The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola will always be remembered as the race that claimed the life of one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, Ayrton Senna.
While Senna’s death understandably dominated the headlines, motorsport also lost another fine driver that weekend, and an even better human being – Roland Ratzenberger.
Since those tragic events of 32 years ago, there have been countless books about Senna, but until now, none about Roland. This book was borne out of the collective desire of nearly 80 individuals, who felt this was a travesty and that it was time to act.
Three-time award-nominated author Darren Banks, with the blessing of Roland's parents, was honoured to be entrusted with collecting all the memories from a vast array of individuals who feature in Roland's life and career. Some only played a brief part, while others played more important and significant roles, but all contributed in some way in helping Roland achieve his dream of reaching Formula One.
The list of contributors reads like a who's who of motorsport: Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Mika Salo, David Brabham, Dick Bennetts, Bernd Schneider, Anthony Reid, Graham Fuller, Andrew Gilbert Scott, Robert Lechner, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andy Wallace, Keith Sutton, Shin Kato, and Emanuele Pirro, to name just a fraction of the total number.
All contributors offer their own unique personal memories of Roland, who was clearly destined for great things until cruelly taken from us far too early. The collective memories come together to offer an insight into Roland the driver, and Roland the person. It should be no surprise to learn that, all loved Roland's personality, his determination, his work ethic, being an all-round decent guy, and most emphatically, his beaming smile.
Roland Ratzenberger Remembered will ensure that Roland is never forgotten.