F1

montoyastheman

Name all Irish drivers (north and south) to have competed in the FIA World Driver's Championship since it began in 1950. I reckon there are ten.

pd101

I'll get the easy one's out of the way

Eddie Irvine
Ralph Firman
Dave Kennedy
Eddie Jordan

montoyastheman

Jordan tested a McLaren once but he was never signed to a team. Not everyone would get Firman, though!

javaboy

Derek Daly & Tommy Byrne?

javaboy

There's Joseph Kelly as well but I don't know if he counts since he wasn't actually born in Ireland and AFAIK didn't finish any races. :rolleyes:

Dodge

Kennedy never actually raced in Formula One. He failed to qualify a couple of times though. of Course jordan didn't drive F1 either

The F1 racers database (google for exact name, haven't time at the moment) lists them all

montoyastheman

Kennedy raced at the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix, an event that subsequently lost its world championship status. He drove for Shadow, a team that was on its last legs by then. It was tough to get in F1 races in those days. There were usually about 30 cars going for 26 spots on the grid, or 20 at Monaco. He was faster than his team mate Stefan Johansson a man who went on to race for Ferrari and McLaren.
He had also finished second in the British Formula One Championship in 1979.

Joe Kelly definitely counts. He used to race a Cooper-Alta which he renamed an 'Irish Racing Automobile' or 'IRA' for short...

Zaph

Martin Donnelly

montoyastheman

Yup. Donnelly's in. Oddly enough no one has yet mentioned the most successful Irish F1 driver of all...

Zaph

Just thought of him myself, John Watson

montoyastheman

Five wins and second in the 1982 championship. He was some driver...
The count is eight:
Joe Kelly
John Watson
Derek Daly
David Kennedy
Tommy Byrne
Martin Donnelly
Eddie Irvine
Ralph Firman


I can think of three more which would make it 11, one more than I first thought.

fatgav

kenny acheson
damian magee
and there was a desmond titterington (sic) who competed back in the day

montoyastheman

Fair play! That's the lot as far as I know. About time for another one, methinks. There was another driver born in Northern Ireland who competed as an Englishman, if memory serves. I must check on it. And of course there were loads of US drivers with very Irish names who raced in the Inady 500 from 1950 to 1960 when it was part of the World Championship. Names like Pat Flaherty come to mind. Helmets with shamrocks etc.

fatgav

lol ya. i love my F1. I was reading books on the history of F1 when some kids were reading Ann and Barry. Since I got that one, I'll contribute another F1 question in this thread...

What signficant role did London cabbie Eric Court have in the history of F1?? (within last 20 years)