For Irvine's fans

Hi!
I know that Irv had his first F1 tests for Onyx team in 1988.
Anybody knows on which track it was and when (on which month)?

Regards

Courtesy of everybody's favourite website, 8w, I believe the answer to your question is Paul Ricard and it was in December 1989 (not 1988, although maybe there was an Onyx test in 1988, I don't know).

Here's a pic from the test, with EI intriguingly wearing Aytron Senna's helmet design as Eddie was a huge fan (his orangey-red and green design was Senna-esque). Maybe that changed after their coming together at Suzuka in 1993...;)

Full details of the test etc here.

great stuff! From the conversation between Senna and Irv (see the source homepage) I can make up that Senna did not knew Irv very well. Nor did Senna probably knew that Irv used to wear his helmet.

I wonder how Senna would have reacted: ..... and never wear my helmet again!!

Originally posted by glorius&victorius
great stuff! From the conversation between Senna and Irv (see the source homepage) I can make up that Senna did not knew Irv very well. Nor did Senna probably knew that Irv used to wear his helmet.

I wonder how Senna would have reacted: ..... and never wear my helmet again!!

Isn't it marvellous that a post entitled "for Irvine's fans" is attracting so few follow-ups.
Proves that there's a lot of people here who respect old-time sportsmanship ;)

I sincerely hope it won't be moved anyway... As a thread that deals with 1988 or 1989 it really belongs to TNF. And no, I'm not a Irvine's fan but after he retire this Sunday F1 will only lost. A rare man with personality in today's grid. And I'll certainly miss his comments on certain things...

Originally posted by dmj
I sincerely hope it won't be moved anyway... As a thread that deals with 1988 or 1989 it really belongs to TNF. And no, I'm not a Irvine's fan but after he retire this Sunday F1 will only lost. A rare man with personality in today's grid. And I'll certainly miss his comments on certain things...

At the risk of upsetting petefenelon, I agree. I'll miss his directness and bluntness, which is a far cry from the comments we get from drivers now. It seems they've all been vetted by the PR department before they come out of their mouth. Irvine is a throw back to another era.

Kuwashima, thanks for posting the link to the story about Eddie's F1 test. I enjoyed reading the transcript of his altercation with Senna. It reminded me of something I read in Christoper Hilton's book Inside the Mind of the Grand Prix Driver:

Irvine: I am in a Jordan which has never scored a point that year and I am racing with a Williams for fourth. Senna comes up behind me, I let him through and Damon holds him up for a lap and a half. So then I see the opportunity to overtake Senna and then overtake Hill, which I did -- then Hill overtook me again, then I overtook Hill and the battle went on but Damon was the one who was totally in the wrong. He should have let Senna through straight away, as I did.

Hilton: Did you have any doubts about overtaking Senna?

Irvine: No, because he wasn't going to overtake Hill. Hill was chopping him and Senna was leading the race by a long way and there was no need for him to take a risk. I needed to get past Hill as soon as I could.

Hilton: Is this also a way of you saying "I've arrived"?

Irvine: No, I didn't think of that at all. Honestly, it wasn't even Senna in that car. That was the car between me and Hill.

Hilton: And afterwards he came looking for you but he didn't know what you looked like and kept saying "which one's Irvine"?

Irvine: I know. In the warm-up I was running more fuel or something and I remember he chopped me. He did something to try and say "hey, I'm Ayrton Senna" and I was thinking what a wanker, you know, grow up. It's the warm-up and you want to overtake me, fine, overtake me, but in the races...

I thought it was very sad that a guy with his reputation and his record had to show a little guy who's just come into Formula 1 that he is the king. You shouldn't need to show it. Childish.

Hilton: And what about the incident itself when he came down and "attacked" you?

Irvine: He lost control and I was totally calm, sitting there just arguing. I was standing up for what I had done, for what my thoughts on the situation were. He lost the plot, screaming and shouting.

Has also someone a interview with Senna about the incident with Irvine?

What ever his point of view, it was, not for the first time, unbecoming of an eventual three time world champion.

What ever his point of view, it was, not for the first time, unbecoming of an eventual three time world champion.

Impossible to deny his talent, but I never rated him that highly, he may have lacked a fraction in out and out speed, but for me in that era Prost was the master. I'd rate him higher than Senna, the way Alain went about things reminded me a lot of Fangio. Irvine was never anywhere near either of those two, but I've always thought he was better than most gave him credit for, hardly his fault that he shared a massive. though probably not entirely legal car advantage with Schumacher.

Impossible to deny his talent, but I never rated him that highly, he may have lacked a fraction in out and out speed, but for me in that era Prost was the master. I'd rate him higher than Senna, the way Alain went about things reminded me a lot of Fangio. Irvine was never anywhere near either of those two, but I've always thought he was better than most gave him credit for, hardly his fault that he shared a massive. though probably not entirely legal car advantage with Schumacher.

Agreed, I think Senna may well have been faster but Alain made up for it in smarts... very Lauda-esque. I once answered a friend's survey about the 20 best ever, that was one interesting exercise if not entirely opinion. I put Schumacher 5th.

We loved Eddie 'round here. I miss his candor, when he said something you know it wasn't censored. I miss him. My wife was watching some Saturday movie a couple years back, about an American girl marrying British royalty. She screamed for me to come in when realizing Eddie Irvine played a bit part. Essence of a cool driver IMHO.

As a fellow-countryman of both, I admired John Watson more than Fast Eddie, but I did cheer on Eddie and I miss his type in today's F1. He was unpredictable in and out of a car and, on the lines of what someone said earlier, today's drivers seem schooled as much in PR as anything else.
Rob B