RIP Sid Watkins..

I'm a huge fan of F1 and grew watching it. He contributed much towards overall driver safety and track side care.

RIP Sid
 
Watkins, who performed an on-site tracheotomy on Senna, later reported: “He looked serene. I raised his eyelids and it was clear from his pupils that he had a massive brain injury. We lifted him from the cockpit and laid him on the ground. As we did, he sighed and, although I am not religious, I felt his spirit depart at that moment
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Huge loss for F1.
 
You know, he and Jackie Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone really changed the whole culture of motorsport. There was a real undercurrent of "danger makes men of us" attitude and that death should be part of the sport. Those three really changed that. It's not easy to stand up and be ridiculed but those guys did it. So yeah, a really great person.
 
There's a great tribute doc on Netflix for Senna. Worth a watch if you haven't bothered yet.
 
invictus43 said:
You know, he and Jackie Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone really changed the whole culture of motorsport. There was a real undercurrent of "danger makes men of us" attitude and that death should be part of the sport. Those three really changed that. It's not easy to stand up and be ridiculed but those guys did it. So yeah, a really great person.
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You're right. They did change the sport. There were many behind the scene battles over speed and safety. For a time the "constructors" made "business" decisions in order to increase speeds and ultimately win races at the expense of driver safety. Those 3 sought to change that.

eljay said:
There's a great tribute doc on Netflix for Senna. Worth a watch if you haven't bothered yet.
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+1

Highly recommended. I just watched it last weekend as a matter of fact.
 
Not just the constructors...drivers too. I remember one of the last things I read about Dale Earnhardt when NASCAR tried to implement the HANS device.."If guys are worried about getting killed then let them dip a couple of rags in kerosene and tie them around their ankles so the ants don't crawl up and eat their candy *****." He died a few months after that. I mean..what can you do?
 
invictus43 said:
Not just the constructors...drivers too. I remember one of the last things I read about Dale Earnhardt when NASCAR tried to implement the HANS device.."If guys are worried about getting killed then let them dip a couple of rags in kerosene and tie them around their ankles so the ants don't crawl up and eat their candy *****." He died a few months after that. I mean..what can you do?
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Once again true. Although I'm not a fan of NASCAR but from what I understand is that Dale wasn't the only driver that felt that way. There are many drivers that are still very much steeped in "Ego" racing on ovals.

Even Schumacher has been guilty of this behaviour in the past. Take a look at his run ins with Coulthard and Barichello. But hey, that's another thread. ;)

That said, Sid brought a certain dignity to the sport.
 
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