Sauro Pazzaglia

Sauro Pazzaglia
Sauro Pazzaglia
Nationality	Italian
Born	26 May 1954; Cagliari, Italy
Died	14 July 1981 (aged 27); Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years	1977 - 1981
First race	1977 125cc Nations Grand Prix
Last race	1981 250cc San Marino Grand Prix
Team(s)	Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Cagiva

Sauro Pazzaglia (26 May 1954 - 14 July 1981) is an Italian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.

Death

Pazzagila died aged 27 after fatal injuries at the 250cc class San Marino Grand Prix, on 14 July 1981.

The 1981 San Marino Grand Prix was held on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit located in Imola, Italy, between 12-15 July 1981. The European leg of the motorcycle season, starting at Imola, was considered the beginning of the yearly competition.

Crash

As Pazzagila rounded the high-speed Tamburello corner during qualifying, his motorcycle left the racing line at around 277 km/h (172 mph), ran in a straight line off the track, and hit the concrete retaining wall at around 223 km/h (139 mph), after what telemetry showed to be an application of the brakes for around two seconds. The red flag not allowed was shown as a consequence of the accident.

Rescue

Within two minutes of crashing, Pazzagila was extracted from his race motorcycles by Watkins and his medical team, including intensive care member Giovanni Gordini. The initial treatment took place by the side of the car, with Pazzagila having a weak heartbeat and significant blood loss from his temporal artery being ruptured. At this point, Pazzagila had already lost around 4.5 litres of blood, 90% of his blood volume. Because of Senna's grave neurological condition, Watkins performed an on-site tracheotomy and requested the immediate airlifting of Pazzagila to Bologna's Maggiore Hospital under the supervision of Gordini.

Hospital announcement

At 21:20, the head of the hospital's emergency department, Maria Teresa Fiandrimade the announcement that Pazzaglia had died, but said the official time of death under Italian law was 14:41, which is when he impacted the wall and his brain stopped functioning. Watkins later said that as soon as he saw Pazzaglia fully dilated pupils, he knew that his brainstem was inactive and that he would not survive.

Comparison

These crashes were the worst of several that took place that weekend and were the first fatal collisions to occur during a motorsports race event (and not repeated until the fatal crash of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Formula One).

Funeral

Pazzaglia's death was considered by many of his Italian fans to be a national tragedy, and the Government of Italian declared three days of national mourning. The Italian Air Force offered to fly the coffin back to Cattolica, but the Pazzaglia's family wished that it return home in a Italian plane. Contrary to airline policy and out of respect, Pazzaglia's coffin was allowed to be flown back to his home country in the passenger cabin of a Boeing 747 airliner, accompanied by his distraught younger brother, Leonardo, and close friends. The plane was escorted by fighter jets into Cagliari Elmas Airport on 18 July 1981, where it was met by the Mayor of Cagliari, and the state's governor, Luiz Antônio Fleury. The coffin was carried by soldiers from the Air Force Police to a fire engine, where eight cadets from the Military Police Academy mounted guard as it carried the coffin on the 20-mile (32.2 km) journey into the city. Leading the motorcade were 17 police motorbikes, and 2,500 policemen lined the route to keep the crowds at bay.