Irish
Notes 6th February 2006.
Following
his Galway International victory Eugene Donnelly
requested Eligibility Scrutineer Rab McDonald to
inspect his Corolla WRC engine after the event and
subsequently issue a full public report to scotch
any rumours that the car is not of the correct
capacity following its winter rebuild.
Re-fuelling
rigs in designated areas away from the service
park were a major innovation on last weekend’s
First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally.
There were three major companies who supplied
rigs. Well known former rally driver Jim Crozier
was in charge of the Sunoco Irish Race Fuels
set-up and he commented, “It was new for Ireland
obviously and there was some worry amongst the
drivers before the rally. However it has worked
out very well, the drivers are happy, and the
three companies involved have pulled together,
along with the organisers, to make it work. We
even have our own small dedicated team of
marshals. It really worked well, no delays, no
fuel in the service car or sloshing about in
vans.”
It
was a typical move by Galway Clerk of the Course
John O’Connell to initiate the re-fuelling
revolution. He has lifted the rally in a few short
years from the doldrums to once again being a very
worthy opener to the Pirelli Tarmac Championship.
Apart from the new re-fuelling arrangements,
O’Connell has brought the rally back into Galway
City with a high profile HQ hotel and start/finish
venue in Eyre Square, bavg in the heart of one of
Ireland’s most bustling cities. Representatives
from the British Rally Championship were in
attendance to observe, and were fairly well
impressed.
Don
Wilmont is once again the registrar for the
Pirelli Tarmac Championship and he reported that
over 140 competiotors signed up for the
series on the Friday night. Don also
reported that a selected committee is being set up
to study various aspects of the series to try and
devise ways to make it more cost effective.
Several
of the top drivers competing in Gaway have
committed entries for Rally Ireland, including
Eugene Donnelly, Tim McNulty, Andrew Nesbitt and
Eamonn Boland. Derek McGarrity reckons he is
unlikely to be there, while Peadar Hutrson and
Gareth Jones woul love to do it, but finding the
extra budget over and above the Pirelli Tarmac
seriers is a problem. Rally Ireland is expected to
release an entry list, including several drivers
from overseas later this week.
Dermot
Hanafin of FitzSamuel Insurance discussed a deal
with Brian O’Mahony before the start of the
Galway Rally to insure Brian’s Puma. Brian asked
for a bit of time to think it over and the rally
had actually started when Brian’s engineer Jimmy
Burns phoned Dermot and told him that they wanted
to go ahead with the insurance. That was fine.
That happened about 11 o’clock. After lunch in
stage 7 the Puma landed on its roof following a
rear suspension failure. When Hanafin got the news
he shrugged his shoulders and said. “OK no money
has changed hands, not even a handshake, but a
deal’s a deal!”
The
26th February Birr Stages Rally which
proved very popular last year with some fabulous
tarmac stages is moving its base from Portlaoise
back to Grants Hotel, Roscrea.
Bill Ryan is again Clerk of the Course.
Brian
Patterson
