Tommy Byrne: Senna’s early rival, a lost F1 champion?

F1 Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports News, News, Sports, Automotive

4.7 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tommy Byrne’s talent in a racing car was likened to that of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. To those who watched him closely, he was a champion in the making. Why, then, did his Formula 1 career last just five races in an uncompetitive car? Tommy tells Tom Clarkson the story of the impressive wins in junior categories – including one in Ayrton Senna’s car – which got him to F1 in 1982. He explains why his straight-talking personality and party lifestyle upset the F1 establishment and why he never got the opportunity to race for a front-running team. Tommy also remembers the McLaren test that could have changed his life and the shock, decades later, when he learned what was really going on behind-the-scenes that day at Silverstone.

Transcript

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0:00.0	An ITVX exclusive.
0:03.4	Who have you ever revealed your real self to?
0:06.4	starring Damien Lewis and Guy Pearce.
0:08.8	The man I trusted most, my best friend, has done the unthinkable.
0:14.4	As buy among friends, stream free on ITVX.
0:23.2	The problem when I get into Formula One was wrong car, wrong time.
0:28.2	I give myself one chance.
0:30.2	It was all wrong, it was all wrong, there's no way I was going to go back.
0:42.5	Welcome everyone to Beyond the Grid with me Tom Clarkson.
0:46.8	If talent alone were enough to win world championships,
0:50.4	then my guess this week would have many titles to his name.
0:54.3	He had a raw, god-given ability that is rarely seen in our sport.
0:59.2	Think center, think Hamilton, think for Stappen.
1:02.9	As it happens, my guess won no world titles,
1:06.4	and nor did he win a Grand Prix.
1:08.4	He tested only once for McLaren at Silverstone,
1:12.0	and he wrestled a Theodore at five races in late 1982,
1:16.8	failing to qualify three times.
1:19.5	Yet his story is still worth telling,
1:22.1	because this driver epitomised speed.
1:26.0	The man I'm talking about is Tommy Bern.
1:29.3	How Tommy ever got to drive a Formula One car
	...

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