The Bottom Line
Pros
- Great tale about a unique career
- Wonderful point of view of F1 rarely seen
Cons
- Nothing
Description
Author:
Tommy Byrne with Mark HughesPublisher:
Icon BooksISBN:
978-184831-028-5
Guide Review - Crashed And Byrned: The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw
I cannot remember a book in recent years that I have read as quickly as I did this one. Tommy Byrne here tells his own story in his own voice - helped by Mark Hughes of Autosport - and what a voice...and what a story.
Byrne's childhood tales of a desolate part of Ireland and a life that seemed to have no outlet or future read like the finest rags to riches stories. Unfortunately, the riches part was never to happen - unless you count as riches having been able to break away from an otherwise doomed sort of future into a life of tremendous achievement and adventure. I do.
Byrne's Pure Talent
The book's central thesis, as the title suggests, is that Byrne was the greatest naturally talented racing driver of his generation. He seems to have done what Ayrton Senna did, but to have done it better and just before Senna. In fact, it is even suggested that Senna was afraid to compete against Byrne, and avoided him. Byrne ended up winning the F3 World Cup driving Senna's car after Senna returned to Brazil, pulling out at the last minute.
Hughes very cleverly interjects with his own factual statements and interpretations, and with quotes from other people at just the right moments, breaking up the Byrne narrative and voice. The result is to allow the reader to make up his or her own mind as to just where things really went wrong for Tommy Byrne.
Byrne Meets Ron Dennis
Byrne describes a meeting with Ron Dennis, the director of McLaren, which he felt immediately went all wrong and killed his career. Later, Byrne test drove the McLaren and set a faster time than anyone before him up to that point.
So why didn't he make it? That is where this book's contribution is so very important: It reminds us that there is more to being a racing driver than being faster than anyone else. Read the book to decide exactly how this is so, and if you agree.
