The 1994 Senna Disaster: The Day Formula 1 Lost Its Remaining Innocence

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 13, 2010

commentComment        

Every sport has a moment that shakes it to its very foundation, a moment after which things are never the same in that sport. In Formula 1 that moment happened in 1994 on Lap 7 at Tamburello. Ayrton Senna left the road and smashed into the concrete wall. One of Formula 1's best exponents was gone.

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend had already been a tragic one with the horrific accident of Rubens Barrichello and then the tragic loss of Roland Ratzenberger. The Grand Prix weekend was already rivaling the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix in terms of horror. According to Italian law a sporting event should be cancelled if a participant dies during the event. Ratzenberger technically died in hospital rather than at the track (despite it being clear that there was no chance of him surviving) so the weekend continued.

Why Senna died isn't disputed but why Senna left the road in the first place is something very much debated. There are two main theories. One of which if true should mean that people working for the Williams Formula 1 team could and possibly should have been sent to prison.

There are two main theories behind why Senna went off the road at Tamburello.

The first of these theories is the 'bottoming out' theory.  In Formula 1, aerodynamics is one of the most critical parts of a car. If the car is aerodynamically good it can be a winner but any aerodynamic weakness and your car will fall down the grid rapidly.

One of the most important parts of the cars aerodynamics is the car's ride height. By running the car as close to the ground as possible without it touching the ground gives you improved acceleration and a huge downforce boost. The cars run millimetres from the ground and reducing the ride height by a tiny amount can improve a lap time by several tenths of a second. At Imola, the cars were running as close as humanly possible to the ground.

Now to explain the theory totally you ha...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!