F1
Roland Ratzenberger disappeared 31 years ago: portrait of an adventurer
Roland Ratzenberger drove this Simtek at Imola (Italy) on April 30, 1994. © DPPI
(Archive from issue 930 of AUTOhebdo dated May 3, 1994.)
Two fifteen minutes past two, this Saturday, April 30th. After fifty minutes of a life-and-death struggle, Roland Ratzenberger, for the first time in his life, gave up; the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna declared him clinically dead. The extreme violence of the shock had, without doubt, left him no chance, and it was a safe bet that the body delivered by the shredded carcass of the Simtek after it had completed its mad dash in Tosa, was already lifeless. From the first seconds, moreover, everyone had already understood, confusedly, that the doctors' relentless efforts would be in vain. Everyone, brutally, without saying a word, had regained contact with a reality
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Alain Féguenne (Luxembourg)
30/04/2025 at 02:58 a.m.
Thank you …. to AutoHebdo for thinking ……. also of this driver, Roland Ratzenberger, because there is Ayrton, and tomorrow is May 1st …… 🥲but it is good to think of Roland, a driver unfortunately very ……. unknown. Thank you for thinking of them both……😎👀🥲🇱🇺
vincent moyet
30/04/2025 at 12:30 a.m.
Of course, no one could have known that canceling the race would have saved Senna.
Lucas Paul
30/04/2025 at 11:29 a.m.
Vincent, here are the figures for the 24 1955 Hours of Le Mans: 85 killed on site, 120 seriously injured, and the race continued: Despite the scale of the tragedy, the organizers decided not to stop the race so as not to saturate the access roads with a mass departure of spectators, and thus allow emergency services to intervene.
Lucas Paul
30/04/2025 at 11:21 a.m.
Here are the figures for the 24 1955 Hours of Le Mans, Vincent: 85 dead on site and 120 injured. As I said, despite the scale of the tragedy, the organizers decided not to stop the race so as not to saturate the access roads with a massive departure of spectators, and thus allow emergency services to intervene. That was how car racing was until the end of the 70s. We knew it, and we did it :)
Lucas Paul
30/04/2025 at 11:08 a.m.
Indeed Vincent, you're right, but that's part of life! When I was driving in the 60s, I saw drivers die on the track, at Francorchamps, Nurburgring, and no red flags, the race continued against all odds. Remember at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the Meredes exploded and part of it went into the crowd, a lot of dead and injured...and we didn't stop the race
vincent moyet
30/04/2025 at 10:47 a.m.
"It was a safe bet that the body delivered by the shredded carcass of the Simtek [...] was already lifeless." Ratzenberger was reportedly declared dead at the hospital to prevent the circuit from being sealed and the race canceled. And yet it would have saved Senna's life...