3/5 the death of Ayrton Senna - what NatGeo did not tell

[apexspeed1]

I wasn't going to write anything, but having watched this up until now I feel I must. So what if the steering column broke? This is motor racing, where limits are pushed by both drivers and engineers, Ayrton was a big boy who knew the risks in taking part, just like every other F1 driver in the sport's history. It was a tragic and black weekend for motorsport, but NOBODY is to blame for what happened!!! The Italian manslaughter trail was a fucking witch-hunt!

[yafu123]

@apexspeed1 are you kidding me? .. have you not seen the footage around.. the in-car footage of senna's car.. the footage from schumacher's car.. the footage from the stands that shows senna's car go straight in to the wall at the corner...

THE CAR WENT STRAIGHT AT THE WALL... it had not lost control... no understeer nor oversteer.. the tyres had been warmed more than on lap 6 where senna had no problem

Steering column did brake before the crash.. therefore Williams is to blame

[Syndrome43]

@yafu123 I don't completely agree with you, or the guy you were responding to.

There is no doubt in my mind that the piece of tube they had used to extend Senna's steering column was not totally sound, but after examining footage, I've got to go against the popular theory that it broke as he was rounding the corner.

If you watch Schumacher's onboard footage, his account that the FW16 bottomed out on the corner is clearly correct as you can see the sparks coming from it

Continued...

[Syndrome43]

@yafu123 Now that we know his car bottomed out, we know that Senna would have had to make a correction for the lack of rear tyre grip at that point, so I went to his footage.

Watch just as he is about to hit the apex of the corner (as the reception starts to glitch, literally a split second before he loses control). You can see the front of his car jumps sharply towards the inside kerb and then jumps to the right

Further continued...

[Syndrome43]

@yafu123 In my mind, that indicates that he had indeed lost grip at the rear of the car and, as he corrected it, suddenly regained it, shooting him straight off the track.

I know you'll probably disagree, but at one time I believed in the steering column too.

Anyway, if anyone is to blame, it's the FIA for banning the electronics after the cars had been designed for them, they should have held off the ban for a year. Even Senna himself said that season would be a very dangerous one

[yafu123]

@Syndrome43 Have you seen all 5 parts? ... I don't know in which one they show the in-car footage. It shows that Senna turned left and his head and helmet went towards the left as if momentum carried him towards the left when suddenly the steering column broke. The car data recovered shows that there is no lateral force exerted when Senna tries to turn and that is why the car goes straight of the track.I don't feel like discussing it anymore, but I know it wasn't Senna's fault RIP :(

[TheEnemyac130above]

adrian newy should be in fucking jail for the rest of his life cause he was the fuck that said its okay to drive even when senna protested

[brucemclaren1973]

como é que o Natgeo tem coragem de falar que um volante de f1 mexe desse jeito,não se guia um f1 assim,eles sabe disso.

[PJSMusic1]

I would love to be able to understand your point but your English is fucking terrible.

[timegoesby12]

Good job CHAROTEST i didn t believe for a second when i watched the original version(national geografic) about 2 weeks ago i thought these people(national geografic) ve been paid or something by williams even though i m not a expert in F1 there is no way that the accident happened as they showed Ilost faith in national geografic i m not wacthing their programms anymore

[ElephantRage]

Forghieri's english is as painful as nails on a blackboard.

[walitung]

That day God was going to give him the most beautifull thing imaginable his bible told him,that can only mean one thing for a religious man as Senna right???For me,it doesn't work that way in life,but I don't know the mystery of life and death.What a mystery this is.We all know that metal can break around high speed and its all about the speed and the vibration.No matter what,that steering wheel would have broken that day...it just broke at the wrong,but for me logic moment!!!

[mehfoos]

regarding 4:13 reasons, they were talking about torque/twisting force and not steering angle. I'd imagine the sensors for torque(specially suited strain gages, i presume) wouldn't give such a high torque value if it was completely detached.

nevertheless, there seems to be something fishy about the whole incident

[ivanovuman]

Senna Tamburello is on an Varma and no hesitation about steering ! He turned the steering wheel and the wheels were straight look! They ruined it, and not recognized ! Frank and Bernie killer!Even the film would have done to deceive people.

[ivanovuman]

Senna Tamburello is on an Varma and no hesitation about steering ! He turned the steering wheel and the wheels were straight look! They ruined it, and not recognized ! Frank and Bernie killer!

[rohan9376]

i think if they grafted that inner tube on the other side of the supporting flange not on the drivers end common sense it would not of broken ,

[l0dgey]

id like to see hills movement of his steering wheel in tamburello and sennas in a simliar speed corner at brasil or pacific

[l0dgey]

@l0dgey nevermind its in this video and DOESNT MOVE AT ALL compared to when he crashed

[SmileyGarrish]

Most clearly there was either catastrophic failure of steering or driver as my understanding is that at a certain intersect brakes are 100% and steering becomes useless. Or Senna was dead with his foot stuck on brakes. I say steering failed not Senna. Perhaps the first attempt to race an 'active steering' column with vertical travel through the wheel cost Senna his life? Experiment gone wrong, failed weld? Failed engineering either way. Why is Williams blameless? Criminal negligence I say.

[TheBenyorath]

maybe it didnt break but because it was moving ayrton tried to correct thus throwing the car off to the right toward the barrier?

[DAH210774]

I think you should watch my qualifying videos with Ayrton going around Tamburello and also what you've put on here at Imola. There is definite movement at Imola on Friday and Saturday. I agree I couldn't see it at Interlagos or Aida though. Ayrton accepted full responsibility for being a racing driver and he died a Legend. I'm not saying it wasn't a Steering Column failure and I'm not saying it was either, but I don't see the evidence other than that of the photos after the crash. Best wishes

[kahnadah]

The steering column is a red herring. It did not cause the accident. Senna was steering the car right up to the end. As for the Italian prosecutor, all he wanted was the prestige of convicting someone. The steering wheels wouldn't move in the same way as they weren't on the same tracks. We never got to see Senna going round Tamburello in your footage, so there's no way to check against it.

[NOXXism]

1:21 yeah he would try to stop a car going at 300kmh on a very fast corner and going in a straight line against the wall. Idiot

[220773]

So, basically the stearing wheel collapsed, Senna tried to slow down, the car didn't respond at all, he remained stuck in his previous speed and then he hit the wall where that suspension simply broke his helmet and into his face too, unluckily.

Had that suspension NOT hit him, now we wouldn't be talking about Williams' commitment to Ayrton's death.

I can't see the point in all this...

[AlejjSi]

I think Forghieri is wrong there...if Senna would be let say scared by the strange movement of his steering wheel,he would have crash the lap before at least...if you look at the onboard of his last lap,you can se the wheel move like this too

[lostwill86]

the column looks like its moving up during the commentry

[seasnake2275]

@lostwill86 because they already knew something will go wrong.

[njitram00000]

4.00 you're talking trash there, if the steering coloumn was indeed broken, the sensor would not sense anything and therefore give a 0 reading. Why would Williams not be able to monitor what their steering coloumn was doing?!

[nigel561]

My God...

I always thought that rear suspension caused the accident

Ofcourse Ayrton will not return to life after learning the truth, but... for all of his fans including me, this footage give us the big answer of WHY!

and what the hell happened that miserable day

Rest in peace champ! I'll never forget you! See you soon in Morumbi!

Thanks a lot for this video Charrotest, great job!

[TheShepster80]

6:59 the yellow button goes out of line! showing flexability

[Chunkychucky]

Exactly, if the steering wasn't broken then why did Senna not just steer away from the wall so as to hit it at a more shallow angle?

[tub3scr3am3r]

wtf guys?! its almost 17 years! accept the truth that it was driver error. senna pushed it and lost it. end of story.

[nstockert]

i have been a welder since highschool almost 12 years ago. Under NO circustances do u ever modify a structure piece by inserting a smaller dia. pipe inside of "original pipe, steering column in this case" UNLESS u then weld a pipe of original dia. over ext. so it like this. if ext. is 5 inch, u need 7 inch inner pipe and 5 inch original pipe for a sleve over column so they structure is still ONESOLID piece. HOW COULD THEY HAVE OVER LOOKED THIS. I not placing blame just giving hard evidence.

[twotoneify]

some one made a grave mystake and it was covered up or atleast they tryied to that wheel broke caused the crash ok fine so the wheel does move up and down but that still has alot of stress on the steering tube considering it was cut and welded in two places

[twotoneify]

some one made a grave mystake and it was covered up or atleast they tryied to that wheel broke caused the crash

[lantz66]

So Frank Williams and Patrick Head are murders?... Yeah right. Bernie should have stopped the weekend after Ratzenbergers death. Italian law is idiotic. Prosecuting people for deaths in motor racing is just dumb.The death count at Indianapolis is staggering. Not one prosecution for them. Drivers new the risk and took it. That"s racing.

[Jovemdaluta]

i wouldnt do that soldering work on a regular car for one of my customers....

[rossiwilton]

why have williams covered up the rear of the steering wheel with some sort of rubber shroud on "the flex test"at 5.00 on? it looks to me as if that flexing of the column is because they have removed the upper column mount........

[JayJJ69]

Hi there I paused it at 6.03 in Aida, the light is 4 points up and slightly out of line with the point. too me indicating flexing of the steering column. To my eyes there was flex and when anything metal is made they allow flex, if there was no flex it would snap.

[ph4nt0m22]

@JayJJ69

That is EXTREME vibration, not MOVEMENT.

[TheShepster80]

@JayJJ69 Also pause at 6:59 .

[joeaccord23]

beautiful cylinder heads!!! senna is the best, this was definitely a setup.

[Stn3dRaid3r]

the movement of that steering wheel is very unnatural and bizarre at the Imola race . I can imagine driving with it could cause concentration and car handling difficulties at full speed...

[MeBest777]

I think Bernie Ecclestone is behind this. And had ordered sabotage to get interesting season between Senna and Schumi. The one who own's the whole F1 sport. RIP Senna....

[WYNGARDF1]

Williams' explanation about the car's rear stepping out is questionable.... If SENNA can talk from the grave(ok. kinda creepy! R.I.P. rainmaster) he'll just simply say; "C'mon guys, remember donington 93? It was pouring but I didn't even slid off the track! What about Spa 92? I drove in the rain in slicks and I still didn't leave the track!" NatGeo's explanation of the airflow getting cut under the car is more off a "what if". Damon Hill drove the same car....

[WYNGARDF1]

If we use common sense, a freaking great driver with excellent car control will "go off in the dry". Even Alboreto said the only reason you'll go off is if something broke. The steering wheel broke were they did the modification, meaning it wasn't a good weld in the first place with no failsafe clamps supporting it just in-case. Also, about the steering wheel moving, at 6:51 it was on-the-dot. Never moved at the same corner during free practice knowing senna is experiencing the same g forces...

[Erkal2006]

ur footage from interlagos 1994 doesnt show much movement, but its there.

[willvfr]

the steering telemetry made me think that it would still register movement even if the steering colunm had failed.i'm sure the subtitles touches on this.during the 1.6 seconds before impact when it possibly did fail,the wheels would have been subjected to a lot force whilst travelling over the gravel trap,thus causing the part of the column that was still intact to rotate enough to register a reading high enough to make them think that senna was still applying steering input.

[lewisspeedy14]

I agree

[jonascelemencki]

Lies all lies about the movement being normal come on .

[formulacountdown]

The steering wheel moves up and down a bit in Aida Quali.

[stampede122]

only thing i can think of when it did not show at the other races, but did on the last is maybe they added it before the race.......posibly.....

[nannynobnobs]

I think he was bored with racing so he turned into the wall to kill himself so in 16 years time people who dont really know fuck all could argue and pretend they do...........................

[binus7c]

can someone tell me those last subtitles when senna is talking?

[Skull4Scavenger]

This proves it. Did you see Senna go through Tamburello? No extreme movements (definitely not vertical) from his steeringwheel. Of course no one at Williams would have liket this to happen. Frank Williams was devestated. But to admit it, would have very serious repercussions. Legal cases, no more racing in Italy.... It would be the end of Formula One. And Ayrton would not have wanted that. It is a mechanical sport, things do go wrong. Ayrton knew it. He would not have liked the blaiming.

[falmark187]

is there incar film from Damon's car at Imola Woud be interesting to se him steering wheel movment. He was driving the same car if the wheel is made to move like that his incar flim woud show movment aswel

[ansarida]

why f1 car steering need so much movement? it will effect the driving ....

If u driving race car... u need that to much stering movement? in nissan GTR can get 4-5G in corner why Japanese enginer not implant that king off movement

[RobinRhysJones16]

A Nissan GTR can't pull 4-5g in a corner as you describe, it's impossible! The max is about 0.96g

[joyfulvulture]

@ansarida

"in nissan GTR can get 4-5G in corner"

LOL, you're a fucking idiot.

[pateli2008]

Nice job. The videos from previous GPs showing no vertical movement on the yellow button are devastating arguments in favor of the steering column failure hypothesis.

[fsice]

It is really interesting seeing those footages of Senna in the GP of Brazil and GP of Pacific and see that there is almost no vertical movement of the steering wheel.

[47buckeddy]

@fsice that doesn't necessarily mean there was no vertical movement. the lab video demonstrating the movement was done with a stationary car, not one that was being bumped around on a circuit. I think, and I'm not an expert at all, that the car was bumpy on circuits, which would jolt the camera around and make it appear like the steering wheel wasn't moving vertically, as in the videos of senna qualifying at Imola. Again, I'm not an expert, nor do I want to start a fight, this is just my opinion

[laansoo]

@fsice And also preseason tests, where he places steering wheel on the column and there is no excess movement just nice and firm as you would imagine, and onboard footage overhead the driver didnt show any abnormal movement, And I would imagine how akward and bad it would to be drive when your steering wheel is moving horizontaly and vertically while turning around it's own axis.

[fantarule]

Also, you may not be able to see it, but the steering wheel in those clips does move slightly off its normal axes. its not as drematic as on his final lap but it does move offline slightly.

[charrotest]

Alboreto's testimony, which was very direct and impassioned, stated that movement is allowed, considering the torsion inflicted by the arms of the driver and the composition of the material. Oscillation could depend on the distance from the support, but only by 2-3 MILLIMETRES, not by some CENTIMETRES. He added that this opinion was formed from his many years of experience of the Imola circuit and others around the world.

[fantarule]

what you've just said it basically different to what you said in the video

[charrotest]

please, allowme to put clear this point.

Steereng wheel moving ONLY MILLIMETERS out of the normal axes its ok, its normal.

Steering wheel moving CENTIMETRES out the mornal axes is strange, it´s wrong, it´s not normal.

so, if the poit is clear now, pleas tell me: why DURING THE RACE the Senna´s steering wheel moves CENTIMETRES out the normal axes but only MILLIMETERS during the warm up and friday qualifying?

[fantarule]

Right, if your trying to blame Williams for not replacing sennas steering column you can just drop it now, they couldn't, there last one went to Hill so Senna had 2 choices, race with it, or dont race

[charrotest]

No, I blame to Williams team to make negligent modifications on Senna´s Steering Column.

I blame to the williams team "experts" for discovered fractures in 40% of the diameter of the added tube on Senna´s Steering column and not to make anything to avoid the accident, although they discovered the metal fatigue BEFORE the accident .

I blame to FIA, for fail to detect modifications on Senna´s cockpit, after all who put the FIA´s Label on Senna´s car cockpit to let him run?

[fantarule]

Yeah so they discovered it before the crash... but with no spare steering columns avaliable what were they suppose to do?

[charrotest]

Williams team had 2 options:

1.- Not Run, as all the f1 teams (michelin users) did at USA GP, because the Michelin tyres were not safe on 2005.

2.- Don´t tell the metal fatigue to the driver and risk his Life to keep running.

[jimik1234]

@charrotest I have to say, I don't buy all this mate.

The 1994 Williams handled like an absolute pig. Since the banning of the electronic aids (namely active suspension) after the 1993 season, the Williams car was an unpredictable beast. It'd enter a corner with understeer, which would change to snap oversteer in an instant, and then back again. The fact that he was leading the race is testament to his skill.

[bluebellModelrailway]

@charrotest "No, I blame to Williams team to make negligent modifications on Senna´s Steering Column" Which Senna had asked for those modifications... so can't really blame them for what the driver asked for....On the footage you provide before the race, and previous races.. you nor i know when that modification took place... so you can't just assume.

[SmileyGarrish]

@fantarule Not run the car.

[AlexD0e]

@charrotest Great job with the video. I really enjoy all the extra input! =)

[binhonz]

@fantarule You know, after it's done, it is done... There is nothing we can do about it. I think your point is valid but to us (as Senna's fans from all around the world) it is not acceptable that so many things went so wrong in that particular weekend but the race happened regardless. Barrichello's accident on the friday's practising, Hatzenberger's death ON THE TRACK during the qualifying that saturday and then Senna's death during the race. I guess there was too much money involved. Cheers!

[averybrandon100]

@fantarule I think you two are right,I heard a part of the movie "Senna" that FIA banned some electronic components,even traction control.I also think that after they removed the component,Senna said that they change the kind of grip,oversteer and understeer.The traction is proved and comfirmed unstable.

[averybrandon100]

It also has the same effect with the Sioux city crash

[HotProperty83]

@fantarule they shouldve fixed it if was faulty!