Tuesday 1 May 2007

It doesn't seem like 13 years ago ....

BBC: On This Day:
1994: Race ace Senna killed in car crash

The Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna has been killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, near Bologna in Italy. He was just 34-years-old.

His Williams FW16 Formula One car was travelling at a speed of 192 mph (309 km/h) when it ran wide at a curve and crashed into a concrete wall.

Winner of 41 Grands Prix, Senna was considered the finest motor racing driver of his generation and will be mourned by fans the world over.

Only yesterday, the Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed at nearly the same spot, known as the Tamburello curve.

The two tragedies have rocked the racing world.

'This is the blackest day for Grand Prix racing that I can remember'
Murray Walker, veteran BBC sports correspondent

'For there to be two casualties on successive days is quite appalling - and that arguably one of them should be that of the greatest driver that has ever lived in the history of Grand Prix racing makes it doubly so.'