1964 July – Sport in the South

This report by Des Bradley, on June and July motorsport 1964, appeared in Ulster Motorist dated August 1964.

In the quiet month that July was in the South, Stan Ryan set the record at the new Cruagh Hillclimb, Leslie Vard won both the Carlow Autocross and the Dun Laoghaire Car Trial (which used to be known as the Tostal Rally), and Tommy Reid set the record for the new Ballyvaughan two-mile-hill. Veterans had outings, all over the place. ,

And, once again, two events were abandoned. Waterford’s Rathmoylan Hillclimb and Carrick-on-Suir’s Autocross, leaving blank dates on two Sundays.

A clash with Bishops Court resulted in a loss of several Ulster entries for the Dublin University climb at Cruagh but there were 39 names on the programme for the car section as well as 17 bikes. It soon became obvious that although the hill was the same distance as the Mount Venus course (abandoned because of local objections) the times were going to be slower. The first part of the hill was much faster but at the narrow part at the top, the drivers had to work much harder for their seconds. It also became obvious that Donald McEnaney, from Ulster, was going to fox the handicappers, as he had done the previous week at Syonfin, in his Auto Union, and his second climb in 61.54 seconds was only beaten by one Cooper S — the Alexander modified model driven by R. Blackledge.

Stan Ryan got his Cooper nicely set-up on the first climb with a time of 58.15, the best to date. Frank Keane in the Lotus might have beaten this but for a very bad dose of wheelspin and a lot of weaving at the first bend. His time was 58.52, and just when he looked right to beat Ryan on his second run he had an argument with a straw bale at the hairpin near the top of the hill, which allowed John Killen (Lotus Super Seven) to beat him into second place. Dick Barrett had the Mini-bomb really motoring, and both his times were under a minute.

Dick then found himself in a most unusual position. By the regulations for the event he was ineligible for the saloon class because he did not qualify for it under Sexton regulations, and at the same time he was also ineligible for the sports car class because this catered only for production machines. So the Austin Mini with the Ford engine had to become a “racing car” — and actually would have finished third in that class had there been
one!

Stan Ryan’s record climb was in 57.04 secs., while Keith Hilton set the fastest motorcycle time at 60.88 secs.

The Carlow club broke into the Autocross game when they got an excellent field at Bennekerry, just outside the town. In ideal conditions Leslie Vard, in his Cooper S, had a very narrow win with 0.2 secs. to spare over Des Cullen (blown MG Midget), and John Hayes in his Cooper was only another 0.1 behind. In a Ladies invitation race, Sheila Fitzpatrick, in Leslie’s Cooper S, had three seconds over Roisin O’Rahilly, in Kevin Begley’s MG.

That brings us to the Motor Enthusiasts’ Dun Laoghaire Trial, which, as I mentioned, has changed it’s name but not it’s attraction. There were no less than 73 starters, ranging from Norman Williams’ Fiat 600 to J. Irvine’s E Type. The event started earlier than usual and covered 65 miles through Kilternan, Calary, Newtownmountkennedy, Altidore, Glencree and Firhouse, and then back to the final test at St. Michael’s Wharf. There were. 12 driving tests, an autocross in Firhouse, and a hillclimb at Altidore.

Looking over the test performances, some interesting facts come to light. Out of 12 tests, Leslie Vard (winner) set fastest time in only one and tied for best in another with John Hayes, Shea Griffin and Ian Woodside (in the MG midget). Ronnie McCartney (eventual runner-up by 2.8 marks) did not do a single “best” during the whole afternoon, but his rally experience must have stood to his advantage because, despite a spin in the Autocross, his time was miles better than anyone else, even though he was near the end of the field and the ground had cut up pretty badly by the time he arrived. Robert Woodside was a close third. The finishing order was: Cooper S, Cooper S, VW, VW, and Cooper.

At Altidore, it was Irvine in the E-type who put up the best time with a climb in 42.0 seconds (the hill was. about 50 yards shorter than usual}, Leslie Vard was next best at 48.2, McCartney at 48.4, Thompson Glass in his Cortina GT-engined Hayrake 49.0, John Moore 49.6, and B. Mullen 49.8 secs.

In the North versus South sideshow, the Southern team beat the Ulster one soundly in the MEC event. The other leg of the series is to be in Ulster, but I have no other details. It is to be hoped that the interest in the series does not collapse as the series did during last season — mainly because people were not clear as to what exactly was happening.

The day after he had whacked both John Pringle and Malcolm Templeton in his newly-engined Lotus 22, Tommy Reid, along with several other hardy enthusiasts, set out for Galway where the local Club were using the Ballyvaughan Hill for the first time. This was the hill that had been used in the Circuit of Ireland and which fast year I recommended should be used by the Limerick Club instead of their Corkscrew.

The Galwegians ran into some small snags before the start. The timing wire would not stretch for the full 2.2 miles and they had to shorten the hill by a few hundred yards. Then the timing equipment was delayed while some “timers from Dublin were looking for the local taxi, after landing their light aircraft on a nearby beach.

But even though proceedings were a little late in starting, every competitor got a practice climb and three timed-runs on a course which included three hairpins and a mass of bends very hard to memorise.

The redoubtable Tommy Reid established yet another record when he set a time of Im. 50.2s. — an average of about 60 mph. Frank Keane had a good day, too, and set second best time at 1m. 58.0s. and Stan Ryan beat the 2 minute mark by a fifth of a second. Matty McNamara (Lotus Super Seven) was the “prophet in his own land,” beating Mervyn Wingfield (TR4) into fourth spot.

Two local drivers, M. Carr in a very modified Mini and D. W. Ray in a Cooper, cleaned up the handicap; while Donald McEnaney in the hot Auto Union got into third place, followed by Jackie Fildes.

The following was the latest position in the Sexton Trophy up to, but not including, the Carrick-on-Suir Ballylaneen Hillclimb:

1. R. Heeley, 91;
2. J. Fildes, 65½;
3. R. Barrett, 64;
4. M. Ivis, 60;
5. R. Beatty, 58½;
6. F. Keane, 56½:
7. R. Redmond, 53;
8. W. S. Ryan, 52;
9. C. Vard, 42;
10. R. Noble, 35½ ;
11. T. Jobling Purser, 33½;
12. K. Diffley, 30½;
13. T. Burke, 29½;
14. G. King, 28½.