Don't forget it is Wayne Rainey that crippled Wayne Rainey. The epitome of a troubled racer if ever there was one. His insane mind games with any team-mate, Mr Buzzy the terror of a restaurant and track battles with Schwantz - someone had to lose. The establishment was also partly at fault, those reckless races should have resulted in a few suspensions. After his huge crash at Donington which fractured vertebrae consequent to his paralysis at Misano, modern medical standards would not have allowed him to race on until healed. Those were the days eh?
Itv player awesome. Revvin Kevin still my fave. Gardner though what a bloke. Tough as or feckin stupid as . Didn't realise king Kenny wanted him
Dutch Doctors telling Schwantz they didn't think him and fellow racers (Doohan) should receive medical treatment because their wounds were self-inflicted. Gruesome.
Was a really great program, I enjoyed it and have a huge respect for the racers of the time. I don't believe all this utter b*llocks about them asking for there injuries, Marquez is riding no less hard now, it's just that circuit safety is 20 times what it was and he happens to be wearing the latest airbag suit. He is pushing just as hard, it's just that he is on a bike that has more technology and tyres that can cope. Perfect example was Doohan crashing at Assen into a wall that was about 50ft back off the track and protected by about 2ft of bail, no wonder he got hurt.... the same year as Rainey, Senna was killed, track saftey has thankfully improved, but with it we now need to stand 100ft back from the track at every corner and can't see the racing because on every corner they cover the fence with advertising so we may as well watch on telly... *sorry... rant!
you say that Phil :- You will remember that Gerhard Berger had a lucky escape close to where Ayrton died as the marshals got to him in record time to put the car's fire out. When he enquired as to why the run-off area wasn't greater at this point of the Track the official reply was that it couldn't be extended further because there was a river (Fiume Santerno) behind it. Imola bologna google maps - Google Maps
Without getting into F1 as a subject I just think the racing was what it was back then, 2-strokes by nature were edgy, and the tyres just hadn't developed. Now we have the other end of the spectrum where the tyres are designing the bikes and arguably killing the racing.
you're right re: F1 - could rival War and Peace on that subject alone. To sum up, Imola will always be risky by modern safety stds.
