Grass Roots Motor Sport – UK

Tom Pryce Memorial

Those who have followed Formula One over the years will undoubtedly recall the name of Welshman Tom Pryce [11^th June 1949 to 5^th March 1977]. Sadly, Tom lost his life in a bizarre accident at the Kyalami circuit whilst competing in the 1977 South African Formula One GP. Driving the sometimes competitive but unreliable Shadow car, Tom won the 1975 Brands Hatch Race of Champions [a non-championship Formula One race] and also qualified on pole and led the British round of the 1975 Formula One Championship at Silverstone for two laps before sliding off on a wet patch at Beckets corner. He remains the only Welshman to have a pole lap and a Formula One race win on his CV. Tipped as a driver destined to reach the very top of his chosen sport; his untimely death was sadly mourned by family, friends and his many fans.

Eddie Knipe, a South African living in England, was a prime initiator in establishing a Trust to create a Memorial in Tom’s home town of Ruthin. Tom’s parents, his widow, Nella, and the Ruthin Town Council were all in accord with the aims of the Trust and David Richards was appointed Chairman. In 2008, Ruthin Town Council commissioned Neil Dalrymple, a local artist, to design an 8 foot by four foot 3D plaque depicting Tom, his life and his background in the Vale of Clwyd. The plaque to be cast at a North Wales bronze foundry and located in Ruthin’s High Street.

Auction

With approval of Bernie Ecclestone and the Formula One Teams, funds for the Memorial were to be raised by an auction of pit-passes and hospitality on http://www.tomprycememorial.com [this website is no longer active] at the nine European rounds of the 2009 Formula One Championship. For nine consecutive weeks from Monday February 9, fans were able to bid for a pair of exclusive paddock passes, including team hospitality, at one of the European Grand Prix held that year.

The available passes were: McLaren Mercedes, Spanish GP (May 8-10); Force India, Monaco GP (May 21-24); Toyota, Turkish GP (June 5-7); Williams, British GP (June 19-21); Renault, German GP (July 10-12); BMW Sauber, Hungarian GP (July 24-26); Scuderia Toro Rosso, European GP Valencia (August 21-23); Red Bull Racing, Belgian GP (August 28-20) and Ferrari, Italian GP (September 11-13).

And this was where I came into the picture. As a fan of Formula One and having attended many Formula One races in Europe and the Far East, I decided to bid for the Toro Rosso passes at Valencia. I made a tentative bid to test the water which was soon outbid. So I then waited until less than one minute before the deadline and put in a bid that was higher than the current leading bid. My bid was successful and after transferring funds I was provided with two personal paddock passes for myself and my son Martin for the Formula One weekend at Valencia at the end of August. In the meantime I received an invitation to the unveiling of the Tom Pryce memorial which was set for 11th June 2009. The date was what would have been the anniversary of Tom’s 60^th birthday. To my horror the date clashed with the day I was due to leave for the 2009 Le Mans race which I was attending with Martin and two friends.

Journey to Ruthin and on to Le Mans

After some thought, this is how we played it. On Thursday 11^th Martin drove my Subaru WRX with my friends to Portsmouth for the ferry to Caen and then drove to our booked accommodation at Le Mans. Leaving at 6 AM I drove Martin’s Peugeot car to Ruthin for the Unveiling and after the ceremony and lunch I drove back to Southampton – a round trip of nearly 500 miles to spend the night at home. The next day I was up early and a friend took me to the ferry at Portsmouth for the trip to Caen where I caught a bus to the Caen railway station for the journey to Le Mans to be collected by Martin. We all had a great weekend and returned on the Monday. A good victory for Peugeot and 4^th place for the Aston must have pleased David Richards.

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Memorial Dedication

After my journey to The Castle at Ruthin, I met some of the other esteemed guests and then travelled with Tom’s parents, Jack and Gwyneth Pryce, in their car to Clwyd Street in the town centre.

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The unveiling of the memorial by Nella, Tom’s widow, was a short, simple but joyous affair and witnessed by a large crowd and many invited guests. After the ceremony, I travelled back to the Castle for a Lunch laid on by the Tom Pryce Trust and Ruthin Town Council.  I was the only Trust Fund contributor present and apparently most of the other eight contributors lived overseas. Amongst the guests were John Watson [who surprised me by remembering our single meeting at Silverstone seven years previously], David Richards, David’s father, David Tremayne [notable Formula One journalist], Nella, Tom’s parents, other Pryce family members, Tony Southgate (Shadow Formula One car designer) and a number of other celebrities. Apologies were received from Bernie Ecclestone who had a prior engagement. Tony Southgate, who was present at the SA GP where Tom died and a witness to Tom’s tragic accident, gave me a graphic description of the incident. He also introduced me to Nella, who had recently remarried, and her second husband.

At lunch I conversed with David Richards’ father, who, on learning that I was headed for Le Mans, suggested that I might like to make the journey in David’s helicopter [conveniently parked on the hotel lawn]. David was team principle for the Aston Martin team, competing at Le Mans that year and it was their destination next. A nice thought but Martin might not be too pleased at finding his car deserted 250 miles from home and then there was the question of my passport and overnight bag languishing back in Hampshire…

Valencia Formula One GP

Later in the year, Martin and I flew to Valencia where we stayed at the Expo Hotel and spent three days enjoying the hospitality of Scuderia Toro Rosso in the Red Bull Hospitality Tower area of the Valencia Paddock. The 2009 GP was held on a temporary street circuit in the Valencia docks and this track is no longer part of the Formula One calendar. We also had access to the Toro Rosso pits, the paddock area and the pit lane during non-running periods. Martin discovered an exit to the paddock area that led to part of the circuit where we were stood behind the track perimeter barrier and within touching distance of the cars as they circulated during the practice session. We took some amazing photographs…

We were there for about 30 minutes when an armed Spanish policeman noticed our presence and asked for our authorisation… He was unimpressed by our Formula One paddock passes and so we beat a hasty retreat back to the safety of the Formula One paddock. Reubens Barrichello in the Brawn was race winner and although Jenson Button was a disappointing seventh, he went on to win the 2009 Driver’s Championship in his Brawn car.

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