Irish Notes 20^th February 2006. Updated Thursday 23 February '06.

 

Don Wilmont, the Pirelli Tarmac Championship co-ordinator confirmed on Thursday afternoon that checks on Eugene Donnelly's Corolla WRC engine undertaken by Rab McDonald, Pirelli Tarmac Championship eligibility scrutineer have complied with all FIA regulations. Following the inspection the engine was sealed again.

 

The popular West Cork Rally is being deluged with entries, more than 200 to date. Just one of the more high profile names on the list is Phil Collins, with Nicky Grist co-driving in a new Mk2 Escort. The car is possibly one of the most potent Mk2’s ever built. Some of the best Irish drivers have entered the Clonakilty based 18^th/19^th  event, including last year’s winner and current 023 Tiles Southern 4 Champion Denis Cronin, as well as visting drivers such as Steve Fleck, Tony Davies, Jon Ingram and Nigel Hicklin, in various WRC machines.

 

This weekend’s Roscrea based Birr stages rally boasts a stunning entry. The event is a round of the Midlands orientated Sleator Opel National Championship and boasts 8 fast challenging asphalt stages around the Mountrath area. Top drivers include Patrick Elliott in his new Impreza WRC S10, Dunlop National Champion Ray Breen in his Focus WRC, and  championship sponsor Jack Sleator in his Skoda WRC.

 

Kenny McKinstry took his Impreza WRC to victory on last weekend’s Wm Loughman forestry Rally, a more than satisfactory warm-up for this weekend’s Sunseeker. Kenny’s daughter Emma wasn’t so happy though, her GpN Lancer developing  a mystery fault in its ECU, which meant  a non-start. Hopefully all will be well for Emma in Bournemouth.

 

19 year old Owen Murphy made a sensational start to his season, coming 2^nd overall and winning GpN on the Wm Loughman to lead the Southern Forestry Championship. This was Owen’s first run in four wheel drive. He also plans to contest the Fiesta Challenge this year. He set three fastest times in the forests last Sunday. His only real problem was catching and getting held up by an Escort in stage 3. His Lancer suffered a damaged front screen in the incident. 

 

Bangor’s Michael Curran, current Irish National GpN Champion, has sold his Evo7 to Co Down’s Dominic Carson, and Michael will use his new 8.5 for the coming season. Michael drove Shane Braniff’s Skoda Octavia WRC at Kirkistown last Saturday. The car broke down for the planned test session on the night before the rally, so Michael had never driven the car in anger at the start of the rally. By day’s end he was setting fastest times and said, “This WRC stuff is just the job!”

 

Maynooth’s Kevin Barrett has decided not to compete on this weekend’s Birr Stages, but the Triton Showers man is taking his Impreza WRC S9 to Rally Ireland, and then following a 5 day service in Ken McKinstry’s workshop, the Subaru will go straight on to Spain for the WRC Catalunya Rally. Gareth MacHale and Eamonn Boland are also planning to compete in Spain in their respective Focus WRC’s.

 

Scrutineer Rab McDonald is flying over from Scotland to Spa in Belgium this weekend to carry out the examination of Eugene Donnelly’s Corolla WRC Galway winning engine, as requested by Eugene himself.

 

Further to our piece last week about the Meteor Electrical Circuit of Ireland, C of C Neill Malcolm points out that there are 17 stages planned at 9 locations , and all volunteer marshals would be appreciated  (Contact  No. 028 71 279387 ) An interesting development for the rally is that the highly respected Andrew Kellitt has agreed to act as technical director, while Fred Gallagher is coming in as a consultant.

 

Enfield’s Tom Holton in his Celica, as well as Paddy White in his Impreza WRC are heading out to do the  Tout de Nord  rally in Northern France, near Lille, this coming weekend. Holton was very conslusively leading the National section of the Galway Rally a couple of  weeks ago, until transmission problems intervened almost within sight of the finish.

 

Following last week’s story regarding Michael Barrable getting a new Focus WRC to contest the Dunlop National series, it would appear that his entry was received by the opening round Mayo organisers after the main batch, and he is seeded well down the reserves. Defending champion Ray Breen in his Focus WRC tops a strong list,  but there is no sign, as suspected, of an entry from Jim Harrison.

Brian Patterson.