Official Senna telemetry Imola 94?

[Richard]

Telemetry or no telemetry, snapped steering column or not, Williams messing up the black box or not, we have to cope with the fact that a very big part of the tragic outcome of that accident was bad luck. If the suspension arm had a +/- 5cm diferent direction on the vertical axis and he would have just walked away from it.

That's assuming there wasn't also a basal skull fracture.

It was bad luck that events came together for Senna. However the increasing speed & sensitivity of the cars was increasing the probabilities of an accident, if it wasn't Senna then it would have been someone else. Ratzenburger and Barrichello's crashes are testament to that.

[turbof1]

Telemetry or no telemetry, snapped steering column or not, Williams messing up the black box or not, we have to cope with the fact that a very big part of the tragic outcome of that accident was bad luck. If the suspension arm had a +/- 5cm diferent direction on the vertical axis and he would have just walked away from it.

That's assuming there wasn't also a basal skull fracture.

It was bad luck that events came together for Senna. However the increasing speed & sensitivity of the cars was increasing the probabilities of an accident, if it wasn't Senna then it would have been someone else. Ratzenburger and Barrichello's crashes are testament to that.

*Ratzenberger

Senna told that drivers would be killed that year due active suspension being banned that year. It unfortunaly wasn't all bad luck; it got predicted. Very unfortunate; I still feel the FIA has a part of responsibility in it. They were rash in banning technology that actually made driving safer.

[timbo]

They were rash in banning technology that actually made driving safer.

Active suspension didn't make driving safer, in fact it caused a few incidents which luckily were not that bad. It made possible certain aero configuration that was very ride-height sensitive. FIA failed in adjusting the regulation for that. And it also failed implementing needed safety measures -- like head and shoulder protection. The cockpit safety of F1 cars was a joke. And it took them another year and terrible crash (Hakkinen in 95) to realize that.
F1 was very lucky that there were no fatalities up to '94. There were a few terrible crashes (like Berger's or Donelli's) and the cars were way behind CART safety-wise. In fact, most of the safety changes on the cars (underbody, cockpit protection) were adopted from what was already in use on Indycars.

[munudeges]

Senna's steering column snapped at the weld point.

There is no evidence whatsoever that this happened other than some idiotic Italian investigation. The only point of contention is that Senna asked for some changes and those changes were done rather hastily, as with everything in motorsport, but there is no evidence that it failed. The steering column was always going to break in an accident like that.

The confusion over telemetry comes because there is actually data from the crash. The main telemetry system was damaged/smashed for whatever reason but there was data that was found in the Renault engine's ECU buffer. Richard Williams talks about it in his book. It shows that steering power was being applied right up until the point of impact. Senna was turning the wheel, the steering system was working but another opposite force was working against it. This is consistent with the car bottoming on the circuit and steering the car.

[JimClarkFan]

Look at Martin Donnelly's crash - car broken in half, wheels and wishbones flying away, driver trown away still strapped in the seat and he got away alive.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/ ... Crash2.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/ ... 63yxja.jpg

Bloody hell.
I just watched the video of this crash.
His body is just lying in the road completely mangled.
Thank God he lived.

[timbo]

Look at Martin Donnelly's crash - car broken in half, wheels and wishbones flying away, driver trown away still strapped in the seat and he got away alive.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/ ... Crash2.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/ ... 63yxja.jpg

Bloody hell.
I just watched the video of this crash.
His body is just lying in the road completely mangled.
Thank God he lived.

A horrible crash. And it shows that monocoques were relatively weak and cockpit protection very poor those days. And it didn't raise any alarms!

[MadMatt]

Look at Martin Donnelly's crash - car broken in half, wheels and wishbones flying away, driver trown away still strapped in the seat and he got away alive.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e385/ ... Crash2.jpg
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/ ... 63yxja.jpg

Bloody hell.
I just watched the video of this crash.
His body is just lying in the road completely mangled.
Thank God he lived.

A horrible crash. And it shows that monocoques were relatively weak and cockpit protection very poor those days. And it didn't raise any alarms!

We're always smarter afterwards.

[Webber2011]

I don't know the exact cause of Senna's crash, but I do have an amateur video taken several months before the race at a practise session.
It shows his car coming through the Tamburello and bottoming out quite badly several laps in a row.
Some time later the course car turns up,Ayrton gets out and is seen discussing the corner with several officials.
While it can't be heard what they are saying it appears obvious from his hand gestures he is complaining about the bumpy surface.
Once Senna returns to the track he is visibly slower through that section.

In the race he didn't have the option to take the corner slower, and probably wouldn't have done anyway.
I believe the surface, combined with a full tank and low pressures to be the major cause.

[SilverArrow]

A horrible crash. And it shows that monocoques were relatively weak and cockpit protection very poor those days. And it didn't raise any alarms!

We're always smarter afterwards.

Not in this case though, that was the point. Despite several massive crashes, no significant changes were made. It took a couple of deaths for that to happen.

[SilverArrow]

I don't know the exact cause of Senna's crash, but I do have an amateur video taken several months before the race at a practise session.
It shows his car coming through the Tamburello and bottoming out quite badly several laps in a row.
Some time later the course car turns up,Ayrton gets out and is seen discussing the corner with several officials.
While it can't be heard what they are saying it appears obvious from his hand gestures he is complaining about the bumpy surface.
Once Senna returns to the track he is visibly slower through that section.

In the race he didn't have the option to take the corner slower, and probably wouldn't have done anyway.
I believe the surface, combined with a full tank and low pressures to be the major cause.

That sounds like some very interesting footage - any chance of you sharing this with us?

[MadMatt]

A horrible crash. And it shows that monocoques were relatively weak and cockpit protection very poor those days. And it didn't raise any alarms!

We're always smarter afterwards.

Not in this case though, that was the point. Despite several massive crashes, no significant changes were made. It took a couple of deaths for that to happen.

What do you mean? The FIA imposed several modifications on cars, and changed the layout of few tracks as well.

[timbo]

What do you mean? The FIA imposed several modifications on cars, and changed the layout of few tracks as well.

Pre mid-'94? Surely there were some changes, but they were minor. The cockpit safety compared to Indycar was grossly inadequate until 1996!

[bdr529]

I try to forget about those stupid temporary chicanes they put up on the long straight before the pits in Montreal and they had one at the bottom of Eau Rouge, sad day indeed
1994 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona

[KeithYoung]

I try to forget about those stupid temporary chicanes they put up on the long straight before the pits in Montreal and they had one at the bottom of Eau Rouge, sad day indeed
1994 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mal9j ... o1_400.jpg

I had forgotten about that...

[fausto cedros]

Steering wheel column is just speculation.
The cause is most likely aerodynamic instability due to the combination of surface bumps, ultra stiff suspension systems and low wheel pressures, as someone said.