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  • racerdave600

    July 30, 2010 3:48 p.m. racerdave600 HalfDork

    Of course Senna's accident wasn't his own doing. He was leading the race when the suspension failed. Had he hit at any other angle he probably would have lived through it with no injuries. How many drivers are lucky not to have had any pieces go through their visor? It was not driver error that caused him to lose his life.

    I don't know how many of you have known any professional drivers, but many have or have had the same attitudes Senna displayed. They may not have been so open about it, but trust me, they are there just the same. Even some of the nicer ones I've met totally change when on the track. I would almost go as far as to say that without that "selfish" attitude on track, you aren't going to do well at the top of this sport.

    I would put Dale Earnhardt in the same boat as Senna, maybe worse, along with Kyle Busch and most other Nascar boys. In F1, I think Weber has the same "chop" mentality that Schumacher had, and both were worse than Senna in that regard. Both Hill and J. Villeneuve have taken people out on purpose, as has Schumacher, so Senna is not alone. And I know countless people in IMSA and SCCA that have done it with first hand experience.

    Not trying to defend Senna, some of his actions are deplorable, but this sport really isn't as fair as it should be and unfortunately, plenty of people drive the same way.

    Of the current F1 guys, only Hamilton I think has his raw driving ability. Not that there aren't some other guys that are good, but he seems to have a knack for getting the most from a not so great car. From what I understand, he's a real "tool" to work with though, but you almost have to be to succeed at that level.

  • oldsaw

    July 30, 2010 5:13 p.m. oldsaw Dork

    racerdave600 wrote:

    Of course Senna's accident wasn't his own doing. He was leading the race when the suspension failed. Had he hit at any other angle he probably would have lived through it with no injuries. How many drivers are lucky not to have had any pieces go through their visor? It was not driver error that caused him to lose his life.

    That's a debatable claim, Dave!

    Maybe the suspension failed, but maybe he was over-driving cold tires on a rough section of a bumpy track; it's not like any of us will know.

    The Italian legalista's wanted to prove malfeasance towards the team, designers, engineers and mechanics and FAILED - TWICE.

    Are any of us more qualified to assess blame with less evidence?

  • Kendall_Jones

    July 30, 2010 6:09 p.m. Kendall_Jones Reader

    There are plenty of conspiracy theories - the last 1.5 seconds of the in car video just disappeared. Some say the car never turned, his steering wheel broke off in his hands, etc

    I remember talking to one of the data guys that worked with senna a few years ago. He said Senna was an absolute data recorder. He could say what he was doing & what the car was doing at multiple points of each corner, for each lap of testing.

    Kendall

  • oldsaw

    July 30, 2010 6:15 p.m. oldsaw Dork

    Kendall_Jones wrote:

    There are plenty of conspiracy theories - the last 1.5 seconds of the in car video just disappeared. Some say the car never turned, his steering wheel broke off in his hands, etc

    I remember talking to one of the data guys that worked with senna a few years ago. He said Senna was an absolute data recorder. He could say what he was doing & what the car was doing at multiple points of each corner, for each lap of testing.

    Kendall

    Were it not for the peculiarities of Italian law (and its' prosecutors) the incident would have been dismissed as accident caused by a myriad of circumstances, none of which "might" be the root-cause.

    Evidence and innuendo doesn't make OJ innocent, but it doesn't make Williams guilty, either.

  • friedgreencorrado

    July 30, 2010 7:09 p.m. friedgreencorrado SuperDork

    Beautiful tribute. All these years I thought the Lotus waggled like that because they weren't set up very well. Hearing Martin talk about him, I can see Senna wasn't "struggling" for grip-he was looking for even more.

    Remind me the next time I start whining about old man BMW E36 that the trade-off is that I got to see Senna drive. I'll take that deal eight days a week.

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