Daryl Glen Beattie (born 26 September 1970 in

Charleville, Queensland Charleville () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Charleville had a population of 2,992. Geography Located in southwestern Queensland, Aust ...

, Australia) is a former

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

solo

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racer.

Motorsport career

Beattie posted several good results at the beginning of the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

500cc Grand Prix season then teamed up with

Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Honda factor ...

to win the prestigious

Suzuka 8 Hours The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. The race runs for eight hours consecutively, and entrants are composed of two or more riders who alternate during pitstops. History The race began in 1978 as a ...

endurance race in Japan. His performance earned him a place on the

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

factory team alongside fellow Australian

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan ( ; born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions, World Champion, who won five consecutive List of 500cc/Mo ...

for the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

season. He won his first Grand Prix that year at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring, officially Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other mot ...

and finished the season in a promising third place behind

Kevin Schwantz Kevin James Schwantz (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1988 to 1995, most prominently as a member of the Suzuki factory rac ...

and

Wayne Rainey Wayne Wesley Rainey (born October 23, 1960) is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships in 1984 and from 1988 to 1993. He won the 500cc World Championship th ...

. After the season, he was inexplicably released by the Honda team. Beattie had a lackluster season in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

on a

Team Roberts Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time w ...

Marlboro

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

. During the 1994 season at the French Le Mans circuit, he crashed and lost all the toes from one foot after his foot was caught between the chain and rear sprocket. He had his best year in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

with the

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

factory team, leading the championship for the first part of the season before his crash at

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

allowed Doohan to win the championship with Beattie finishing in second, 33 points behind Doohan. Beattie's career took a blow in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

when he crashed in pre-season testing and suffered serious head injuries. He returned only to suffer another crash at the fourth race of the season in Spain. He then crashed again at the sixth round in France. He struggled through the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

season but never regained his previous form and announced his retirement from competitive racing at the end of the season. In 2002 he took up V8 Supercar racing in Imrie Motor Sport's Holden VX Commodore VX at the

Queensland 500 The Queensland 500 was a motorsport endurance race held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was best known as a V8 Supercars race held from 1999 to 2002. History Background The Queensland 500 was launched by the V8 Su ...

and

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

. He placed 25th at Queensland Raceway and did not finish at Bathurst.

Television

In retirement Beattie took up a role as a specialist commentator with

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

on broadcasts of motorcycle racing, initially calling the 125 cc & 250 cc races and then taking over from

Barry Sheene Barry Steven Frank Sheene (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and , most prominently as a member of the Su ...

to call the MotoGP races after Sheene died from cancer. He was subsequently added to the presenters on

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

. Beattie now works as a commentator on Network Ten's partially sports themed channel

10 Bold 10 Bold Drama (set to rebrand as 10 Drama in 2025) is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Network 10. It originally launched on 26 March 2009 as One HD with a focus on broadcasting sports-based programming and eve ...

. As of 2015 he is the co-host of Ten's

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

coverage alongside Matthew White and expert F1 commentator, World Champion Alan Jones. In 2015 in an interview on '' The Project'' he commented on the 1994 Le Mans motorcycle accident where he lost the toes of his left foot in the motorcycle chain.

Grand Prix career statistics

Points system from 1988 to 1992 Points system from 1993 ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete V8 Supercar results

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beattie, Daryl 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Charleville, Queensland Australian amputees Australian motorcycle racers 250cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders Supercars Championship drivers Motorsport announcers Superbike World Championship riders Racing drivers from Queensland