It's less a matter of talent and more a matter of age. I don't know of very many teams that would take a chance on a guy entering his second season at 34 years old. Money might be an issue too, he only had 5 races worth of sponsorship. If I painted Roland as a guy that didn't have talent, that was unintentional.
He had talent and determination and if fate hadn't intervened he would of been in f1 in 1995 for sure theres a good interview by rolands engineer at simtek on sky, johnny herbert knew the talent was there to in fact. And loads of others age nigel mansell was still in f1 at 42 so age is irrelevant
If only that last car had the reliability. The drivers said it was good, but it was let down by the engine power and the gear boxes. Especially the gear boxes. I think a lot of results for a lot of smaller and/or customer teams would have been different if the rules had been more like today when it came to engines, where the customer teams HAD to have the same spec engines as the works teams. Edit: Oof... I just got to that point in the video, I forgot Jeff Krosnoff's name was on the same car as his... It's sad because Jeff Krosnoff was killed at the Molson Indy Race in Toronto, the same accident killed a track marshall.
Wow! What a story, thanks for presenting it! Even taking Roland's unfortunate death out it was still wild. Things I did not expect to hear: "...tore his foot off" and "...let F1 for BTCC". Nothing against BTCC, I've been a fan of it for quite a while, it was just not expected in an F1 story.
“Tore his foot off” I actually said “Tore his foot UP”, as in he broke his right foot. “Tore it up” is how my family has described damage and injuries for years. As far as I know, Andrea Montermini still has his foot.
"His son Max makes F1 more boring to watch". lol. I wonder if Max is actually a what-if if Jos gets fortunate to drive on better teams. And yes, it's a popular meme about "The Jos Verstappen Project". I give it a like since I love the story of Simtek despite its tragic short stint in F1. I like the what-if of them too. Kind of agreeable at some sort.
No matter how much good luck you threw at them they didn't have a shot. Without a works deal they'd have died off in the 2000s and Wirth made some terrible design choices at Benetton and Virgin so they wouldn't have made it that far without someone talented to guide him. He designed bad cars for a well funded team with a good number of engineers and that wouldn't have been any less the case with fewer staff
I would say that over time, the technical alliance with Benetton evolves into sharing aero parts, so Simtek starts running Benetton-esque cars with raised noses and the like. After I'm done with the Pacific video I'm doing a long what-if scenario where I put most of these together. I'll make the Benetton partnership more fleshed out there.
Roland had more talent than you think
It's less a matter of talent and more a matter of age. I don't know of very many teams that would take a chance on a guy entering his second season at 34 years old. Money might be an issue too, he only had 5 races worth of sponsorship.
If I painted Roland as a guy that didn't have talent, that was unintentional.
He had talent and determination and if fate hadn't intervened he would of been in f1 in 1995 for sure theres a good interview by rolands engineer at simtek on sky, johnny herbert knew the talent was there to in fact. And loads of others age nigel mansell was still in f1 at 42 so age is irrelevant
Damon Hill started F1 aged 31 and won the championship at 33, so there's that.
You bring the same excitement & storytelling to f1 as Emplemon brought to nascar. Subscribed.
I thought David Brabham was mediocre, but what he did with that Simtek Ford was actually amazing....
Simtek 1994 is the coolest F1.
If only that last car had the reliability. The drivers said it was good, but it was let down by the engine power and the gear boxes. Especially the gear boxes. I think a lot of results for a lot of smaller and/or customer teams would have been different if the rules had been more like today when it came to engines, where the customer teams HAD to have the same spec engines as the works teams.
Edit: Oof... I just got to that point in the video, I forgot Jeff Krosnoff's name was on the same car as his... It's sad because Jeff Krosnoff was killed at the Molson Indy Race in Toronto, the same accident killed a track marshall.
Such a sad tale
Another excellent job. After your Pacific video you should do Andrea Moda.
Wow! What a story, thanks for presenting it! Even taking Roland's unfortunate death out it was still wild. Things I did not expect to hear: "...tore his foot off" and "...let F1 for BTCC". Nothing against BTCC, I've been a fan of it for quite a while, it was just not expected in an F1 story.
“Tore his foot off”
I actually said “Tore his foot UP”, as in he broke his right foot. “Tore it up” is how my family has described damage and injuries for years. As far as I know, Andrea Montermini still has his foot.
Awsome livery
Great video. Keep it up. One day, invest in an upgraded microphone for cleaner sound, then you'll be home free.
That's the plan going forward. I'm just about done with school, and after I move house, I'll look to invest in a proper mic.
"His son Max makes F1 more boring to watch". lol.
I wonder if Max is actually a what-if if Jos gets fortunate to drive on better teams. And yes, it's a popular meme about "The Jos Verstappen Project".
I give it a like since I love the story of Simtek despite its tragic short stint in F1. I like the what-if of them too. Kind of agreeable at some sort.
using retro game music? heard, turtles in time and Goldeye in there!!
No matter how much good luck you threw at them they didn't have a shot. Without a works deal they'd have died off in the 2000s and Wirth made some terrible design choices at Benetton and Virgin so they wouldn't have made it that far without someone talented to guide him. He designed bad cars for a well funded team with a good number of engineers and that wouldn't have been any less the case with fewer staff
I would say that over time, the technical alliance with Benetton evolves into sharing aero parts, so Simtek starts running Benetton-esque cars with raised noses and the like.
After I'm done with the Pacific video I'm doing a long what-if scenario where I put most of these together. I'll make the Benetton partnership more fleshed out there.