1964 April SPORT by Des Bradley

1964 April “Sport” by Des Bradley.

This report by Des Bradley was published in Motoring Life Magazine in April 1964. It is reproduced here thanks to Declan Murray, who features in the MEC Night Trial report.

This has been the busiest month ever. We had the preparations for the Hewison. We had the Circuit of Monaghan when the MG and Monaghan Clubs combined to produce some diabolical roads. We had the M.E.C. Night Trial. Boyne Valley had an Autocross in the Slane Quarry which they ran the wrong way round, i.e., left-hand in. The I.M.R.C. ran yet another trial in the very un-popular Baldonnell hardstandings and attracted an entry of 29. The Austin Owners’ Club ran a good rally for which they got a very disappointing entry of 14, and to cap it all we had the Irish Experts’ trial just across the border where the southern contingent were over-whelmed by the Alexis and Cannons from Ulster. An excellent Hewison final in County Meath saw Steve Griffin out on top again and finally of course, the Circuit of Ireland.

The Circuit of Monaghan was divided into two sections. The first bit was laid out by the Monaghan boys and started from that town. The initial obstacle was a special section in which Charlie Gunn (Cooper S) set up best time, six seconds faster than Ronnie McCartney in a similar car. There was another three mile section in this 60 mile leg and by the time the field reached Cootehill for a tea break there were only a few clean sheets left. Adrian Boyd had retired on the second special section after landing his Rapier on the front bumper as he braked on a hump for a hairpin. His sporting gesture of warning the other competitors of the danger saved quite a lot of damage. From Cootehill the MG Club took over with some particularly tricky navigation over more drastic roads and that put paid to the rest of the clean sheets.

From a field of 38 there were 17 finishers, and Ronnie McCartney with Terry Harryman in their Cooper S were winners by a long chalk from Dave, Glover and Mike Bassett in their Cooper. Third place was taken by Johnny Moore and Jack Scott in a Cooper S while Ronnie White and his sister (Sprite) were fourth. White was the man who sacrificed his chances in last year’s Circuit of Ireland to give Ian Woodside his carbs after their famous fire in Co. Clare. Derek Boyd in a VW (according to reports) was next and Ashley Armstrong in a Downton Mini was sixth.

This was a good event except for the exceptionally bad roads used and the lettered checks which were rather difficult to find in some cases.

The Motor Enthusiast Club’s Night Trial had twenty-six entries and started from the Silver Tassie. They had driving tests before the navigation started, and then one in the middle and another at the end, by which time there were only two clean sheets left. Leslie Fitzpatrick with Brendan Doyle (Midget) and Charlie Gunn with Rickie Foott (Cooper S) were clean even over the road at the back of Ballycorus. But when the test times were added up this pair had another tie. Leslie was awarded the Matt Smith Trophy as his time on the first test was better than Charlie’s.

The Austin Owners’ Night Trial was organised on the Saturday night before the Hewison final and this, added to the fact that the Irish Experts’ Trial was held on the same afternoon must have accounted for the small entry — a poor compliment to what was one of the best organised rallies I have been on. Several forestry sections were included although only the last one was timed as a Special Stage, and the navigation was divided into two very clever sections with a total of 20 time points, only one of which was un-manned. The second of the two 60 mile sections included a regularity Tulip section which caught most of the field. From the start at Kilmacanogue the course went in the Delgany direction and then towards Roundwood and the intermediate control at Tomriland Cross.

The next section took the field across some pretty tricky unmapped country near Laragh and then down around Glenealy and Rathdrum to the Tomriland Cross control again. Five tests and a special stage at Glen o’ the Downs followed where Larry Mooney in the 1500 VW beat Noel Smith (Cooper S) by 0.1 and Des Cullen in the Opel was a second behind.

The overall result showed that Noel Smith (Cooper S) had cleaned up with a road loss of 22, ahead of Des Cullen (Opel) with novice D. Murray (Cooper) close behind.

In the Irish Experts’ Trial which was held on the side of the Mourne Mountains at Mayobridge, between Newry and Warrenpoint, Desmond Titterington had an easy win in his Alexis while his co-driver Mervyn Glover was runner-up, and Cannoneer Mike Johnston was third. Peter Jenkins with his GTS broke up a long line of Cannons by coming eighth. With the exception of Steve Griffin, last year’s winner (who retired on the first lap this time) the rest of the Southern contingent with their Dellow and MM3 prefer to be classed as just ” finishers.”

For the first time the event allowed double driving and this cut down the number of sections, tests and timed climbs performed by each driver. Each driver covered two laps with five observed sections, one driving test and one timed climb on each. The general consensus of southern opinion was that the trial should return to Tandragee.

The Boyne Valley Club had their usual huge entry (45) for their Autocross at Slane on the last Sunday before the Hewison final and Jackie Fildes beat the entire field with his blown MG 1100. Des Cullen in a blown Midget was second. All first times were set up while the track was still dry and Jack’s time of 1 min. 50.4 sec. was 2.1 better than Cullen’s. Before Cullen could have another crack the rain came down, and both drivers were somewhat slower, but still in front of the field and Fildes on top. Leslie Fitzpatrick set a great time with 1.53 secs. at the wheel of his brother’s Cooper S, and took third place overall to win his class. The small saloon class went to Connie Burke who took a day off from organising the Circuit of Munster,

HEWISON FINAL

THE twenty-five qualifiers lined up in Dunboyne on St. Patrick’s morning and Brian Cullen (Austin Cooper) led the field out of the village. The event was run in two sections. The first consisted of two laps of about ten miles each with a total of fourteen tests, in the area south of Navan. After a very sociable lunch break in Navan there followed two more laps North of the town with fourteen more tests including two in the Fair Ground.

The striking thing about the result was that the first four drivers on the list were the first four in most Dublin trials during the year, and indeed it was from this four that everyone thought the winner most likely to come. Stephen Griffin in his blown GTS had only 3 marks over his brother Shea in his Griffin Ford whilst Cecil Vard beat his brother Leslie for third place by only four marks — BUT Cecil was only 6 behind Shea. The Vards were both driving Cooper S’s.

An analysis of the test times proved very interesting. In the morning section Larry Mooney had btd in the first test despite a bad misfire which he cured later. Leslie Vard set three bests — in No. 3, 6, and 14, Conor Lenihan (Cooper) from Galway was best in No. 2, while Charlie Gunn and Cecil Vard (Cooper S) won on 4 and 5 respectively. John Hayes and Shea Griffin had one best apiece, while Leslie Fitzpatrick had two and tied with Johnny Moore for another. Paul O’Flynn on his way to fifth place in the Morris Cooper completed the list of best-timers with two to his credit.

The lunch-time position showed that Cecil Vard was leader despite having only one “best”, which proves the value of consistency. Five marks behind was Leslie Vard, and then close behind came Shea Griffin, John Hayes, Conor Lenihan and Charlie Gunn. Paul O’Flynn was seventh and Steve Griffin was eighth in front of Dave Carnegie, with Leslie Fitzpatrick filling the top ten. Mike Ivis was the only one out at this stage, with gearbox trouble.

But the position was to change during the second lap. After lunch Steve Griffin set about carving up the field with no less than six best times. Shea was also consistent but had only one other “best” while John Haves’ handbrake packed up shortly afterwards and this combined with a failed test to drop him right down in the list. Tom Burke (Cooper) was best in front of the big gallery in Navan on the first after-lunch test, while on the second one out in the country Terry Power from Waterford tied with Steve. Cecil Vard had two bests and Leslie Vard had another as had Leslie Fitzpatrick in his MG. Paul O’Flynn had two more.

The event will long go down in history as one of the best trials in the country. Organisation was brought to a fine art and with a variety of tests on offer no driver could complain about.