Fiery crash in bahrain resembles Senna's fatal crash
Sharp angle, at speed, one ends in tragedy
Somebody needs to address this elephant...
I was watching a replay of the 1st lap incident in bahrain today and it rung a faint bell. Unable to figure out why, I began combing through some of the past crashes in F1 until I came across Senna's '94 Imola crash. This was the Ah-Ha moment, and while the causes were different, (Senna having a mechanical failure in his steering column, while Grosjean was clipped by Kyvat) the initial impact was similar. After Editing a photo of a protractor over the image of Grosjean's crash and a recreation of senna's crash (so i could get a better view to measure, I noticed they were about 15º off with Senna coming in at just over 30º and grosjean just under 20º.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-n-Zf_UB6U -Senna recreation
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q_uNYLThsQ -Senna crash
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ7_En2xEm4 -Grosjean crash
Another thing i would like to point out is the forces that each driver experienced, following a few google searches and some quick maths Romain experienced 53 Gs- while Ayrton experienced over 100 Gs. When you factor this and the speed they were traveling at, it makes sense how he survived.
Lastly and most importantly is the safety equipment, with modern technology like the halo device and HANS device to protect the head and keep his neck from jerking, as well as the fact that Senna appeared to hit a concrete wall while Romain hit a softer, more deformable metal guard rail is where I think the real difference was. And While there will always be a essence of danger in racing, as technology advances we can make sure similar things don't happen. Personally I feel that tracks should have all areas of the walls lined with tires or Armco barriers as this has proven incidents can happen anywhere. Another Possibility is a reverse DRS of sorts, that senses when a car is braking but not slowing down, the throttle is stuck or goes way of of the racing circuit and will have the wings stick up as a air-brake of sorts by adding extra drag similar to modern supercars and hypercars.
Join In
Comments (3)
Why don't they have the SAFER barriers like on NASCAR tracks?
i don't honestly know
Maybe they haven't heard of them and we should tell them that the SAFER barriers exist. 😄