Phoenix Park memories

[Peter Dunne]

Originally Posted by davyboy

The Golden Jubilee was 1979... and I have that programme. I've quite a few others from the 1970s as well. I'll dig them out and scan them for you.

Nice one. Thanks David, I look forward to that.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by Peter Dunne

The Theodore is definately David Kennedy

What year is that with Kennedy in the Theodore? I saw Tom O'Leary demo his is 83 and I recall Kennedy demoing (is that a word?) an Arrows in 85.

Once you start thinking, things keep coming back - another year, mid 90's or so and the Group 6 sportscars, Mike Wilds in a Chevron and some Yorkshire bloke in an Osella (I remember him saying in that great accent about it being bloody quick out there). The sound of those cars through the trees was magic and they were indeed bloody quick. Wilds and 'Yorkshire bloke' put on bit of a staged race where they swapped positions multiple times but it was still great stuff.

The ITC Alfa demo (97 was it?) was interesting too although I recall the cars being strangely quiet. On the Saturday it was like a firework display down the main straight with sparks flying up from their wings. Unfortunately come the Sunday the engineers had worked the settings out and they were not nearly as spectacular.

A completely mad race used to be the Crossle 9s sportscar guys the few times they raced there in recent years. These were meant to be mature gentleman racers but made FF1600 look well behaved, it was great stuff.


What would most people consider the real heyday of the Park, probably the 70's?

[Podd37]

Originally Posted by Peter Dunne

The Theodore is definately David Kennedy

I have that as 84 and Tom O'leary. My brother took the pics and he is a bigger anorak than all of us together.

Just remembered Ginger Marshel's(?) Reliant Kitten too. Great little car. Must see if the bro has any of that......
Remember the RX3 Mazda's and that weird sound they made?
Yeah I guess the 70's/early 80's were the best period. Although my Grandad used to tell me of the pre and post war events using almost the whole length of the main road and around the back of the zoo. That must have been an awesome sight.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by Podd37

IAlthough my Grandad used to tell me of the pre and post war events using almost the whole length of the main road and around the back of the zoo. That must have been an awesome sight.

Yeah, they used to move the monument so that the whole of the main road became a 2 mile long straight! I've a book somewhere that covers this period, fascinating stuff, I'll have to look it out.

[davyboy]

The heyday was the pre-war period when the Irish Grand Prix was held there and all the contemporary world class drivers of the day were in attendance. If you go to British Pathe [www.britishpathe.com] there are several clips there from that era which you can download free of charge. One or two depict the massive main straight with the monument moved as Grant mentions, hoards of spectators and the pseudo Le Mans type starts.

Unfortunately my memory doesn't stretch that far back. For 'the living', the heyday is most definitely the 1970s... with the pinnacle being 7th September 1974. That year there was an entry of 36 cars, split into 2 heats, for the Players No6 Grand Prix for Formula Atlantic. It was a round of the John Player British Formula Atlantic Championship. Among those driving were Alan Jones, Tony Brise, Jim Crawford, Dave Morgan, Ted Wentz, Hector Rebaque as well as everyone that was anyone in Irish racing. Dave Morgan won that race with Jim Crawford finishing second. The following weekend the entire circus moved to Mondello Park where Tony Brise took the spoils from Alan Jones.

... and who said things were grim in the 1970s !

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Podd37

I have that as 84 and Tom O'leary. My brother took the pics and he is a bigger anorak than all of us together.

Did Kennedy drive Tom O'Leary's ex-Guerrero Theodore ? I'm not sure he did. I think that's Tom O'Leary... though their helmets are pretty similar, see below.

David Kennedy Wolf


Tom O'Leary Theodore


David Kennedy Arrows

[MagnetON]

I've moved some of the posts regarding the future of the Park to this thread:

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108585

As I feel the two subjects while closely linked, are worthy of separate discussions.

[ger.taxi]

hello.well my memories of the park are of great racing on the old circuit, out off ratra and down to dublin corner, i flagged fr many years at the entrance to the old pits, at the monument. i started marshalling in 1973, my first park was 1974 and my last was i think 1992?, there were some great people then involved, the marshals club was then a real club, pity it is gone in a different direction, we had great people in the 70s, barney manley, tony o reilly, phyilis o reilly. to name but a few, real people who marshalled fr the love of the sport and not for their personal gain?..remember the crossleys of ken fildes,brian nelson, brabhams and chevrons of the mcgarritty bros from belfast, gary gibson, trevor tempelton who were then young men , our own david kennedy, we also had a great saloon class then, before these stupid regs came into force? the park was THE MEETING OF THE YEAR? we all looked forward to it then, it was the jewel in the crown of irish motorsport..ahhhhhhhhh what wonderful memories

[Podd37]

Originally Posted by ger.taxi

tony o reilly, phyilis o reilly.

I used to rent a house in Rathfarnham years ago off Tony and Phylis. And before that, Davyboy's Midget was first seen in thier house.....

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Podd37

I used to rent a house in Rathfarnham years ago off Tony and Phylis. And before that, Davyboy's Midget was first seen in thier house.....

They were great characters alright... I've vivid memories of Tony 'taking to the track' in his Peugoet 404 [or 504] estate to do a 'circuit sweep' after a race at some unearthly rate of knots with all the grace of a giraffe on ice. Hilarious, unless you happened to be in the back of it... as I was once when he dredged my kart back from Duckhams.

Sorry... off topic there I know... but great times. Sadly Phylis died a few years ago I believe and I'm not sure what Tony's up to these days.

[digucit]

Originally Posted by davyboy

There was also Ballyjamesduff, Dundalk and Monkstown/Dun Laoire in the 1980s. Plenty of pictures here

please dont mention Dun laoire, Ivan Thompson managed Pole position but came to the line with a punture, ahead of the imported talent of JJ Leto etc, but the race officals decided to start the race even though the pole sitter had alerted then to the possibility of danger. as Too often happens the pressure of been on live T.V clouds the judgement of supposed professional and they make an unrational decision. Anyway the race started and Ivan had to limp round for the first lap till he could bring the car into the pits for a tyre change, which was pre-single nut wheels so it took a few minutes before he could rejoin the FF2000 race. Ps the same officals didnot want us to be in the parade around Dublin either, so putting it on pole was the last thing they wanted.

[Yakuncha]

Certainly 1997 for me - the 2 Alfa 155 ITC cars, 59 second laps and Jacques Villenueve almost wrapping a Dodge Viper around a lampost