Conference krakar::f1

    
    Well todays the day when this rediculous (sp?) court case starts.
    According to The Sun, todays proceedings will just consist of the legal
    arguments (whatever that means!) and it is unlikely that any witnesses
    will be called for several months.
    
    The Sun has an article on Damon Hills thoughts of the trial and he is
    not looking forward to reliving the death of Ayrton.
    
    Neal.
    

    
    A colleague brought me a copy of The Times on Sunday magazine, which
    has a few pages about the accident and puts forward various theories
    about why it happened. Unfortunately it seems to be written by someone
    with nothing more than a casual interest in Motor racing, so they've
    gathered together snippets of data from here and there, drawn a few
    conclusions and then used those conclusions as though they were fact on
    which to base their next hypothesis.
    
    Of particular interest was a picture of the broken steering column
    which they claim shows was (from memory) 60% due to fatigue, 40% impact
    damage, and which had not been replaced althuogh many other components
    were following an off either in the previous race or testing (can't
    remember of hand). That seemed to me to be pretty conclusive - there
    should be no signs of metal fatigue in any component - never mind a
    critical one - on a racing car. Anyway, the author then skips quickly on
    to his more sensational theory that Senna held his breath for too long on
    that lap and lost consciousness, which caused the accident, supported by
    the fact that Senna's helmet is seen leaning to the left by the onboard
    camera. He doesn't comment on how a driver who is unconcious was able
    to steer a car and operate the acelerator and brake. 
       
    Graham