View Single Post
Old 21 Mar 2017, 08:23 (Ref:3720370)   #948
John Elwin
Veteran
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
France
Pas de Calais
Posts: 2,814
John Elwin should be qualifying in the top 5 on the gridJohn Elwin should be qualifying in the top 5 on the grid
Quote:
Originally Posted by gary396 View Post
If of interest, there is a documentary on BBC Northern Ireland tonight about Tommy Byrne - called 'Crash and Burn'. Available on Sky channel 953 I think.
Thanks for bringing that to attention, it was an interesting watch. Admittedly heavy rain disrupted my satellite reception briefly so I may have missed something but I couldn't feeling that from memory some of the early F Ford history was a bit disjointed. For instance, there was no mention of his time with the works PRS team in Britain & Europe in 1979.

My abiding memory of that year was a European Championship round at the Nurburgring, I believe only the second-ever FF race to be run on the Nordschleife. Tommy put the PRS on pole, & seeing it as a big opportunity, the Holman brothers who ran PRS guarded Tommy very carefully between qualifying & the race, ensuring he didn't get into any trouble. Needless to say, Tommy became a bad boy in the race. German hot-shot Peter Kroeber soon got the lead, but something like six separate observers around the circuit reported Tommy as he repeatedly hit Peter until the German went off. Needless to say, Byrne was disqualified, & John Village inherited the win, having had a grandstand view of the action & could see what the outcome would be.

It was great to see some period footage last night & spot many familiar faces from those days. Tommy has not lost any modesty either, considering himself to be the equal of Ayrton Senna was a bit far-fetched!

Last edited by John Elwin; 21 Mar 2017 at 08:24. Reason: Missed a word
John Elwin is offline