Saturday for some reason and remember being pissed that I wouldn't get to watch qualifying (I think in the UK only Eurosport showed it live at the time and they only had terrestrial), turned out to be a good job I didn't.

 

When news came through about the accident I was like "big deal, F1 drivers don't die, that all happened before I was born, Barrichello was fine" etc. etc, then later that day I was bored and surfing teletext and then saw the news he's died and I remember being completely and utterly stunned in a way I hadn't been before or since (not even the day after). I then remember the teletext report alternating a few times since "since Elio de Angelis" and "since Riccardo Paletti" and then the rest of the day being a blur.

Edited by FerrariV12, 01 May 2014 - 16:54.

[SophieB]

Formula 1‏Verified account @F1 1m1 minute ago

More

Today we remember Roland Ratzenberger 1960-1994 Never forgotten

 

 

Matt Bishop‏ @TheBishF1 3h3 hours ago

More

Beautiful photo of Roland Ratzenberger, in the Simtek S941, at Imola, in '94, doing what he loved: driving race cars. #OnThisDay in '94 he did that for the very last time. #GoneButNeverForgotten #RIP

 

Mark Blundell‏Verified account @markblundellf1 3h3 hours ago

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24 years ago today we lost Roland Ratzenberger at the worst grand prix weekend ever, I raced… https://www.instagram.com/p/BiLw02vB_tS/ 

[Tim Murray]

He always came across as a thoroughly nice, down-to-earth guy, as shown by some of the stories above.

RIP Roland Rat

[SophieB]

There's something really weirdly poignant about that jaunty, nineties-as-heck MTV logo in Mark Blundell's photo. Just one more little reminder that it is starting to be a long time ago, and that it is all time he didn't have.

[Henri Greuter]

I can't help it but I feel glad to see thes thread bumped  up again so we indeed won't forget Roland.

I remember how I was thinking: Oh no, not yet again another Austrian.

 

That weekend was unreal. I don't believe there has ever been a GP weekend in which so much bad things happened and all of those incidents would have made the weekend standing out from others had they been the lone incident of the weekend instead of one of many.

 

RIP Roland,

[FLB]

Spa 1960, Henri.

 

In addition to losing both Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow, Mike Taylor suffered what was essentially a career-ending accident, though he later did long-distance rallies. Stirling Moss also had a very big one, resulting in broken bones.

 

http://bleacherrepor...l-black-weekend

 

http://www.brdc.co.u...lor-1934---2017

 

What people forget about Imola, though, is that it wasn't a bad weekend just for F1. Jacques Heuclin had a very big accident in the Porsche Supercup race, from which he was paralysed for a while. He eventually recovered and raced again.

[SamoanAttorney]

I remember Roland from Le Mans and other sportscar races, he was a charming, funny guy, always a pleasure to encounter.  It was such a waste at Imola.

 

I wrote this a while back.

 

"While Ratzenberger was a novice in Grand Prix racing, he was much liked and the whole paddock went into shock and mourning, perhaps no one was affected more than Senna.

The Chief Medical Officer for Formula One was Professor Sid Watkins. He was very close to Senna and wrote later "Ayrton broke down and cried on my shoulder". Watkins tried to persuade Senna not to race the following day, asking "What else do you need to do? You have been World Champion three times, you are obviously the quickest driver. Give it up and let's go fishing", but Ayrton was insistent, saying, "Sid, there are certain things over which we have no control. I cannot quit, I have to go on."

An ironic footnote was that after the crash, race officials found a furled Austrian flag in the cockpit of Senna's car. It seems that Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd victory to the memory of Roland Ratzenberger."

RIP Roland

[MCS]

Interesting piece, on LinkedIn of all places: https://www.linkedin...rs-willem-toet/

[Henri Greuter]

Spa 1960, Henri.

 

In addition to losing both Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow, Mike Taylor suffered what was essentially a career-ending accident, though he later did long-distance rallies. Stirling Moss also had a very big one, resulting in broken bones.

 

 

That comes indeed close, if not topping it.

But I wonder how many people will remember from that Imola weekend we had that Barrichello crash on Friday (and the near insane criminal manner of how he was dealth with) and on Sunday we had injuries in the grandstand as well as in the pitlane in addition to a fatality. Now how often did we have injuries other than with drivers?

 

Henri

[E1pix]

Just one more little reminder that it is starting to be a long time ago, and that it is all time he didn't have.

This exactly parallels my thoughts on these things, Sophie. I lost a great friend and mentor 36 years ago this coming 15th, and every year I carry on it gets a bit sadder in the way you mention. This year marks his being dead as long as he was alive.

RIP Roland, and so very Sorry. :-(

[Henri Greuter]

This exactly parallels my thoughts on these things, Sophie. I lost a great friend and mentor 36 years ago this coming 15th, and every year I carry on it gets a bit sadder in the way you mention. This year marks his being dead as long as he was alive.

RIP Roland, and so very Sorry. :-(

 

That first half of May, especially because of 1982, 1985 and 1986, too many things to remember and burn a candle to the memory of...

With April 30 as a kickoff....

But I must be be honest: May 1st does do little to me, and I start on May 2nd. In fact, I'll take a triple dose on May 2:  even if they were no F1 drivers but heroes to me.....

Edited by Henri Greuter, 30 April 2018 - 20:49.

[LittleChris]

First part of a documentary on Roland almost 30 years after his death. Looks promising so far

 

Roland Ratzenberger I Docu series I Episode 1: The early years (youtube.com)

[AJCee]

Simply one of the nicest drivers that I met in the UK racing scene in the 1980s. Quick too.

Roland, you are certainly not forgotten and are remembered fondly.