
The documentary 'Going Critical
- The Death of Ayrton Senna' [*see below] was first premiered
by Channel 4, a UK television station, on September 26 2001.
According to its UK film-makers Darlow Smithson the programme,
which they claimed had been 'thoroughly' researched,
would provide the 'definitive' answer to the mystery surrounding
the death of Ayrton Senna. The misspelling of Senna's name on the
opening title gave viewers an insight into the quality of the
forthcoming production. See screenshot left!
The pre-programme hype told
us that Williams GP Engineering had given the makers access to
"secret telemetry recordings from Senna's car", which
"reveals the real story of the racing legend's death".
Despite all this apparent co-operation and secret data etc.,
the Williams team were never credited.
Unfortunately, rather than
'sinking without a trace', this documentary, we use the term
loosely, could be coming to a TV screen near you. Going Critical
includes a video clip, as used by Williams' defence during the
Senna trial, which shows driver David Coulthard demonstrating
what both he and Williams claimed was a NORMAL amount of flexing
and movement for the steering assembly onboard a FW16B. The claim
that Coulthard's demonstration had not been accessible prior
to the programme was somewhat tenuous for it had been available
on this Web site for some years previous. View the video
to form your own opinion!
So, by simply dismissing the
evidence supplied by the Prosecution
at the Senna trial, film-makers Darlow Smithson's 'definitive
answer' to the death of Ayrton Senna proved to be merely a rehash
of the case presented by the Williams' defence lawyers at the
Senna trial.
* The programme 'Going Critical
- The Death of Ayrton Senna' can also appear under various names.
These include: 'Countdown to Disaster' and 'Seconds to Disaster'.


|