Birr & District Motor Club Autotest July 3rd

 Looks like there's a few techy problems with the website so will post a link to the photo album for the Birr Autotest here instead

BIRR & DISTRICT MC AUTOTEST 

A great day was had by all, congratulations to Anthony Freeney who won the autotest section and John Nolan who won the road car/multivenue section

 

Birr & District MC Stages Rally....memories

In a different time we would have made the trip to Abbeyleix for the Birr & District MC Stages Rally today. It would have heralded the start of the new tarmac rally season and more than likely attracted lots of new car/crew combinations getting ready for the Triton National and TROA Tarmac Championships. 

Unfortunately we are all sitting at home wondering what might have been and looking at memories on the likes of Facebook and Instagram from previous years. For the time being we may hold tight and hope that we can get back on the stages and enjoy our beloved sport.

Here are a few memories from some of the events we attended over the years

2005 Event Album

2006 Event Album

2007 Event Album

2008 Event Album

2009 Event Album

2010 Event Album

2015 Event Album

2016 Event Album

2019 Event Album

2020 Event Album

2020 - The Year in Review

 Well as we all know 2020 didn't quiet pan out as many had hoped with the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic resulting in a large number of events either being cancelled or running behind closed doors and not allowing spectators.

Unfortunately it meant that our outings were also severely restricted resulting in attendance at 3 Rallies, 2 Multi Venue Trials, 1 Cars & Coffee meet and a charity Truck & Car Run. This was only a fraction of the events and shows that we had planned to attend during the year.

The year started off with a trip to Bray for the monthly Cars & Coffee meet up, as usual there was a diverse gathering of cars on site with lots of post Christmas chatter and banter.

Full Album

Two weeks later we made the short trip up to Mondello Park for the Trials Drivers Club annual Dave Griffin Memorial Trial. The club had laid out the usual 5 tests on various parts of the international race track, rallycross track and outer car parks for the 85 entrants, After competing on each test 4 times Christopher Evans was fastest at the end of the day in his Toyota MRS with the similar car of Eddie Peterson in second and the Peugeot 106 GTi of Daniel Byrne third.

Full Album

Into February and we made the trip West for the first round of the Tarmac Rally Championship, the Galway International Rally. It had been a few years since we were in Galway for the rally but with the stages located close to Portumna the temptation was to much to resist.

With a number of new driver/car combinations it would prove to be an exciting opener to the Championship will Alastair Fisher and Gordon Noble in a VW Polo GTi R5 coming away victorious from the Hyundai i20 R5 of Sam Moffett/James Fulton. Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley, also in a Polo, were just 1.7seconds behind Moffett & Fulton.

Full Album

Next up was a visit to the forests and the Carrick on Suir MC Willie Loughman Forestry Rally. The stages as usual were based in Ahenny, Anner and Gurteen with each stage being run twice. James Wilson and Arthur Kierans were victorious in their Hyundai i20 R5 with Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan second in a Mitsubishi Evo8 and Liam Ryan/Keith Moriarity third in a Fiesta R5. Gary Kiernan and Daren O'Brien in fifth overall were best of the 2wd cars in their Mk2 Escort.

Full Album

Little did we know a week after the Carrick Forestry that the trip to Abbeyleix for the Birr & District MC Stages Rally would be our last motorsport event for a number of months. With a large number of R5 cars and a handful of WRCars. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes topped the time sheets at the end of the day in their Hyundai i20 R5 with the similar car of Desi Henry and John Rowan in second. The two Mellors Elliot Motorsport run Proton Iriz R5s of Ollie Mellors/Max Freeman and Eugene Donnelly/John McElhinney were third and fourth.

Full Album

When the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in March the brakes were put on most motorsport events, some were allowed to run behind closed gates but there were strict restrictions to be adhered to. In August we were asked to attend the TDC Avoca River Trial in Arklow which brought a little hope that some other events might run and we'd get a chance capture some more motorsport action.

Christopher Evans (Toyota MRS) was quickest at the Avoca River Trial with Richard Meek in a Toyota Starlet finishing second while the Toyota Yaris 1800 of Eamonn Byrne finished 3rd.

Full Album

Our year came to a premature end at the end of September with the John Nugent Memorial Truck and Car Run that started in New Ross and took in a route travelling through Enniscorthy, Ferns, Gorey, Carnew, Bunclody, Kiltealy and back to New Ross.

Full Album

So with a restricted year and only a fraction of the usual events attended lets hope that 2021 will allow us get out to more events and get to see lots more action up and down the country and possibly a few events across the water.

We'd like to wish all our followers and viewers a Happy New Year and thank you for looking in on the site, fingers crossed we'll see you at a safe distance some where in 2021

The bug is back

No I don't have any nasty doses......but there is a recurrence of an old fever I once had and lost for about 18 months, no proper medical name for it but many know it as Rally Fever.
In June 2017 I went to the Ravens Rock Rally and went out to one of the stages, I probably picked a bad spot to take some photos but that has happened before and I made the best of what I had and enjoyed things. However that day on "The Rock" did nothing for me, no buzz, no excitement. Rallying had been a big part of my life and most things revolved around it up to that moment. I was still enjoying my motorsport and attended many autotests, classic and vintage events and targa events up North but had no interest in rallying. Plenty of craic and banter to be had with organisers, marshals and competitors at other events so didn't miss the rallying buzz.
After a bit of interest in rallying was recently sparked a trip to the Willie Loughman Forestry Rally was planned and so a hope that the old grá for rallying might return

Back on the Stages

   After a slight absence from the rally stages, this weekend will see our return to the road side and a trip down to the Willie Loughman Forestry Rally organised by the Carrick on Suir Motor Club. The last stage rally I attended was also a Carrick event, The Ravens Rock Rally, back in June 2017. For a while I hadn't been getting any buzz from stage events and stuck to the clubman events like autotests, endurance trials, targa rallies and multi venue autotests. Why go back now?? Why not?? The Forestry Championship is getting great publicity which is helping get good entries so hopefully it will spark up my enthusiasm to head off to a few more rallies, both on gravel and tarmac during the year.
   Hopefully this new found enthusiasm might also lead to sticking stuff up on this blog a bit more often, I hope to post a few ramblings along with some event previews and reports and anything else I can think of.

Ravens Rock Rally 2017
<img src="https://images42.fotki.com/v1416/photos/0/78200/14338522/1N4A0068-vi.jpg">

Willie Loughman Forestry 2016
<img src="https://images52.fotki.com/v496/photos/0/78200/13918551/IMG_0973-vi.jpg">

Carrick on Suir MC Autotest

CARRICK-ON-SUIR M C AUTOTEST AT WATERFORD (ROUND 9 OF HEWISON TROPHY

CHAMPIONSHIP) (DAY 1):

1 Steven Ferguson (Mini Special) 618.2s,

2 Eamonn Byrne (Mini) 619.8s,

3 Robin Lyons (Mini) 625.6s,

4 Guy Foster (Mini Special) 627.6s,

5 Timmy Lynch (Westfield) 628.1s,

6 Mark King (Nova) 632.7s,

7 David Thompson (Nova) 642.0s,

8 Darren Quille (Westfield) 653.2s,

9 Paddy Power (Mini Moke) 659.1s,

10 Chris Grimes (Mini) 662.7s,

11 Alan Coyle (Mini Special) 665.4s,

12 Ian White (Mini Special) 668.8s.

Class winners: Eamonn Byrne, Guy Foster, Timmy Lynch, Mark King, Seamus Anderson (Starlet) 890.8.

Semi-expert award: James Mansfield (Mini) 812.1s.

CARRICK-ON-SUIR M C AUTOTEST AT WATERFORD (ROUND 10 OF HEWISON TROPHY

CHAMPIONSHIP) (DAY 2):

1 Steven Ferguson (Mini Special) 689.0s,

2 Robin Lyons (Mini) 691.1s,

3 Eamonn Byrne (Mini) 697.9s,

4 Guy Foster (Mini Special) 709.3s,

5 Alan Coyle (Mini Special) 722.2s,

6 Paddy Power (Mini Moke) 723.9s,

7 David Thompson (Nova) 724.5s,

8 Ian White (Mini Special) 730.9s,

9 Mark King (Nova) 748.3s,

10 Liam Croston (Nova) 763.1s,

11 Darren Quille (Westfield) 765.9s,

12 Damien Doran (Mini) 777.3s.

Class winners: Robin Lyons, Guy Foster, Darren Quille, David Thompson, Seamus Anderson (Starlet) 1022.8.

Semi-expert award: James Mansfield (Mini) 879.2s. 

Four events in eight days.....part 2

I don't usually take long breaks from the day job but take days here n there, mainly to head away to a rally or the Ken Wharton Autotest in England, but 4 days of my holidays are kept for the Octane Track Days in Mondello Park.
Originally started by a couple of the guys back in 2008 when the Octane.ie forum was in full swing, these days gave guys and girls a chance to get their road cars out on track and have a blast. They also served as a social gathering where other members of the forum would come down for the banter and maybe get a few PAX (passenger) laps in some of the cars. Since the demise a few years ago of Octane, the guys running the trackdays kept the OTD "branding" and have now run 24 very successful days.....mostly with good weather and last Fridays was no exception.
With the evolution of cars and track experience over the last 7 years many of the people attending the OTDs now have dedicated track cars or have even progressed onto racing and bring their race cars down.

Track prepped Ford Puma

Race spec Lotus Exige

As is the norm for these days, the available spots were sold out well in advance of the day and the few cancellations that occurred filled in a short time. With a handful of new people to trackdays present they got out on track for some familiarisation laps directly after the briefing. Once the newbies had gotten used to the track and knew where they were going the pit lane was opened for everyone else. Despite the difference in performance of the cars and driver ability they day flowed well with no major problems, a couple of spins and visits to the gravel traps slowed proceedings but as usual everyone was enjoying themselves.

Nice to meet you

As is now customary at the OTDs a lovely lunch was served with the organisers again calling on the services of Twist Café who provided a lovely array of sandwiches, wraps and bagels. With lunch consumed, cars refilled with fluid and given a quick look over it was back to the action on track. Normally things are very relaxed at these days with cars spread out on track but OTD24 was different with lots of cars out on track together.

Despite the number of cars no one felt pressured or threatened on track as driving standards on OTDs are second to none. As the afternoon passed the action on track eased and with people having had their fun some began to pack up or partake of some PAX laps with other drivers to compare lines and driving styles. When the rain came close to 5pm it brought the day to a slightly premature end as people didn't feel like swapping tyres for the damp conditions.

More photos: HERE
Follow Octane Track Days on Twitter or Facebook
Check out the stories and other photos and videos in the Paddock section of Backroads.ie

And so the final time in a hectic week to drag the camera out of the bag was at the Birr & District Motor Club Multi Venue Autotest. This year the Birr Club returned to Athlone to run their MVAT and had 20 tests planned for the day at seven different locations. Starting from the Creggan Court Hotel, just off the M6 motorway, three groups of competitors set off for three different test locations where they would complete all tests at each test site and then move onto the next site until all the morning tests were complete.

Frank Lenehan

Declan Donohoe/Eoin Longworth

With the first 12 tests completed the competitors returned to the Creggan Court for lunch and the results showed Richard Meeke leading in his Starlet by almost 8 seconds from Piers Mac Fheorais in a Mazda MX5 with the Starlets of John McAssey, Frank Lenehan, Kevin O'Rourke and Gary Egan next up.
Top 10 at Lunch

1	Richard Meeke	Toyota Starlet		762.74
2	Piers MacFheorais	Mazda MX-5		770.57
3	John McAssey	Toyota Starlet		770.77
4	Frank Lenehan	Toyota Starlet		771.67
5	Kevin O'Rourke	Toyota Starlet		777.27
6	Gary Egan	Toyota Starlet		787.47
7	Mark Doran	Ford Escort		798.98
8	James Mansfield	Austin Mini		830.91
9	Billy White	Toyota Starlet		831.69
10	Brian Kingston	Suzuki Ignis		832.71

After lunch it was the turn of four farmyards for the afternoon tests and with competitors again split into groups it was hoped that the tests could be completed as quickly as possible so as not to interfere with the milking of cattle in the evening.

Hugh McBrien

Mark Doran

Brian Kingston

Another steady run over these 8 tests saw Meeke return to the Creggan Court as winner with almost 14 seconds of an advantage over McAssey who was just over 3 seconds clear of Lenehan. The loose tests in the afternoon suited the front wheel drive cars more than the rear wheel drives and coupled with a test fail on the last test Mac Fheorais dropped to fifth

1st Overall Richard Meeke

Final results

1	Richard Meeke	Toyota Starlet		1183.22
2	John McAssey	Toyota Starlet		1197.17
3	Frank Lenehan	Toyota Starlet		1200.28
4	Kevin O'Rourke	Toyota Starlet		1202.52
5	Piers MacFheorais	Mazda MX-5		1236.2
6	Gary Egan	Toyota Starlet		1238.2
7	Mark Doran	Ford Escort		1256.38
8	Billy White	Toyota Starlet		1289.88
9	David Meeke	Toyota Starlet		1291.32
10	James Masfield	Austin Mini		1299.45

Class Winners

Class 1 - Jack Quinn (Peugeot 106)

Class 2 - John McAssey (Toyota Starlet)

Class 3 - Piers Mac Fheorais (Mazda MX-5)

Beginner - Aidan Kelly (Toyota Starlet)

First BADMC Member - David Forde (Toyota Starlet)

Full Results: HERE

More Photos: HERE

Four events in eight days.....part 1

Decided to try resurrect this ol blog again as it appears that a few people miss my ramblings about the events I go to. So what better way to (re)start than summarise the last 4 events I covered.

Saturday July 18th saw a return to the Targa Rally scene in Norn Iron with the Queens University Belfast (QUB) club running the very popular Summer Lanes Targa Rally. The event which was sponsored by CIP Insurance returned to its customary start location of the Ballymac Hotel in Stoneyford near the famous Dundrod TT circuit. Under the guidance of Clifford Auld who had the help of any student members not sitting or preparing for exams and other recruits from his hit list of helpers, many of the previously used tests in the area were again up for use along with some new yards and lanes.
Eamonn Byrne & Joanna Lenehan led away the 65 strong entry in their Starlet with Christopher Evans and Kevin Fagan running at number 2 in the Mk1 Escort. First of the many Mazda MX5s away were Eric Patterson and Raymond Donaldson. The first set of tests was to be over five sites but one had to be dropped due to the inclement weather in the lead up to the event. The Evans/Fagan pairing were quikest out of the blocks and the results for the first time card showed them 1.6 seconds up on Patterson/Donaldson. The Midget of David Cochrane & Alex Lyttle had slotted into third 13.6 seconds off the MX5. In joint fourth place were the Nova crew of Richard Meeke / Alex Lyons with Paul Mooney / Lorraine McMorrow

Robert Woodside (Snr) / David Allen Mk2 Escort

With the first group of tests over the crews headed towards Ballyclare for the next lot of tests. The top 3 remained the same but Damian Mooney/Tony Anderson in the Saxo moved up to 4th. The start of this loop also saw the first major retirement when the Mooney/McMorrow Nova, which had won the ADC multi venue autotest a few weeks previous, blew it's engine.

Paul Mooney / Lorraine McMorrow Nova

After a rerun of the Ballyclare based tests the crews then made their way back to the Dundrod area and at the end of this set of tests the top three places were still occupied by the same crews with Tim and Gary Woodside slotting their MX5 into fourth position. While some crews were aiming for quick times with clean and tidy runs over the tests, others preferred to be a bit flamboyant, especially some of the MX5 crews.

John & Grainne O'Kane

Mark Faulkner / Laura Phillips

With the final four tests counting towards the final time card a good run by Farrell/Murphy and Byrne/Lenehan didn't see either crew break into the top three overall positions

1st overall Christopher Evans / Kevin Fagan Mk1 Escort

2nd overall Eric Patterson / Raymond Donaldson

3rd overall David Cochrane / Alex Lyttle Midget

Results:
1.       Christopher Evans / Kevin Fagan Escort 24:34
2.       Eric Patterson  / Raymond Donaldson MX5 24:47
3.       David Cochrane / Alex Lyttle Midget 25:15
4.       JJ Farrell / Richard Murphy Corsa 25:20
5.       Eamonn Byrne  / Joanna Lenehan Starlet 25:23
6.       Richard Meeke  / Alex Lyons Nova 25:27
7.       Simon Woodside  / Steven Dowds MX5 25:31
8.       Damien Doran / James Doran Starlet 25:36
9.       David Crothers  / Barbara Kane MX5 25:51
10.    Frank Lenehan  / Olwen Blair Starlet 25:52

Class awards

FWD

1. JJ Farrell / Richard Murphy Corsa

2. Eamonn Byrne / Joanna Lenehan Starlet

3. Richard Meeke / Alex Lyons Nova

RWD

1. Simon Woodside / Steven Dowds MX5

2. David Crothers / Barbara Kane MX5

3. Allan Harryman  / Suz Graham MX5 26:01

Queens Classic

1. Christopher Evans/Kevin Fagan Escort

2. David Cochrane / Alex Lyttle Midget

3. Robert Woodside Snr / David Allen Escort 26:39

Full results on RallyScore.net

The following Wednesday saw a run up to Glencullen in Dublin after the days work was done for the TDC Production Car Trial. This event hadn't been run for a number of years and in 2014 after some suggestions it was decided to have another one. Due to the popularity of the event and the fun that was had in 2014 Stephen Briggs was again entrusted with organising the tests and running the event. And so, 40 competitors descended onto the hilly fields in the Dublin mountains to tackle the 12 tests or sections, 6 sections tackled twice, as they are known by the trials regulars. Even with a large variety of cars the venerable Toyota Starlet was the machine of choice for most however there were a few non Toyota and non Jap cars present.
After the first 6 sections it was close at the top with Starlet drivers Liam Cashman and Patrick Corcoran tied at the top having lost only 9 marks each, next up was another Starlet in the hands of David Meeke who had lost 10 marks, The following five drivers, all in Starlets had dropped 11 marks, Richard Meeke, Phillip O'Reilly, Kyle Egan, John Nolan and Craig MacWilliam. Then followed the first of the non Starlet drivers Frank Lenehan (Mini) and Niall Driver (Sunny) who along with Nick O'Reilly in yet another Starlet had dropped 12 marks followed by Mick Kehoe (106) and Matt Walsh (Starlet) on 13 marks lost

Mick Kehoe Peugeot 106

With the first lap of sections completed it was straight back into the action and with some drivers fine tuning their cars........basically getting the tyre pressures close to the minimum allowed by the regulations the competition was going to be fierce at the front.
Over the six sections on the second lap Corks Liam Cashman managed to loose just 8 marks. Corcoran from Sligo again dropped 9 marks on the second lap giving Cashman a 1 mark advantage. The long journeys by both competitors to get to the event didn't affect their competitiveness. Richard Meeke and Frank Lenehan tied on 20 marks dropped but the 3rd place spot went Meekes way as he had cleaned more sections. The next five competitors all tied on 21 marks but it was the little 106 driven by Mick Kehoe that claimed 5th overall

Deidre McKinley Fiat Seicento

1st overall Liam Cashman Toyota Starlet

Results

1.       Liam Cashman Toyota Starlet 17  

2.       Patrick Corcoran Toyota Starlet 18

3.       Richard Meeke Toyota Starlet 20  

4.       Frank Lenehan Austin Mini 20  

5.       Mick Kehoe Peugeot 106 21  

6.       Philip O'Reilly Toyota Starlet 21

7.       Kyle Egan Toyota Starlet 21  

8.       John Nolan Toyota Starlet  21

9.       Niall Driver Nissan Sunny 21

10.   Craig MacWilliam Toyota Starlet 22

11.   David Meeke Toyota Starlet  22

12.   Nick O'Reilly Toyota Starlet  22

Class winners: John McAssey (MGB), Patrick Corcoran, Joanne Lombard (Starlet)

Full results: TDC Ireland

To be coninued