Galvin, Mark

[kram]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Mr Galvin, i recall you having some plain green overalls i think?

Not sure about the category you were in at the time (have a feeling it was a an plain Red F3 Ralt RT3 or RT30 you were next to?) but I remember getting your autograph, which you seemed quite surprised about at an August Oulton meeting in '85!!

You may have been talking to Cathy Muller or someone like that?!

I remember it now, and why I was quite surprised......


“Can I have your autograph?”

“Sure! What would you like me to write?”

“How about ‘Best wishes, Frank Sanatra’”?

“Frank Sanatra???” You got to be kidding! The Mafia won’t let him use a ball point. How about Oliver Reed, he’s so bombed he can’t write. No one knows what his signature looks like. I can do one that’ll fill the whole page.”

“No, Frank Sanatra.”

“I’ll give you an Albert Finchley.”

“Who’s he?”

“My bank manager. Why do you think I’m so good at his signature?”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll go ride a bicycle in the rain.”

And that was the last time we met.....

Yes, it was a Ralt RT30, and I had green overalls (a horrible shade), and as for Cathy Muller, perhaps she was just yelling at me to get out of her way, starting with the paddock. She was a touch agressive at the time.

[kram]

Originally Posted by ensign14

Lee-Lewis was Welsh. I understand he had quite a bit of talent but his sponsor insisted he go straight from FF2k to F3k and the leap was too much.

I knew the Welsh Robert Lee Lewis casually, come to think of it I once sorted him out with an engine in FF1600 (mine) and gave him bits of bad advice from time to time.
I was testing an F3 at Silverstone the day he went to shake down his F3000, so I wandered over to have a chat. His car was very tired and the whole effort looked sort of low budget. I remember seeing the dark gray of fretting around some rivet heads, an indication that the monocoque was more like a rubber band than a true car component. The mechanics may have been hired from Colin B. but it wasn't one of his cars - thery were always spotless. Robert was a bit out of his depth too, having gone straight into it from a much lower category, and at Silverstone to boot, a circuit as topographically disparate from Mondello as you can get. Making such a leap can be okay - if you share the test with another driver, but like so many of us he was going to set the world on fire all alone. The car never ran properly and he sort of disappeared after that. I think his father, who always wore an enormous white hat and had made a bit of cash by starting and selling a reinsurance idea, was in fact his main sponsor.

[ghinzani]

Nice one Mark, so the amazing Brother sponsorship deal was mostly hot air then. Unlike but also like Steve Kemptons Worldwide Dryer sponsorship (they did the hand-dryers you see in public loo's)!! That March he was driving should have been brand new btw, unless he was getting his eye in using CBR's old 86B that Tim Davies had used at Birmingham the year before.

[MONDELLO MAN]

Robert Lee Lewis , was hot in Irish FF1600 , I think he failed to qualify all year ( may be wrong on this) . His father was the force behind him and the story goes he went to see EJ about a drive in F3 for the young master .EJ had a lot on that day , and having listened to how Robert was going to win all , he called halt and said , " come back when you have the budget ""direct and to the point .

[ensign14]

I am reading this thread with an increasing sense of depression. Why can I remember distinctly guys who failed to qualify in F3000 races but can't remember what the heck I did this morning? Ah, Enrico Debenedetti and Nino Fama, we remember ye well...

[Haine Kane]

Hello mister Mark

I remember you on the LE MANS track in 1985-86-87 at the wheel of a SPICE (85) and japanese MAZDA cars (86-87) but you start in 1984 with a DOME.

You win 2 times the victory group 1985 (C2) 1987 (IMSA)

I've got some photos of your cars about 1986 and 1987.

So, I have a personnal project about the drivers of LE MANS race : a drivers dictionary.

If you go to this link you can see that my work is not very easy : http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89914

About you I need your birth place , your portrait , an autograph and a short story about your racing career.

You can answer here or if you prefer in MP.

Thanks a lot and scuse me for my poor english (I'm a froogy )

[fast.eddie]

hi. mark. yhanks form your advice with the argo jm14, we won the champioship with it last year with one round to go. having won it three times in the van diemen rf83, to get the argo to the front was very satisfying.. cheers.

[mech1]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Alan Docking made a few bob out of him for sure! Remember he ran the Le Mans Mazdas at that time too. He ran an Argo in FF2000 before F3. Reminds me a bit of Mark Shaw ten yers later - quick on occasion but basically a rich boy enjoying being a race driver.

Was looking for some nostalgia on google and came across this. To be fair to Mark Shaw, he didn't enjoy just being a racing driver, he packed it in himself because he didn't think he was doing well enough to make it all the way- could have kept going in F3000 or sportscars if he'd wanted and pretty sure he had podiums and poles in Italian F3000 in last season.

We ran him for a while, and on his day he was as quick as anyone, he just didn't have enough of those days consistently and I thought he suffered at times from not having done any karting. Hard racer all the same. Always on good terms with the boys in the team, and wasn't shy of helping to wash the truck, which is ok by me! Haven't heard from him for years, so if anyone knows where he is, let me know - off to dig up some more old names now...

[The Swede]

Originally Posted by kram

Yes, it was a Ralt RT30, and I had green overalls (a horrible shade), and as for Cathy Muller, perhaps she was just yelling at me to get out of her way, starting with the paddock. She was a touch agressive at the time.

I have just recently bought the RT30-634 and is looking for more history and information of the car. Have been in contact with Mark and he provided me with some information and sent me a photo of the RT30 when it was painted red and labeled Shorehill Investment. What I also know is that it was sold by team Docking 1988 and became their spare car and later their show car.

Does someone have more history and information of the RT30?

[ger.taxi]

hello mark
gerry hyland here , how are you, great that u are still kicking, we are fine here in pembroke street. all well. usual hick ups, still a little involved in motorsport, but now i like travelling,,

cheers mark,

gerry hyland

just in case u dont remember, lived in opp lane in pembroke