Motorsport Memorial -

Roland Ratzenberger

Complete name: Roland Ratzenberger

Birth date: 04.Jul.1960

Birth Place: Salzburg, Austria

Death date: 30.Apr.1994

Death Place: Bologna, Italy

Nationality: Austria

Gender: male

Age at death: 33

Event date: 30.Apr.1994

Series: Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula 1 World Championship

Race: Gran Premio di San Marino

Event type: qualifying

Country: Italy

Venue: Imola (officially called Autodromo Dino Ferrari from 1970 to 1988 and Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari since 1989)

Variant: 5.040-kilometer, permanent road course (1980-1994)

Role: driver

Vehicle type: car

Vehicle sub-type: single seater

Vehicle brand/model: Simtek S941 - Ford

Vehicle number: 32

Notes:
The Austrian Roland Ratzenberger died tragically during qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Formula 1 Grand Prix at Imola.

In the same event Rubens Barrichello survived a horrific practice crash at the "Variante Bassa", and three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna lost his life during the race. Other accidents occurred on race day, when Pedro Lamy's Lotus 107C - Mugen Honda and J. J. Lehto's Benetton B194 - Ford collided immediately after the start and one of the wheels was thrown over the safety fence, hitting eleven spectators one of whom, Antonio Mauro Maino, 26, was severely injured on head. Shortly later, while entering the pits for a routine stop, Michele Alboreto lost a wheel of his Minardi 193B - Ford. The wheel hit three mechanics of the Scuderia Ferrari, Claudio Bisi, Daniele Volpi and Maurizio Barbieri, one mechanic of team Lotus, Neil Baldry and one mechanic of team Benetton, Mike Fluckiger, who were all injured.

A colourful character and a good-looking man, very fit and charming, Roland Ratzenberger claimed 1962 rather than 1960 as his birth year, probably wanting to appear younger, to extend his racing career, as did several years before one of his heroes, Gilles Villeneuve. He was born in Salzburg, Austria, in a family that did not have any interest in motor racing - his father Rudolf was a civil servant involved in pensions. Nearby the Salzburgring opened in 1969, when Ratzenberger was a boy, so it could have piqued his interest in racing. He joined the Austrian Formula Ford team owner and driver Walter Lechner, working as a mechanic. With no money and no support from his parents, Roland worked as an instructor when Lechner opened his own racing school at the Salzburgring, and later at the Jim Russell Racing School in Italy.

Roland started racing in 1983 in the German Formula Ford series, and two years later he won the Austrian and the Central European Formula Ford championships. Later he worked as mechanic for the German Formula 3 driver Volker Weidler. As a race car driver, Ratzenberger gained international fame in 1986, when he won the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, in a Van Diemen, beating Philippe Favre of Switzerland in another Van Diemen, and Pete Rogers, at the time the best of Britain's drivers, in a Laser.

He was already 26, although he told he was 24. Thanks to this success, his career was propelled upwards. The following year Ratzenberger campaigned a Formula 3 Ralt RT31 - Volkswagen in UK and Europe with West Surrey Racing and Madgwick Motorsport, being 5th in the final classification of the 1987 EFDA Formula 3 Euroseries with one win at the Nürburgring.

Promoted by Gerhard Berger's manager Burghardt Hummell, Ratzenberger was signed up by Team Schnitzer and contested the 1987 World Touring Car Championship, sharing one of the works BMW M3s with team mates Roberto Ravaglia, Ivan Capelli, Markus Oestreich and Emanuele Pirro. Despite his inexperience, he scored three 2nd places in the season, at Monza, Jarama and Silverstone. In 1989 he drove a BMW in the DTM, and had his debut in the World Sportscar Championship, sharing a Team Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C with Oscar Larrauri. The pair finished a remarkable 4th overall at Spa-Francorchamps.

Later he forged a successful career in Japan, which became his second home, contesting the Japanese Touring Car Championship and the Japanese Sportscar Championship with team SARD in a Toyota 92C-V, and the All-Japan Formula 3000 series. In 1992 he scored two poles at Fuji and Suzuka and one astonishing win at Suzuka, from team mate Andrew Gilbert-Scott, both driving Kygnus sponsored Lola T92/50 - Mugen for Kiyoshi Fukui's Team Stellar International. At his first start in the same track several months before, stuck with a Team Stellar oldish car with a suspected soft chassis, Roland Ratzenberger didn't even qualify; revenge was sweet.

Ratzenberger also drove a SARD Toyota in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1992, finishing 9th overall with Eddie Irvine and Eje Elgh, and in 1993, 5th place overall with Mauro Martini and Naoki Nagasaka. While living in Japan, Ratzenberger shared his house in Tokyo with friends Johnny Herbert, Mauro Martini, Mika Salo, Eddie Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the other European drivers who also competed in the All-Japan Formula 3000 series.

During his Japanese career Roland Ratzenberger collected enough money to support the venture of his first Formula 1 start. Not having much experience, he was totally dedicated to his racing. He was plucked from Japan as a surprise choice by Nick Wirth, founder of the Simtek, to drive in the 1994 Formula 1 season as team mate to David Brabham, with a contract for just five races, financed by Barbara Behlau, a wealthy German art collector and enterpreuner. He replaced Jean-Marc Gounon who had lost his sponsorship shortly before the start of the season. After failing to qualify in the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, Ratzenberger made his only Formula 1 start in the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix, held at the TI Circuit of Aida, Japan, scoring a 11th place. The third race of the season was the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola circuit.

Roland Ratzenberger at the wheel of his Simtek S941-Ford, Gran Premio di San Marino, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, 30 April 1994.
Photo courtesy of Vincenzo Zaccaria. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

During practice he was struggling and complained about brakes. His team mate David Brabham made a few laps in Roland's car and confirmed the brakes were poor. So the team fitted a new set and suddenly Ratzenberger was going much better. Near the end of Saturday practice session he had a violent accident, crashing head-on into the retaining wall at the Villeneuve corner at about 314 km/h, after a front wing failure. Ratzenberger was rushed to Bologna hospital where doctors tried in vain to revive him. Shortly after admission he died, victim of a crushing fracture in the base of the skull.

It is believed that the front wing failure was caused by an off-track excursion at the Tosa bend on the previous lap. After passing over the kerbs Ratzenberger restarted at slow speed and swerved from side to side to check anything was broken, and then he carried on, going for a qualifying time.

The following day, while examining the wreckage of Ayrton Senna's racing car after his death, the marshals found a furled Austrian flag. Presumably Senna had planned to raise it after winning the race, in honor of Ratzenberger.

By the number of huge accidents which happened, presumably the month of May 1994 became one of the worst in Formula 1 history. The double tragedy which happened at Imola was marked before the start of the next Grand Prix at Monaco, with the grid front row which was left empty and the two slots painted with a Brazilian and Austrian flag, in memory of Senna and Ratzenberger. During qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Karl Wendlinger crashed hard his Sauber C13 - Mercedes-Benz at the Chicane, remaining in a coma for almost one month; one week later Pedro Lamy suffered multiple and complex fractures on both legs at the Bridge corner while testing his Lotus 107C - Mugen Honda at Silverstone; finally in the next Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, Andrea Montermini at the wheel of another Simtek S941 - Ford went off the road out of the last bend, crashing into the wall. He sustained severe foot injuries.

Roland Ratzenberger lived in Salzburg with his fiancée Khadija Adam of Somalia. He was the first Formula 1 fatality since Elio De Angelis during testing at Le Castellet in 1986. It was the first time for 12 years that a Formula 1 driver had been killed at a Grand Prix.

Simtek was a small team and Ratzenberger's death was devastating. The Simtek Research Ltd was established in 1989 by Nick Wirth, who at the time was 24, and Max Mosley, the man who provided the M in March. The name standing for Simulation Technology. The company was an engineering consultancy which provided design, research and development service for clients such as BMW, Ligier and March. In 1992 Simtek built the Andrea Moda Formula 1 chassis and then designed a Formula 1 car for the Bravo, the Spanish Grand Prix team that never appeared. By the end of 1993, Nick Wirth decided to enter his own Formula 1 team, called Simtek Grand Prix. Sir Jack Brabham joined the company with some financing, and his son David Brabham was announced as the first driver for the 1994 season. Wirth presented the Simtek S941 fitted with a Ford HB V8 engine by Cosworth. Without sponsorship, Simtek searched for a second pay driver. They eventually found backing from MTV Europe as well. Roland Ratzenberger was signed alongside David Brabham for the first five races. After his fatal accident in the third race of the season, Andrea Montermini, Jean-Marc Gounon, Mimmo Schiattarella and Taki Inoue were the second Simtek entries in the following Grands Prix. The season was unsuccessful, being a 9th place by Jean-Marc Gounon in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours the best result.

The Ratzenberger family's grave in the Friedhof Maxglan in Salzburg, Austria, where Roland Ratzenberger was laid to rest.
Note his racing helmet and the flowers arranged according to the colors of the Austrian flag.
Photos taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Sources:

Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X, pages 161, 164 and 879.
Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4, page 367.
Magazine Autosprint, issue 02 May 1994, pages 20/21.
Magazine Autosprint, issue 10 May 1994, pages 27/29.
Magazine Autosprint, issue 07 June 1994, pages 17.
Magazine Autosprint, issue 04 October 1994, page 7.
Magazine MotorSport, issue of October 2012, page 91.
Magazine MotorSport, issue of May 2014, pages 87/89.
Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy) issue of 03 May 1994, page 2, article "Un ragazzo lotta per non morire", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/ .
Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Speed's Ultimate Price: The Toll", page 27, posting by "ReWind", message http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=9705&view=findpost&p=1472063 .
E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 29 July 2023 (three messages).