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2012 WRDA  News

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Tom Pryce Memorial in Ruthin -photos & report By Robert Allender

Any self-respecting race fan should visit the Tom Pryce Memorial in Ruthin, anytime they are on the way to Anglesey or Oulton Park or just visiting North Wales. Tom was one of the most spectacular racers of his generation and as well as winnnng the non-championship F1 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, he had two Grand Prix podium places. Also he was on pole for the 1976 British Grand Prix, and led two laps before a torrential rain storm caught him out and he crashed. (A short time later the race was stopped when most of the rest of the cars went off too!). He was noted as a best driver when the track was wet and was fastest in the wet 1st practice session, on the day before his last Grand Prix in South Africa in 1977, when he was killed after hitting a marshal who was running across the track with a fire extinguisher. The marshal sadly also died. The memorial is in the centre of Ruthin a nice town in North Wales, and is very tastefullly done by the local artist Neil Dalrymple (dedication & plaque at the foot of the page)

Full Veiw

(If you want more on Tom see the link at the end of this article and the book from Haynes, The Lost Generation)

What they said about Tom

 Enzo Ferrari to Nikki Lauda after 1st practice for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix. “Tom Pryce is in Pole Position! What are you going to do about it?”

 Nikki Lauda after taking Pole in final practice “It was difficult. I had to drive harder and take more risks than I wanted to”

Alan Henry –journalist “Tom was certainly quick enough to go all the way in the sport. It would just have been a matter of calming himself down and getting the right equipment”

 Gerald Donaldson –journalist  “Pryce burst onto the scene with a stunning blend of speed and car control that would later be associated with Aryton Senna and Michael Schumacher”

 Tom himself. “All I’m doing is driving a Formula 1 car”

James Hunt after Tom had passed away “It makes me extremely angry when we lose drivers of the calibre of Tom. People do not listen enough to the drivers, yet we are the ones who take the greatest risks”

 LINKS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/sport/tom_pryce.shtml Excellent Tom Pryce tribute site!

http://www.tomprycememorial.com/

http://www.latphoto.co.uk/index.php?ctrl=search&ctrl2=images&top=1&terms=+pryce&show=12