Part I

Excerpt from San Marino GP chapter

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

Finally… I’ve finished the San Marino Grand Prix chapter of my book. Here’s an excerpt:

… it was obvious that Senna had been injured in some way — there was no movement in the cockpit. Upon impact, the right front suspension had broken, releasing the wheel from the chassis, which glanced Senna’s helmet, knocking the driver unconscious in the process. Senna’s head leaned motionless onto the right side of the cockpit for over a minute. Just as the medical car, carrying professor Sid Watkins, arrived at the scene, Senna’s helmet slightly moved away from the cockpit edge, to a more upright position. In the moments that followed, Watkins and his team extricated Senna from the wrecked Williams-Renault, and laid him on the ground. Quickly afterwards, the medical helicopter landed on the now-empty track, and right before Senna was rushed to Maggiore hospital, the triple World Champion opened his eyes.

I’ve already started reviewing the other chapters of part I of The Encounter Down Under. I reckon I’ll be finished before the end of May.

… And Senna opened his eyes

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / 7 Comments

Yes, that’s just about the phrase I use.

It took me a while to decide on how to make it known that Senna wasn’t killed in his Imola accident. But this should be it. I won’t give away more just yet, but I’m almost there. I’ve all but finished the race review, and only have the aftermath, with all the rule changes and stuff, to go. So hang in there for just a bit more.

San Marino chapter at 80%

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

San Marino flagDuring my two-week vacation — I came home last Friday — I wrote a large part of chapter 4 of my alternate version of the 1994 Formula One season, The Encounter Down Under. I reckon I’m up to 80 percent, now, and I expect to finish the chapter tonight and next Sunday.

However, before I publish part I of my Senna versus Schumacher book, I plan to re-read the first 4 chapters and edit them where deemed necessary. So you may expect to download the pdf somewhere late May, early June — so I’m asking for just a tad more patience.

Progress on San Marino GP chapter

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / 2 Comments

Progress on my San Marino Grand Prix chapter has been farely slow. It’s taking some more time than anticipated to get into the proper ‘flow’ of writing this chapter. I’m kind of struggling with questions like: how do I set-up the chapter; which subjects to I write about; and what do I leave out?

There’s so much to write about, surrounding this specific race, that I’m first trying to get the main story sorted out. Good thing is that I’ll be on vacation for 2 weeks, starting a week from tomorrow. So I’ll have plenty of time to work on this fateful Imola race in my Senna versus Schumacher sage. I’ll take my iBook with me, however, so I can write while on holiday, too.

Anxious about the next chapter: San Marino

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / 2 Comments

Well, the point of divergence in my Senna versus Schumacher story is approaching. I’ve started work on the 4th chapter of ‘The Encounter Down Under’, and I expect to finish the first draft some time next week.

I’m a bit anxious about this final chapter of part I, because with the 2 previous Grands Prix, I could rely on actual events. The same goes for this race, too, of course, but I can let my fantasy do some of the work, now.

Oh, and I’ve talked to a friend of mine, last weekend — she’s a doctor — on the severety of Senna’s fictional crash. Should make for realistic, though survivable, injuries.