Photos from Formula Vee Ireland’s post It’s time for the Flashback Friday we promised you….and like we said, it’s a good one!😉
At the Irish Formula Vee Festival last year, former Vee driver David O Brien made an appearance in a Vee.
But not in any old Vee….his Dad’s old Vee. The oldest one on the grid, it’s fair to say there’s a huge amount of history attached to it! 🙊
We got in touch with David to learn a little more about it…read what he had to say below, and learn all about the 1968 Almac Formula Vee!🤩
“The car I had out in Mondello Park is an Almac Formula Vee, built in 1968 in Sweden. The car was brought over to Ireland in the mid 70s to compete in the Irish championship, by none other than Shay Lawless. After Shay won the championship in the late 70s, my dad, Peadar OBrien, who had previously raced one of David Sheane’s Vees, bought the car from Shay.
He kept the car until the mid 80s, winning the Dunlop Sexton trophy, and races in Mondello and the Phoenix Park (as seen in the picture below). The car was a great handling car and Peadar had great battles with men like Bernard Heary, Mick Merrigan, Paul Devaney, and many more exciting drivers from that era. In 1982, at the Leinster Trophy meeting in Mondello, Ayrton Senna took the win. This race was televised on RTÉ at the time, and my Dad came second to Paul Devaney that day. It was great to have the video of that meeting.
My Dad eventually felt the pinch of the recession in the 80s. With 5 little brats to feed, he sold his car, which is now in the possession of Mort O’ Loughlin in Co. Clare. The car has been used for hillclimbs and sprints. I have great memories of spending my days with my Dad in Mondello and the Park, and up in the early hours of the weekend mornings, loading her up and heading for the hills. Mort kindly gave me the car to display and drive at a meeting or 2.”
What a pleasure it was to have a car with such a rich history on our grid at the Formula Vee Festival! Many thanks to David O Brien for bringing the car to Mondello, and sharing it’s history, we hope to see it on the grid again soon!🤗
Selco Hygiene Supplies Ireland … See more
