Crashed and Byrned

oneofakind32

The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw
The story of Tommy Byrne a self described "knacker from Dundalk" who almost made it big in F1. I had never herd of him before I saw this article on espnf1.com. Has anyone read the book or heard any storys about him?

se conman

I read it a couple of years ago.A great book telling stories of what it was really like.You don't know if you should laugh or phone the cops about some of the stunts he pulled.

locha

Brilliant book... real case of what could have been... loved his stories of working in Dundalk... pure bandits!

supremenovice

Apparently he used to kick Sennas ass and Senna wasnt too pleased about it either.
Very good read

pburns

Whether you agree that Tommy was THE great lost talent of F1 history or not, the book is a brilliant read. The first 5 or 6 pages will hook you (unless you're squeamish!). I gave it to a motorsport agnostic friend on a transatlantic plane journey and had to prise it off him when we landed!

IMO Byrne had the talent but not the temperment to make it in F1.

frostie500

Yeah its a great read. I like how honest it was and how Hughes laid quite a bit of the blame at Byrne's feet for being too easy to be offended/angered by other peoples treatment of him and how this ultimately cost him his chance of greatness. Coming from the same village as Tommy I knew most of the story anyway but it was still good to fill in a few of the blanks and hear his side of some stories

vincenzolorenzo

Brilliant book, buy it first chance you get. Its the most honest autobiography you're ever likely to read and possibly one of the funniest as well. It is a great shame though that he never managed to pull it all together and have a decent career in F1. His temperament was definitely a hindrance. He still seemed hung up about the whole McLaren test but the reality is that even if he was 10s a lap faster than the benchmark time, Ron Dennis was never going to give him a drive. Tommy just doesn't fit into the Dennis world...thank god!

ixus

Old thread but not discussed anywhere else. Never heard of this guy before.

Fascinating.

flazio

Watched the documentary on player yesterday. Seems to come across as very bitter about the whole thing, even today. I know some have pointed out that there were plenty of other "playboys" in F1 at the time but it came across to me he started that sort of thing too early.
I wonder was he ever approached to be involved in RTÉs F1 coverage back in the day?

AMKC

I think its a pity that he never made it big in F1 as it would have been great to have a Formula 1 F1 legend. His temperment was definitely is undoing. He needed a father figure there to guide him someone who recognised the brilliant talent he had but also that he needed to came down a bit and get into the big time in F1 first make some big money pay everyone he owed or helped him get there and then live the playboy lifestyle if thats what he wanted.

casscass4444

Watched it and to be honest though he came across as nasty,self centred,bitter and most evidently overly confident.
Fair enough he got fairly high up the ladder coming from a poor background as he described himself numerous times,but his attitude was and still is all wrong and if I was in the position of hiring him as a driver and providing him with a car and team I'd have passed him by too.
There is loose cannons with talent in all sports that shoot to the top despite their eccentricity but Tommy just seems nasty and not a person I'd like to be around,and not to mention the damage he could do by being around team sponsors and press.you would need oceans of patience and keep him on a tight lead which all takes effort or you could just not hire him saving major headaches.
As far as I'm concerned there is arrogance and there is tommy byrne

kksaints

Enjoyed the programme and was an interesting insight into motorsport in the late 70s-early 80s and the money needed even then to make it in motorsport but he came across really badly. Sounded like a massive arsehole and an unpleasant individual.

Bobby04

I went to one of the screenings of the film in Dundalk where Tommy sat at the front after the film and did a Q&A of sorts. I was really moved by the whole story again during the film, just as I had been many years previously when I first read the book. But I also found myself infuriated once again - what an idiot to waste such talent I thought. And then towards the end of the film I thought, well he's seen the light, knows he made mistakes and missed an incredible opportunity to have written a very different F1 history than we know today. He's trying to come to terms with it all, and enjoy life now despite that cloud hanging over him. But when he came out on the stage after the film in Dundalk, and sat there sharing a can of beer with that eegit Leo Nulty, I just felt he had reached a new low! I really thought he was at a better level than that now. As mentioned already, not exactly good PR or advertisement material.
Still though, I admire his talent immensely and so wish he had been able to behave differently back in the day and managed to have given the world the spectacle of Senna being challenged, maybe humbled, by a true Irish driver... I'd also dearly love to know what Senna really thought of his ability.

casscass4444

I was looking forward to watching the programme when I saw it advertised and recorded it on sky.watched it live on Sky and deleted the recording after it was over as I definitely wouldn't want to watch it again.
I was disappointed with it overall.thought his attitude stinks to be honest and even though he obviously had talent at some point he is way too over confident to the point of just being ignorant and annoying.with all he experienced id expect him to be more humble but I came away from it not liking him at all.
Very negative overall.on the talent side of things you can look at hakkinen,coulthard,Schumacher who all had massive talent but were just pleasant positive people with the right attitude to get the job done and thrive

ixus

You"re pretty hung up on his character but that's what made him the driver he was, brought him so far and, ultimately, caused his downfall.

I would guess he battled some demons within knowing he messed his chance and family up. Maybe he didn't.

I would be pretty bitter knowing i had all the tools, was given a chance to shine and produced outstanding results only to be rejected. You'd blame everyone first but would eventually have to look at yourself. That could take a lifetime to overcome.

I can take his story and relate to having doors closed or making poor decisions. The "what if's". I think anyone with ambition/talent in their related field can.

Mike Litoris

The book was great but didn't think the doc was too good. There were a lot of good stories from the book they could have covered but instead it concentrated mainly on the negative stuff. He came across extremely bitter in it too. A damn shame he never made it.


I do wonder if his big chance came with a big team other than McLaren would things have been different. Or maybe his attitude was so bad that no one wanted to know regardless of how fast he was.


Maybe if he hit the scene 10 years earlier he may have made it on talent alone. Such a shame.

Northern Monkey

This is on iplayer at the minute

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08jqfqx/crash-and-burn?suggid=b08jqfqx

fryup

was on BBC4 last night, great doc

loved the bit where he nicked Senna wheels from his car sums up his character i suppose

Vic_08

The Tommy Byrne documentary is showing on RTE1 tonight.