Crash and Burn - The Story of Tommy Byrne

[Eric Mc]

You are correct. Byrne never raced Formula Vee. The accident in the picture I posted is also from 1997, years after Byrne's cash (which was in 1980).

I was asking Majordad if this was the Formula Vee crash he was talking about.

[61GT]

Recall him pretty much destroying the rest of the field at the 1982 F3 British GP support race at Brands Hatch, seemed to be in a race of his own. Very impressive.

[SpudLink]

He could serve as a cautionary tale for youngsters who think that just being fast is enough to make it to the top.

[rastapasta]

SpudLink said:

He could serve as a cautionary tale for youngsters who think that just being fast is enough to make it to the top.

to be honest, he is ancient history. Kids know nowadays that you can't live a life like he did and succeed, his attitude was way out of kilter even in the early 1980's and he didnt succeed then... To be brutally honest, the likes of David Kennedy, Roe Daly etc were far far better than him. I mentioned above that the biggest 'what if' from the island as whole was Martin Donnelly.

There is a book called 'the dirty dozen ' by John kenny' and it documents the most prominent racers from the island of Ireland right up until 2007 and Tommy Byrne doesnt even feature, which tells it all, considering its not as though there are have been too many. Ireland doesn't produce racers in the same manner or volume as it produces jockeys !!!

https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Dozen-Irelands-Motors...

[P. ONeill]

Another thread brought me here. Some boy Tommy, he’s his own chief propagandist, but something tells me that deep down he actually believes everything he says.

Edited by P. ONeill on Tuesday 11th April 16:44

[Nononsensecapeesh]

As well as the McLaren test, wasn't he also linked to someone else at one point? Like Tyrrell?

[r.g.]

Sat next to him at dinner at a Motorsport Ireland/ Rally of the Lakes event a few of years ago.

I have to admit, I didn't really know much about him before the meal. I did by the end of it!!

He was/is most definitely his own worst enemy.