excerpt

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.

Pacific GP chapter excerpt

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / 3 Comments

I reviewed the third chapter of my Senna versus Schumacher story and made a few changes here and there. It is now finished, and here’s an excerpt of the chapter.

When the lights went green for the second Grand Prix of the 1994 Formula One World Championship, Michael Schumacher had a stunning start, beating Ayrton Senna to the first corner. While Senna’s car was a bit nervous under braking into the corner, Schumacher lifted slightly, ensuring that his Ford engine was ideally positioned for the exit of the turn. Senna was surprised by Schumacher’s sudden drop in pace, and moved off the throttle as well. This caused the charging Mika Häkkinen to touch the back of Senna’s Williams-Renault, forcing the Brazilian into a spin. In a separate incident, right behind the leaders, Ferrari’s Nicola Larini went wide on the first turn, into the gravel bed, and into the side of the Williams. While Häkkinen could continue, albeit with a damaged nosecone, both Senna’s and Larini’s race ended on the spot. Unbothered by the goings-on behind him, though, Schumacher powered away from his competitors. The Benetton driver increased his lead over second-placed Häkkinen to some twelve seconds in the first fifteen laps of the race. Hill, running third, tried to pass the Finn on lap four, but spun off the track as a result. He rejoined the race in ninth place, and quickly resumed speed, lapping Verstappen on lap 5, Frentzen a lap later, Fittipaldi on lap 8, Brundle on the eleventh tour, and finally Barrichello for fourth spot on lap 12.

Tell me what you think: leave a comment.

Excerpt from the second chapter

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / 2 Comments

I’ve just finished the second chapter of The Encounter Down Under. I reviewed the first draft yesterday, and made some minor changes. Here’s an excerpt of this first stage of the 1994 Senna versus Schumacher battle:

On [the 35th] lap, trouble emerged on the Reta Oposta, the straight between turns three and four. Eddie Irvine and Jos Verstappen, 8th and 9th respectively, came to lap Éric Bernard, who was in 16th place. Verstappen moved left to overtake Irvine. With the Dutchman already halfway past him, however, Irvine jinked left himself, because Bernard braked for Martin Brundle, whose seventh-placed McLaren slowed down with mechanical problems. This forced Verstappen onto the grass, before veering to the right, across Irvine’s bow, pushing the Northern-Irishman’s Jordan into Bernard’s Ligier.

All three out of control cars found slow-driving Brundle in their path, and at some 300 km/h Verstappen’s car touched the McLaren. The stricken Benetton somersaulted across the Englishman’s engine cover, hitting Brundle’s helmet in the process, and violently teared wheels and other parts off both cars. Amidst the havoc, Bernard had slid onto the grass on the right side of the track, while Verstappen crash-landed onto the run-off at the end of the straight. The Benetton was soon followed by the wreck of the McLaren, with Irvine’s Jordan stranded on the circuit. Miraculously, all of the four drivers involved, escaped without injury.

“I tried to pass Irvine on the straight but I don’t think he saw me”, understated Verstappen afterwards, while Irvine added: “I was catching the Ligier quite quickly and was about to overtake him when he suddenly lifted. I didn’t see the Benetton to my left because my mirror had come loose earlier in the race.”

Tell me what you think. I’m looking forward to comments. I’ll start work on the next race, the Pacific Grand Prix

First chapter finished

/ Christiaan W. Lustig / Leave a comment

The first chapter of the part I of my story is finished. It’s the season preview, containing an outlook on to the 1994 F1 season, the teams and drivers, and the Grand Prix calendar. Here’s a small excerpt:

Part I: Opening Moves

Chapter 1: Season preview

If public opinion decided World Championships, Ayrton Senna clinched the 1994 title the minute he signed for Williams-Renault. And with it, the new Formula One season threatened to be as spectacular as it would be boring. Because now the alleged best driver in Grand Prix history would drive what was seen as the best car of the period. There wasn’t a doubt on anyone’s mind that Ayrton Senna would rack up pole positions and victories by the dozens on his way to a fourth World Championship, and a fifth, and who knows after that.

You’ll find this chapter, plus the other chapters of part I of the story online as soon as I finish them.