Hitting the wall

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

I watched all those races and I believe no one had previously hit that wall 
at the Tamburello, where Senna went off, All the others hit earlier in the 
circuit where the wall cannot be hit head on. Certainly, no one hit it 
square on as Senna did. Granted no one could predict that Senna's steering 
would fail, that he would hit the wall square on AND that the front 
suspension member would come back precisely at the angle required to 
penetrate Senna's helmet so as to kill him. No one else died in F1 hitting 
the concrete at Tamburello or elsewhere, in modern times. Senna would be 
alive today if the front wishbone had been attached to the front of the car 
by the safety wires now mandatory on F1 cars. Schumacher hit the wall 
square on at Silverstone nearly as hard as Senna hit at Imola, and very 
nearly walked away, certainly he was ambulatory with his one uninjured leg!

BTW, none of the accidents at Imola referred to seriously endangered the 
driver except for Berger who caught fire, but was rescued quite brilliantly 
by the Marshalls. Even Berger returned to racing that year, his major 
injury was to his lungs from the fire. Contrast Piquet hitting the wall in 
Imola with his accident at Indy which essentially crippled him, mangling 
both his legs as the front of the car disintegrated completely, and ended 
his racing career. F1 is much safer than CART or Indy, and there is no 
legitimate reason for this difference.


Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

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