24 replies to this topic

[dutra]

Today(30), 8 years ago died Roland Ratzenberger. He had an accident with his Simtek Ford number 32 one day before Senna´s accident. Apparently, his rear wing fell off and he hit the wall of Villeneuve curve.
Wath happened after that in the investigations?

[tifoso]

Imola 1994, was certainly a tragic race weekend. Fans injured, pit crews injured, Rubens crash, and Senna's and Ratzenberger's death. I read, perhaps in Professor Sid Watkins' book, exactly what Roger Horton posted. I don't remember any investigation as there was in the case of Senna. Or if there was one as required by Italian law, IIRC, it was open and shut. I watched the 1994 year in review video a few weeks ago. Max Mosley commented on the cause of Ratzenberger's death very soon after it occurred. So the cause of the crash must have been pretty clear cut.

[cheesy poofs]

Has it been 8 years already...?
Time flies.

It is so unfortunate that his death has been overshadowed by Senna's.
I remember reading an article in F1 Racing magazine several years ago
about his parents and their stuggle to cope with his loss...
It really touched me deeply.

[pRy]

Video evidence proved that an off earlier caused his wing to become unstable, and it failed on the fast part of the circuit causing him to run straight off. Sadly this was badly covered by the TV crews, having a helicopter hovering over the scene while they gave the poor guy CPR

[Jhope]

I heard the accident all started in the pitlane. Before going out on his out-lap, Rolands hit teammate Brabham sister Simtek with his front wing. A couple of laps later, disaster struck.

[JensonFan]

RIP Roland

[tifoso]

Roger, this is a question I've had for some time. Roland's accident was thought to be caused by an off that damaged his wing. In Canada last year Villevenue thought Montoya hitting him may have damaged his car and resulted in the big crash he had during Friday's practice. When a car suffers some damage during practice or qualifying, what do team's usually do? Do they call them in? Do they depend on the driver to come in? Do the drivers even know there has been damage to the car? I would think for safety reasons they would want to check everything out.

[Viss1]

R.I.P., Roland. I remember preparing for my college graduation when I head the news. The next day, after hearing about Senna's death, I forced a few mates to drop what they were doing and hoist a few in their honor.

[tifoso]

Roger, thanks. Were those standard procedures in place before Imola 1994? If so, I guess Roland didn't know the car had been damaged and the team didn't pick it up on the telemetry until the wing failed.

I know JV is thought to have brake tested JPM. I only used it as an example. I didn't say I agreed with what JV thought.;)

[Elspeth]

The same morning we lost Roland I had to take my old cat in and have him put to sleep. Then the next day we lost Senna. What a terrible weekend that was. Made me very sad to learn Senna had an Austrian flag in his driving suit to wave at the end of the race to honor Roland.

[schuy]

Originally posted by tifoso
Roger, this is a question I've had for some time. Roland's accident was thought to be caused by an off that damaged his wing. In Canada last year Villevenue thought Montoya hitting him may have damaged his car and resulted in the big crash he had during Friday's practice. When a car suffers some damage during practice or qualifying, what do team's usually do? Do they call them in? Do they depend on the driver to come in? Do the drivers even know there has been damage to the car? I would think for safety reasons they would want to check everything out.

In Da Milton Keynes karting track we have to go in after every off, to check de engine hasn't been displaced.

Very sad, Roland's loss.
I don't quite remember it.
The Imola 1994 San-Marino Grand-Prix was the first race I ever watched.

Liran Biderman.

[MONTOYASPEED]

R.I.P Roland Ratzenberger.

[pRy]

I recall Eurosport speculated as to what caused the crash. And they managed to get together a slow motion replay that showed, not too clearly I may add, a piece of his wing flying off the car. Now as Webber showed us on Sunday morning, often when you loose a piece of your car, it's hard to know it's happened untill you need that piece of car and realise it's not there. In the case of Webber, he had no idea his rear wing had gone walkies, and actually set the quickest trap time due to having no rear wing but his foot still on the pedal. Then when he applied the break, the fact he had no rear wing sent him spinning. Schumacher had the same happen to him in testing once.

In the case of Ratzenberger, his off earlier in the lap I believe caused part of his front wing to become weak. He managed (I think) to get around Tambo ok but the part snapped off on the straight, and come the next quick corner, the broken wing meant he didn't have enough downforce to get around the corner like he expected to, and he shot off into the wall at speed.

The team had no time to radio him, as I'm sure they where oblivious in the same way Ratzenberger was to the broken wing.

PS: Again I am not sure here, but the off may have happened at the final corner, and if so, this may explain why the guy didn't enter the pits, but doesn't explain why he was still at racing speed for the rest of the lap.

[daSilvium]

Originally posted by pRy
Webber, he had no idea his rear wing had gone walkies, and actually set the quickest trap time due to having no rear wing but his foot still on the pedal. Then when he applied the break, the fact he had no rear wing sent him spinning. Schumacher had the same happen to him in testing once.

If a rear wing falls off the car then i'm 99% certain the driver would know instantly. A rear wing at high speed gives massive drag, and if it fell off, the car would jolt forward almost as if it had been run into from behind. The only time a car would not accelerate if the wing fell off i think would be if it was already on the rev-limiter in top gear. But even so the driver would surely feel it as the whole balance of the car would be upset. I would also think that you may well get rear wheelspin if the rear-wing fell off due to the transition from max.downforce to zero downforce. nothing pressing the rear wheels into the ground except the physical weight of the car.

I've read several F1 drivers say that on a fast straight, if you just *lift off* (not even touch the brake pedal) it is about the equivalent retardation force of performing a full-on emergency stop in a road car. that's how much drag an f1 car has. (a lot of it rear wing).


Ratezberger was a really very good racing driver. I remember watching him race BMW touring cars before he got into F1. he tried hard to get into F1 and the drive was his big break into the F1 world.
With regard to the accident, I remember vividly watching him on Eurosport being given heart massage on the grass near his car. you knew right then that he was gone. i had the same feeling when i saw Greg Moore have his crash. you just know that it's the end. I still have a picture of Greg Moore in on my wall in my living room in fact.

regds.

[lateralforce]

A sad thread.

[The Rock]

R.I.P

[Rene]

Roland Ratzenberger crashed at high speed into the wall at Villeneuve Corner. A front wing flap had fallen off the car and launched it off the ground at 200mph. It hit the wall at around 180mph and came to a halt with Ratzenberger slumped in the wreck. He was beyond help but was flown to hospital in Bologna, where he was officially certified dead a few minutes after arrival.


Video of the crash

[SalutGilles]

roland's car

[Bjorn]

Requisat in Pace

[Pole Position]

R.I.P Roland

[Slyder]

That weekend and that year were one of the worst in my life

I didn't hear of Ratzenbergers death until the race itself. Same thing with Barrichello's accident. Roland's crash was horrifying, even worse than Senna's, and I get a chill seeing him all slumped in the wreck of his Simtek. I knew he was killed instantly.

When Senna died, I just wanted to cry, since I knew that F1 would never be thje same again.

RIP Roland

[312 PB]

rip rr

[The Kanisteri]

[senninha]

[Hakk]

Mika Salo's son is named Max Roland Salo where the Roland comes from Roland Ratzenberg. According to Mika Salo they were quite good friends.