1959 Circuit of Ireland – News Letter Report

Eire man wins Circuit of Ireland rally.
Ballymena “boy” best Ulster driver.

This report first appeared in The News Letter, Wednesday April 1st 1959, from the collection of Malcolm Totten.

The 1959 Circuit of Ireland Rally has been won by Kevin Sherry (Monaghan), driving a Volkswagen. It is the first time since the war that a closed car has won the premier award in this major Irish event. Although it was known since Saturday that Sherry was holding the leading place in the rally, which ended at Bangor yesterday afternoon, it was not until well past midnight that the results were confirmed.

At that time, a large gathering of rally drivers and their friends had been assembled in Thompson’s Restaurant, Belfast, for several hours, waiting for the results. These were posted provisionally around 9:30 p.m., but two protests were lodged immediately.

The Stewards, Mr. J, W. Haughton, Commodore C. A. R. Shillington and Mr. P. G. Cooper, assembled to consider these protests and to hear evidence. Their deliberations lasted until midnight, when the results posted earlier were confirmed without alteration.

Although {t was known un-officially that the position of Sherry as the outright winner was never in question. the protests affecting lower placings, it was not until the results had been confirmed that it was possible to congratulate the Monaghan driver on a magnificent achievement.

Not only did a closed car win the premier award, but closed cars, all Volkswagens, filled all of the leading places on General Classification. While all the rallyists are unstinting in their praise of the successful drivers, many are declaring that the nature of most of the driving tests and the ground upon which they were held favoured the small cars, especially those with rear engines.

New system

This year, for the first time, the Ulster Automobile Club, organisérs of the rally, introduced a new system whereby the Sports Cars conceded a handicap to closed cars in all tests where speed was a determining factor. It seems that Sherry, for one, had no need of this handicap.

Last year Sherry, who is a consistent supporter of Ulster events, challenged the leaders (a team of factory-entered Triumph sports cars) throughout the rally. He was eventually overwhelmed by
the performance of the Triumphs in the speed tests.

Large crowds assembled at Bangor yesterday to see the closing stages of the rally. Promptly at 12:30 p.m. the first car, a Morris driven by Miss Pat Moss and Miss Ann Wisdom, arrived at Bangor Castle Grounds. An hour earlier Miss Moss had put up an astonishing performance in the speed test at Kirkistown, recording a formula figure of 77.96, one of the best closed car performances.

In the first test at Bangor, a manoeuvre around a pylon, Miss Moss handled her little car expertly to record a time of 17.4 secs. She then passed on to the vital braking test — a test in which the slightest miscalculation might Invoke a penalty of 150 marks. She made no mistake, however, returning a formula figure of 41.15 for the test.

European Champion

Her overall performance in the rally was such that she has won the Ladies’ Prize, a feat she accomplished last year and has repeated in every major rally all over the World ever since. With Miss Wisdom as co-driver, she has the distinction of being the reigning European Woman Champion.

The best Ulster driver in the whole rally was the boy whose only ambition it was to win the novice award, This was Robert McBurney, Ballymena (Volkswagen), whose father, a motor agent in Ballymena, was a regular rally competitor for many years. McBurney achieved his ambition of winning the novice prize,

Priest’s help

McBurney was elated by his success. He told me that he owes much of it to the Rev. J, D. O’Malley, Parish Priest, of Leenane, Co. Galway. Going through that area on Monday evening, McBurney’s windscreen was shattered by a stone flung by the car ahead. In despair, McBurney knocked a hole in the screen in order to secure visibility. A few miles further on, he saw a similar Volkswagen parked outside Mr. O’Malley’s home.

McBurney, a total stranger, called on Mr. O’Maliey and explained his predicament. The priest, obviously impressed by the boy’s enthusiasm and desire to win the novice award, at once consented to the windscreen being taken from his (Mr. O’Malley’s) car and fitted to McBurney’s car.

Speed Highlight

The two remaining factory-entered Triumphs, driven by J. C. Wallwork, Coventry, and Brian McCaldin, Monaghan, both recorded splendid performances during yesterday’s tests, At Kirkistown they provided the speed highlight of the rally, with McCaldin the faster of the two. Here, however, the newly-introduced handicap system weighed heavily against them, since they had to concede 14 marks to the closed cars. The timekeepers reported that McCaldin was lapping the circuit in a time of 1m, 22secs, a highly creditable performance,

For the second year in succession, McCaldin ended his rally with a magnificent run in the brake test, returning a formula figure of 42, as against Walwork’s 45.05. M’Caldin was also warmly applauded for his performance in the pylon test at Bangor which he covered in 14.8 secs. These cars finished first and second in their class, making this the fourth successive occasion in which they have won the class.

Three of the classes were won by Ulster drivers. In the class for small closed cars, C. Molvneaux, Belfast (Austin) held the lead he had secured early in the rally, eventually beating Miss Moss by 20 marks.

J. E. Dowling, Belfast (Hillman), had a margin of 17 points over his team-mate, C. W. Eyre-Maunsell (Hillman), in the class for medium closed cars. At the start of yesterday’s run, Maunsell had been under pressure from the English driver, G. H. Parkes (Jaguar}, but poor Parkes, normally a most consistent rally driver, braked much too early in the final test and failed to average the required 30 m.p.h. through the measured distance, attracting a penalty of
150 marks.

This, of course, dropped Parkes out of the running for a class position, and W. T. Todd (Hillman) moved into third place, to give the Hillman team first, second and third places in their class.

Change of luck

A new class, that for open or modified cars up to 1,300 c.c., brought a victory to 8. Moore, Cloughmills (Austin Healey Sprite}. Moore had been most unfortunate until now in the Circuit of Ireland, experiencing mechanical trouble, almost every year.

Second place in this class went to R.C. McKinney (Austin Healey Sprite}, who had won the rally on two previous occasions. These little sports cars put up a wonderful performance throughout. Third place in this class went to F. W. Stembridge, Huby, driving what looked to be a normal Ford saloon. The fact was, however, that the car was fitted with an overhead valve engine and, being thus modified, had to run in the sports car class.

Shock

The publication of the provisional results brought a nasty shock to G. H. Hurst, Enniskillen (Austin). Hurst, who had been performing most consistently throughout the rally and among the leaders in his class, found that he had been penalised 100 marks for, according to the officials, arriving early at the Corkscrew Hill control on Monday afternoon. Hurst declared that, far from arriving too early, he had just managed to reach the control on time with some difficulty. The stewards, however, permitted the penalty to stand.

Results – General Classification:

1. K. Sherry, Monaghan, 672.99 marks lost;
2. J. O’Mahony, Douglas, 695.04;
3. T. A. Burke, Douglas, 699.96;
4. S. H. M. Logan, Dublin, 704.66;
5. R. D. G. McBurney, Ballymena, 706.24;
6. J. L. Cullen, Dublin, 716.88 (all driving Volkswagens).

Special Awards:

• Castlereagh Trophy, Sherry; 
• AUTOSPORT Trophy, O’Mahony; 
• Novice Trophy, McBurney; 
• Ladies’ Award, Miss Pat Moss.

Class Awards

Touring Cars, up to 1,000 c.c.:

1. C. Molyneaux, Belfast (Austin), 727.19;
2. Miss P. Moss, Tring (Morris 1000), 747.41;
3. P. O’Flynn, Cork (DKW), 752.42. 

1,001-1,300 c.c.: As in general classification. 

Over 1,300 c.c.:

1. J. E. Dowling, Belfast, 727.88;
2. C. W. Eyre-Maunsell, Belfast, 744;
3. W. T. Todd, Lisburn, 762.40

Grand Touring Cars, up to 1,300 c.c.:

1. S. Moore, Cloughmills (Austin-Healey Sprite). 755.96;
2. R. C. McKinney, Lisburn (Austin-Healey Sprite), 766.48;
3. F. W. Stembridge, Huby (Ford), 770.15. 

Over 1,300 c.c.:

1. J. C. Wallwork, Coventry (Triumph), 725.69;
2. B. McCaldin, Monaghan (Triumph), 763.32;
3. Dr. S. T. Armstrong, Ballymena (MG.), 799.10.

“Touring” Class:

1. S. P. Bishop, Dublin (Triumph), 419.40;
2. D. S. Baird, Belfast (Hillman), 620;
3. P. G. Thompson, Belfast (Austin), 620.50.

Team Award: Closed Cars:

1. Boyne Valley Club, Drogheda (Logan, Sherry, Kilroy);
2. Hillman Team (Dowling, Eyre-Maunsell, Todd). 

Team Award: Open Cars:

1. Austin-Healey Sprite (McKinney, McClean, Little);
2. Austin-Healey Sprite (Moore, iledley, Chesney). 

Club Team: Munster M.C. and C.C. (O’Flynn, O’Sullivan, Burke).