25 replies to this topic

[MoMurray]

Being from Ireland, I have always had an interest in drivers from the Emerald Isle, regardless of which end. Damien Magee is one I know very little about though. Can anyone share their memories or stories of this seemingly talented driver. Where did he come from...Where did he go...How good was he...who financed his racing...what was he like...is he still involved in the business????

Mo.

[Rainer Nyberg]

TNF'er Richie Jenkins has this on Mr Magee.

[ensign14]

Wasn't the Catchpole character Mad Dog Malone based on Magee? Or was it t'other way around, so to speak?

[picblanc]

This is a bit twighlight zone Mo but I only posted this picture up yesterday on the F5000 thread,
Damien Magee at Brands in 1974. not such a good scan but you can still get the gist!!

Picture copyright Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

[antony duprat]

a rare pic of the Damien's unique swedish GP in 1975

[MoMurray]

Originally posted by picblanc
This is a bit twighlight zone Mo but I only posted this picture up yesterday on the F5000 thread,
Damien Magee at Brands in 1974. not such a good scan but you can still get the gist!!

Picture copyright Graham Etheridge, racebikepics.

Actually Graham, not so much twighlight zone...Your picture inspired my question.

Mo.

[picblanc]

Originally posted by MoMurray


Actually Graham, not so much twighlight zone...Your picture inspired my question.

Mo.

Ohhh!!!!

[Ol'_Motorhead]

I can't add much but I do know he was the works driver for Palliser Racing Design in '72 and '73 until the demise of the concern. I believe he drove F.Atl., F2 and F3 versions of the marque. HTH.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

I forgot to mention H.P.K. (Hugh) Dibley was the patron of PRD and has Irish roots. The P. in his name is for Palliser. Cheers.

[Allen Brown]

I have a few snippets from his career

1969 - racing F/Ireland in Luke Duffy's Lotus 35 and his Cooper T76
1973 - Phoenix Park in the F1 Brabham BT37
1973 - a late-season F5000 outing in the Hexagon Trojan T101
1974 - F5000 in Monkey Browns's Lola T330, then a Trojan, then the AW Brown Chevron B24
1974 - late-season libre appearaces in the FF2000 Palliser
1975 - F5000 with a Southern Organs Trojan T101 and the Fridays Chevron
1975 - Irish F/Atlantic with Bill Gowdy's Crosslé 22F
1975 - then to Canada for a couple of months to race Alan McCall's Tui BH2
1975 - back to the UK and Jim Kelly's Trojan
1976 - G8 with the Hexagon of Highgate March 75A (two wins) and the Penske PC3
1977 - G8 again and also libre with Len Gibbs Lola T332C

Who can fill in 1970-1973?

Allen

[Alan Cox]

A few shots of Damien Magee from other threads - Whenever I met him he always seemed to be an extremely genial and likeable guy, and no mean performer in F5000 and G8, although, more often than not, he appeared to race on a relatively short shoestring.

[picblanc]

Originally posted by Alan Cox
A few shots of Damien Magee from other threads - Whenever I met him he always seemed to be an extremely genial and likeable guy, and no mean performer in F5000 and G8, although, more often than not, he appeared to race on a relatively short shoestring.

Not being an expert on Car racing, is that David Purley in pic 2 Alan? as usual excellent evocative pictures thankyou.

[Rob Ryder]

Originally posted by Allen Brown
Who can fill in 1970-1973?

Allen

IIRC he ran in the various British F3 Championships in 1972 & 73 .. Brabham BT38 Vegantune then Brabham BT41 Novamotor. No other details

Rob

[Squire Straker]

I first saw Magee race in an old Lotus 11 at Bishopscourt in 1967 where he may have won the main handicap race. Afterwards he drove Luke Duffy's old Cooper with an engine provided by Gerry Kinnane. Next Raymond Moore provided him with a 16F Crossle and a Palliser before all Ray's money was gone. Monkey Brown then seemed to provide the cars including Brabam BT37 and various F5000 cars. The first time I met him was when I visited Gerry Kinnane's garage on the Falls Road with my late father and was allowed to sit in one of the Lotus 48s. A lot of his mechanical eduacation came from Fred Smith, Gerry's mechanic, who had worked with Rex McCandless.
SS

[Alan Cox]

Originally posted by picblanc
Not being an expert on Car racing, is that David Purley in pic 2 Alan?

Indeed it is, picblanc.

[fergusmcbride]

Hello there,

Assuming this thread is still 'alive', I can tell you that Damien is retired and lives in North West London. Still gets fan mail believe it or not, from all over the world!

He has a cutting from an 'Autospsort'? article that interviews the creator of the mad-dog cartoon character and as I recall it, the article does appear to attribute the character name to Damien and I guess his associated tee-shirt merchandising efforts of the early seventies.

Commenting on Mo Murray's original questions - I understand that Damien's Williams F1 outing (Swedish GP) was funded by Bernie Ecclestone. I understood the deal as Bernie guaranteed the race-organiser X number of starters which encouraged him to do all sorts of deals. Damien was put in the seat by Bernie and in return to Frank Williams, paid for an engine rebuild? Something like that anyway. Bernie recognised Damien's talent at least in part from his stellar Monaco F3 finish (3rd).

Enjoy!

f

[Alan Cox]

That's good to hear, Fergus. Please pass on my good wishes to the Mad Dog.

[Danny Skehan]

Couple of "snaps" of "Mad Dog"

[Michael Mc]

Mo,
Fabulous thread, a great bit of history. I thought I knew of all our fellow Irish racers but I hadn't actually heard of this guy, very interesting.

[Gregor Marshall]

Fergus you have a PM.

[richie]

I forgot to mention H.P.K. (Hugh) Dibley was the patron of PRD and has Irish roots. The P. in his name is for Palliser. Cheers.

From Mike Kettlewell's Motor Racing Directory 1979 it does not mention Jim Kelly's racing in F5000 only in a Royale RP21 & Merlyn Mk 24, unless there are two drivers by the same name? Anyone know?

[richie]

I have a few snippets from his career

1969 - racing F/Ireland in Luke Duffy's Lotus 35 and his Cooper T76
1973 - Phoenix Park in the F1 Brabham BT37
1973 - a late-season F5000 outing in the Hexagon Trojan T101
1974 - F5000 in Monkey Browns's Lola T330, then a Trojan, then the AW Brown Chevron B24
1974 - late-season libre appearaces in the FF2000 Palliser
1975 - F5000 with a Southern Organs Trojan T101 and the Fridays Chevron
1975 - Irish F/Atlantic with Bill Gowdy's Crosslé 22F
1975 - then to Canada for a couple of months to race Alan McCall's Tui BH2
1975 - back to the UK and Jim Kelly's Trojan
1976 - G8 with the Hexagon of Highgate March 75A (two wins) and the Penske PC3
1977 - G8 again and also libre with Len Gibbs Lola T332C

Who can fill in 1970-1973?

Allen

From Mike Kettlewell's Motor Racing Directory 1979 it does not mention Jim Kelly's racing in F5000 only in a Royale RP21 & Merlyn Mk 24, unless there are two drivers by the same name? Anyone know?

[Simon Thomas]

From Mike Kettlewell's Motor Racing Directory 1979 it does not mention Jim Kelly's racing in F5000 only in a Royale RP21 & Merlyn Mk 24, unless there are two drivers by the same name? Anyone know?

So Damien was the third driver from Ulster to drive the Tui after Bert Hawthorn and John Watson...fascinating.
Simon Thomas

[Marc Sproule]

I have some pics of Damien when he made appearances here in the North American Atlantic series. I will add his name to the ever-growing list of names to scan and upload to my flickr stuff.

Don't hold your breath, it could be some time before I can get to them.

This is where they will eventually end up...

http://www.flickr.co...s/46681980@N03/

[bathceltic]

I have some pics of Damien when he made appearances here in the North American Atlantic series. I will add his name to the ever-growing list of names to scan and upload to my flickr stuff.

Don't hold your breath, it could be some time before I can get to them.

This is where they will eventually end up...

http://www.flickr.co...s/46681980@N03/

A nice small personal ditty goes as follows. I am a teacher in the midlands and a little Irish lad piped up in a lesson shortly after senna died "my uncle finished third at the Monaco grand prix", and I thought to myself and I'm the queen of sheba. I am an F1 nut, but crucially being 40, my interest really sparked in 81 and my knowledge was a bit patchy pre 1980, so I checked in the library and there he was, Damien Magee (helpfully the lad shared the same surname) with 3rd place not in the fi race ofcourse but in the f3 race, 1973 I think.I met his Dad who remembered the great hospitality he enjoyed at the few F1 races he attended.

Edited by bathceltic, 27 September 2010 - 17:40.

[Twin Window]

This is a rubbish snap I took during the 1974 Race of Champions meeting at Brands Hatch which 'shows' Damien in the ex-Regazzoni T330;



My only excuses are that the weather was really bad, and that I had an awfully poor camera!