Heads up - Crash & Burn - Tommy Byrne BBC NI tonight 9 pm

[moffspeed]

Always been interested by the "nearly men" of F1 and Tommy Byrne must be one of the most prominent members of this club. One minute he's testing for McLaren and setting phenomenal lap times in a far from perfectly set- up car. But Byrne, like a latter day Hunt, was not blessed with a great deal of tact/diplomacy and his career stalls, ultimately a challenging lifestyle prevails and he ends up being shot by his team mate in South America...

So, hidden away on BBC NI at 9 pm tonight the film/documentary of the man - 'Crash and Burn". Outside NI should appear as Channel 979 on your Sky menu...

Enjoy...

[stevesuk]

moffspeed said:

So, hidden away on BBC NI at 9 pm tonight the film/documentary of the man - 'Crash and Burn". Outside NI should appear as Channel 979 on your Sky menu...

Thanks, I guess it'll be available on iPlayer for everyone afterwards?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jqfqx

Seems its on BBC Four on Monday next week.

[Nickp82]

Thanks for the heads-up, looking forward to watching it.

[ooo000ooo]

Great story, loved the bit about stealing the bits off Senna's car.

[Eric Mc]

On the iPlayer already -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08jqfqx/cras...

[RicksAlfas]

He's not a likeable chap is he? I can see why he rubbed people up the wrong way, despite his driving skills.

[anonymous-user]

If only he had someone like Willie Webber to manage him, he could have been a top driver.

Motorsport is full of stories like this, huge talent wasted on drink and drugs or just not getting the right grounding to fit into the corporate world.

[rubystone]

jsf said:

If only he had someone like Willie Webber to manage him, he could have been a top driver.

Motorsport is full of stories like this, huge talent wasted on drink and drugs or just not getting the right grounding to fit into the corporate world.

I'm not sure anyone could manage him though. I remember watching him in the early '80s - superfast but very tough driver winning pretty much every race he chose to enter.

[moffspeed]

Yep watched it and was a bit underwhelmed - but following on from the Motor Sport magazine article on him a couple of months ago reinforced my existing opinion that he would have been hard work to manage and develop into a Champion.

OK, Senna and Schumacher (M) were demanding and at times difficult but always with the aim of driving a team onwards.

Interesting how a driver's character as well as their raw talent can define their destiny - think of moody Reutemann who at some GPs (including a title decider) just didn't "turn up". Some would argue that Ronnie Peterson was too generous to Andretti, but it just belied the fact that he was a genuine good bloke. Same possibly of Cevert with Stewart.

Still exists today - perhaps Magnussen should still be at Renault but (allegedly) his work ethic is not the greatest. Similarly Wehrlein being consigned to Sauber may reflect an (alleged) attitude issue...

[anonymous-user]

rubystone said:

jsf said:

If only he had someone like Willie Webber to manage him, he could have been a top driver.

Motorsport is full of stories like this, huge talent wasted on drink and drugs or just not getting the right grounding to fit into the corporate world.

I'm not sure anyone could manage him though. I remember watching him in the early '80s - superfast but very tough driver winning pretty much every race he chose to enter.

We are all a product of our surroundings, some take longer than others to mature and change in a way that can change our paths in life. Some of course never will, we will never know what could have been with a strong manager behind him. You cant argue with the talent he had though.

Dave Coyne is another really talented driver who never got the breaks to the top level, he was lined up to drive the Jordan to replace Gachot at Spa, when Schumacher turned up with a bundle of cash.