A very fast trip down memory lane

As a teenager, he watched in awe as it flashed past at a record speed of 147mph.

But yesterday, Derry Healy, 93, managed to get up close with a vintage Formula One car which sped past him during the 1938 Cork Grand Prix.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t squeeze in to tight cockpit of a Bugatti, and quipped: “If I was only 83-years-old, I’d manage it.”

Derry was among hundreds who watched yesterday as almost 40 vintage racing cars staged a three-lap parade over the original race circuit to mark the 75th anniversary of what was one of the largest motorsports events ever staged in Ireland.

The 1938 Cork Grand Prix was the last in a series which began in 1936.

It was organised under international formula regulations — giving it the equivalent status of a modern day Formula One race — as part of a grand prix season of races in England, France and Brazil.

It attracted some of Europe’s top racing teams, to compete on a 200-mile 33-lap circuit beginning on the Carrigrohane Rd, racing via Victoria Cross, Dennehy’s Cross, Model Farm Rd, before swinging right at Poulavone and back the two-mile Carrigrohane Rd to the finish.

The race was won by French driver René Dreyfus piloting a Delahaye ahead of Prince Bira of Siam, a member of the Thai royal family, driving a Maserati.

It was watched by an estimated 70,000 people.

Six of the original cars which competed in the 1936 to 1938 races featured, including Alan Beardshaw’s MG K3, Kieran White’s TRS, Yves Honegger’s Bugatti T57, Donal Morrissey’s Riley Brooklands, and Michael Foy in his Smithfield Special.

They were led out by Tom Dark driving his ‘Cork Bugatti’ T59/50B which competed in its first race at the 1938 grand prix.

Driver Jean Paul Vermile set the fastest speed over a flying kilometre on the Carrigrohane Rd at 147.25mph.

Yesterday, Mr Dark hit just over 100mph on the straight.

“We never thought the car would come back to Ireland. I was just thrilled to be invited back for this event,” he said.

“I was sat in the cockpit driving around and thinking this was what Vermile was doing 75 years ago — it was a quite iconic moment.

“The highlight for me was coming out of the hairpin on to this two-mile straight — it was just awesome to be able to do that, knowing that the drivers in 1938 knew they’d be doing about 150mph at the end.

Derry remembers seeing the car back in 1938.

“I remember standing on the Lee Fields as an 18-year-old back in 1938 and hearing it coming down the road. And then it flashed past — it was like a bomb. We were all stunned. It was one of the most amazing things we’d ever seen.

“And here it is today. And to be here today, being able to look in to the cockpit and engines, it’s just incredible,” said Derry.