A night to remember the Golden Years of rallying when the average person could afford to build and rally a competitive car, when rallies properly challenged both man and machine. A time when road rallies went for over 300 miles through the night…
Voluntary donations in Aid of the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland raised £2000.
DMC Secretary, Grace Campbell, pictured with Autotest legend “Ken (not Block) Irwin”. Look it up on YouTube!A large and varied group of cars were on display during the evening, illustrating the care that many take of their former and current competition cars.Godfrey Crawford (L) and Alan Jardine trying to remember the name of the photographer? John Stafford was the answer.Trevor Falloon (L) chats with Gerry McVeigh and his wife Bronagh.John (L) and Alan Gillis chat with Trevor Haydock (Centre), having brought along their Talbot Samba for folks to see.The Mk1 Escort – the most popular rally car of the 70s.Norman Reid is pictured with his fully restored Mini Cooper S at the DMC Nostalgia Night. Norman, along with regular navigator Gordon Taggart, had many great rally nights in this car.Ernie Campbell (L) and Benny Grainger from County Fermanagh made the trip to Donnelly’s Showroom for the evening.Trevor Haydock (L) with 2018 Moonraker Rally Sponsor Derek Hobson, and Jeffrey ReidBrian Quinn (L) and Godfrey Crawford, top map men when navigation rallying was at it’s peak.David Elliot (L), Oliver Hadden’s navigator from the 60s and 70s, chats with Leslie Holmes.Dave Elliot (L), Alan Jardine, and Jimmy Conlon really enjoyed the chance to catch up and compare recollections from those wonderful navigation rallies around Dungannon.(L to R) David Johnston, Trevor Turkington, Jimmy Nicholl and Peter Conlon discovered it was “standing room only” at the DMC Nostalgia Night.Norman Devlin (L) and Ian Turkington had loads of stories to tell about rallying back in the 60s and 70s.Some of the treasured photographs brought along to share with the next generation of rally enthusiasts.Eric Patterson puts Ronnie Trouton to a test of memory alongside Laurie Lancaster and John Beatty.Some of the cars on display outside the Donnelly Showroom giving the venue a decidedly 1970s feel.David Burns with his two sons, Conan (L) and Daniel, taking in the atmosphere of those Golden Years of Rallying at Donnelly’s Showroom..Not quite the Italian Job, but L to R there was Ken Colbert’s Mk2 Works Cooper S tribute car (ORX707G), Norman Reids restored rally car from the 60s (8198JI), and Ernie Campbell’s rebuilt Works Mk1 Cooper S (570FMO).A packed room of guests listen intently to the stories of nights spent rallying on the Tyrone roads in days gone by.Mark and James Kilpatrick from Cookstown enjoyed browsing through the vast amount of material that was on display.Alan Gillis brought along his beautiful Talbot Samba for folks to have a look at.Every seat occupied during an enthralling evening of stories and accounts of rallies in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.David White, Club Chairman, welcomes the large crowd to Donnelly’s Showroom for an evening of motorsport nostalgia.Compere for the evening was Eric Patterson who kept the conversation flowing and a joke or two that most had heard several times!Ronnie Trouton and Brian Quinn test their memory of the former times.Jimmy Conlon (L) and Norman Devlin catch up on old times.Davy Nicholl (L) with Jarlath Hughes and guest.Rally legend Ken Colbert brought his Lotus Sunbeam and a selection of his Mini Cooper collection along to the Nostalgia Night.Club President John Beatty welcomes Tommy Speers to the Donnelly Showroom for a night of memories and stories.Compere for the evening Eric Patterson welcoming guests Benny Grainger (L) and Ernie Campbell to the Nostalgia Night.Two top competitors from the 60s and 70s – Norman Reid (L) and Ronnie White.More pictures and newspaper cuttings to enjoy on the night.Former DMC President, Ronnie Trouton MBE, chats with Sydney Meeke.Mk1 Escort Mexico – the car of choice for rallying in the late 60s and right through to the 80s.NI Autotest competitors Mark King and Gary Campbell with their immaculate Vauxhall Nova Autotest cars.A fabulous selection of photos and press clippings jogged a lot of memories amongst those present.DMC Chairman David White chats with Cookstown’s Michael McIlwee about the memorabilia display put together for the evening.A man in his natural habitat – compere for the evening, Eric Patterson.Mark Thompson and Ronan Cox from Irvinestown couldn’t resist the chance to mingle with the former rally stars.Two Somervilles, two Taggarts and a Bryce Sands. Bryce provided many of the photographs for the evening.Kenny Thompson and Trevor Haydock reminiscing about the “good old days”.George Campbell displaying his fully restored 1978 Mini Cooper S.
