PAST IMPERFECT:Great racing drivers are well commemorated abroad - but not here in Ireland
IT'S BEEN my good fortune to visit and compete on some of the classic motor racing circuits of Europe - the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit, Spa-Francorchamps and Hockenheim - and later in the season there will be visits to Monza and Dijon.
I have to admit, I've been a bit like the proverbial boy in the toy shop at these circuits, made famous by many of the greatest drivers in motor racing history.
What's so interesting about the European race tracks I've visited so far this year is how they remember the great drivers who made their names on these tracks.
At the Nurburgring, where there is both the newer Grand Prix circuit and the legendary Nordscliffe, there are, as you might imagine, numerous reminders of the great ones who drove there in the long history of the track.
There are several life-size statues - most notably Wolfgang von Trips, the German driver who so tragically lost his life at Monza when on the verge of becoming World Champion. There's also a wonderful statue of Juan Manual Fangio beside his Mercedes Grand Prix car and plaques to Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola. Finally, there's a wonderful map of the Nordscliffe with the names of several hundred great drivers who have driven and won on this most famous of circuits.
Spa-Francorchamps breathes a different sort of history. Here, on perhaps the world's greatest circuit there are reminders of several tragic events - including the death of Dick Seamen in his Mercedes Silver Arrow, as well as that of the remarkable Archie Scott-Brown. Likewise Hockenheim, although always identified as the circuit where the great Jim Clark died, also has a distinguished role of drivers who have created legends on its asphalt and who are remembered in its museum.
By comparison, it seems to me that we have failed to honour the many great Irish drivers who have graced Irish circuits and other venues further afield down the years.
The list is long: Leslie Porter, the remarkable Guinness brothers - Algy and Kenelm Lee, Henry Segrave, Hugh Hamilton, Joe Kelly, "Bobby" Baird, Derek Daly, John Watson, Eddie Irvine - the list goes on and on.
At our own Mondello there is a Museum, but it is a collection of cars. How much more interesting it would be if it celebrated the story of the great drivers who have graced Irish motorsport down the years?
In many cases the stories that would be told would be every bit as interesting and inspiring as their better-known Continental contempories.