Cork Grand Prix – Driven To Write

Formula Toast

The appliance of… well what exactly?

Alejandro Agag is clearly a well connected sort of chap. It was he who had the bright spark of introducing electrically powered racing cars to the world with the advent of Formula E. Yes, there were teething problems as one could reasonably expect with something so technically unproven. The set up took time, Dallara were chosen for chassis, Williams sorting out the sparks, Hewland the cogs.

In that first season, Formula E needed two cars per driver; the battery simply could not Continue reading “Formula Toast”

Racing Green – (Part Two)

We conclude our history of the last Grand Prix race staged in Ireland.

Réne Dreyfus in the Delahaye T145 at the Victoria Cross hairpin at the eastern end of the ‘straight road’. (c) Jean-Maurice Gigleux collection via 8w.forix

As we rejoin the story of the 1938 Cork Grand Prix, the drivers come to terms with the circuit, the unprecedented levels of public interest and the task of setting a pole-setting time.

Wednesday practice saw French ace, Réne Dreyfus set a provisional fastest time of 4.4 minutes, despite his poorly-running Delahaye. At the time, teams concocted their own unique witches’ brew of hydrocarbons to fuel their racing engines. Most employed combinations of methanol and ethanol, acetone and even small amounts of water. Teams would often jealously Continue reading “Racing Green – (Part Two)”

Racing Green – (Part One)

“A spectacle of speed and excitement which Ireland may not have the opportunity to see again…”

The Poulavone hairpin at Carrigrohane. (c) Irish Examiner

It was still dark as they began to gather along the roadway, past the newly erected grandstands, all the way back towards the hairpin at Victoria Cross. As the fading moonlight reflected upon the surface of the river, the people of Cork arrived on buses, by bicycle or on foot as dawn slowly broke across the Lee Fields. In the half-light, amid the red glow of the men’s cigarettes and the hushed voices of the spectators; their breath coming in wisps in the chill morning air, they waited for 6.00 am practice to commence.

Neither Carrigrohane, nor Cork itself had ever seen the like of it.

In this part of the world, people are not particularly au fait with the concept of ambiguity, tending more towards the literal approach. So in the proud city of Cork, should a resident Continue reading “Racing Green – (Part One)”