In 1983, I was 15 years old, and a young motor racing enthusiast. I went to the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch on 25 Sept 1983. On my return, I wrote an article on the Formula One season, which I submitted to the Irish Motor Sport Annual in Oct 1983. (I must note that the phrase "I am a student of Formula 1" is the editor's invention.)
Anyway, the editor Michael O'Carroll rang me up on 25 Oct 1983, and asked about my motoring background. I knew about the Thomond car from visits to my Granny's house at Kingswood. When I mentioned the Thomond, he was much more interested that I should write about that, rather than an F1 article - of which he had enough. So, I started to get together an article on the Thomond, beginning by sorting through my Dad's papers on 31 Oct 1983.
On 3 Nov 1983, I went to the site of the Thomond garage. My first action in historical research "on the ground" was to go to the Mespil Road Service Station, where I told one of the men that I was looking for Mr. Parsons. "Well", he says, "You'll need a JCB!" (Because he had died 2 years earlier.) This bit of Irish black humour was the start of decades of historical research for me.
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