Quote:
Originally Posted by William Dale Jr
I think you're spot on about Sheene's lack of experience on four wheels. Once the original car was totalled, it would have been hard for Barry to develop the car as he simply didn't have the experience to know what needed to be changed, or perhaps even what he needed from the car to be fast.
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True- I haven't taken the time to look it up, but I think Sheene's touring car experience before the Toyota drive amounted to no more than a couple of races in a Richard Lloyd Golf GTi four or five years previously. That and half-a-season in the Supra wouldn't give him a great baseline to start sorting out the new car
Sheene's comments on the post-Thruxton replacement car certinly ring true from what I remember reading in some of the race reports- a random example, from Autosport's qualifying report for the Brands European GP support:
'And where was Barry Sheene? There are probably more succinct ways of putting it, but decorum dictates that he was in trouble. The Hughes of Beaconsfield team were trying out a brand new engine management system and it just did not work, and to compound the problem, the second session saw dire vibrations and a lowly eighth place, just ahead of the leading Alfa Romeo of Jon Dooley'
The weekend wouldn't get any better:
'Finally the cars reached the grid- or some of them- gone already was Barry Sheene, his Supra fumbling to a stop at Graham Hill Bend on the warm-up lap. The end of another unhappy chapter for the team. Barry did not hang around to pass comment, jumped on his motorbike and headed for home'