All Episodes

November 14, 2023 43 mins
Tommy Byrne is every driver’s worst nightmare: a natural born racer. Someone who has such an innate feel for driving that driving fast is second nature. In this interview Tommy reveals the truth behind why he didn’t stay in Formula 1 and dominate in the way that his abilities predicted. He also discusses his unique speed secrets and a career overlapping with Ayrton Senna. Tommy has something in common with pretty much every top level Champion I’ve studied from his era of racing. He was a factory driver at Van Diemen in Formula Ford in the 80's. That fact alone doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, but what it did guarantee was SHED LOADS of seat time – fine-tuning the chassis – and developing as a driver. Practice perfects the art. My impression from speaking to Tommy is that he’s a real seat-of-the-pants cowboy who drove the wheels off everything he sat in. Watching his racing footage, you can tell that his style is cavalier but perfectly balanced. There’s plenty of archive footage of his driving for you to decide for yourself. I’m always fascinated by what makes someone ludicrously fast and it’s every racing driver’s job to observe and poach as much information from other competitors as possible. In the era before data-logging it was much harder to do so and the only way to observe was to follow in their wheel tracks, gauge their lines and braking points, the shifting weight of the car at turn in and hear the throttle inputs. Maybe one day I can get on track with Tommy in identical cars and have at it !!!
Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.