1965 August Rally Gossip by TAH

This report is reproduced from Ulster Motorist Magazine – August 1965.

ROUND 2 of the Ulster Rally Championship was the Newry Club’s Circuit of Down which for the first time was a night event. Quite good it was too, despite some setbacks which included the unmanning of a couple of points, one of which was unfortunately a control where the rally was forced to come to a premature end.

The rally started off with 5 TPs “by reference,” the shortest of which was a 3-minuter. After this came a 27-mile Tulip card, then another TP ‘by reference’ piece, an ‘Eight of Clubs’ type section, a further 4 TP run and then a “Straight Line” card, and it was at the end of this that the control was un-manned.

That it was a tough event is evidenced by the number of navigators who suffered from sickness, at least six of the twenty-one starters retiring for this reason including Ronnie and Doris White and Jack Harris/John Grant (1275’s), Ronnie McCartney/Mike Hart (R8-Gordini) and Roger Cree/Norman Smith (Cooper).

The results weren’t announced at the finish but were sent out to competitors quite soon after the event and showed that local man Eric Baird navigated by Brian Rickerby had won easily in his 1200 Anglia. Second were Dessie McCartney/Esler Crawford (Sprite s/c) followed by Mike Ford-Hutchinson/Ken Atkinson (1275 “S”) and Norman Thompson/Norman Henderson (Hartwell Imp).

Judging by this event, the same club’s November Rally on the 18th is a must, while next year’s “Circuit of Down” should be in the running for the title “The Year’s Best Rally”.

A week later we had Ulster Rally Championship Round 3, namely the Knock Club’s Night Rally. Only 2 of the starters lost road marks so that the event was decided completely on the tests. It appeared that everybody was doing these with a large degree of restraint, obviously realising how treacherous the Toome surface can be. There were therefore no incidents the only casualty being Jim McClement’s 1071 “S” which broke a drive shaft in the last test: Best performance was put up by Thompson Glass in the Hayrake and he and Frank Main came out overall winners from Adrian and Derek (“The Navigator”) Boyd (Sprite) and Ian Woodside/Terry Harryman (Midget). Unfortunately (but as was to be expected) no final results have been issued at the time of writing.

THE Larne MC’s Ladies’ Rally was over an eight test course in South Antrim starting at Monkstown and finishing in the King’s Arms. Despite collecting a pylon in the first test, Thompson Glass came out overall winner in the Hayrake (he obviously had one monumental “mow”) by 0.4 secs from Adrian Boyd (Sprite) with Ian Woodside (Midget) third.

Class winners were Glass, Roger Cree (Cooper), Robert McBurney (VW) and Reggie McSpadden (VW 1500S). In the Ladies’ section Pat Barr was quickest in Derek Grant’s Mini-Cooper and winner of the Ladies’ Trophy (decided on handicap using a percentage system based on the size of car) was “Auntie” Janet Allison in a Cortina GT.

THE Omagh club’s Fuel Economy Run over a 49-mile course attracted a very good entry of 60 for an event in which competitors’ tanks are filled and sealed and their cars weighed. The course this year lay to the East of Omagh and included three controls, the overall average being 28 mph. Marks on the road are lost at the rate of one mile per gallon per minute late. At the finish the cars are topped up again to see how much petrol was used and as well as scratch classes there is a handicap based on a formula which involves the fully laden weight of the car. Overall winner in a Mini was Frank Chesney, with a fantastic 100.205 mpg, the class winners being Chesney, Mrs. Jim Rankin (Cooper), Larmour Stewart (Gazelle), John Eakin (Cambridge) and Frank Griffin (Herald).

ENNISKILLEN MC ran the first of the season’s local Auto-cross meetings at St. Angelo. Unfortunately quite a lot of rain fell prior to the event with the result that the course had to be shortened, but even so, that which was left cut up rather badly and spoiled what would otherwise have been a very good event. Some 40 competitors turned up for the day’s sport including two from the Dublin area, namely Noel Smith (1275 “S”) and Larry Mooney (1500S-powered “Beetle”).

Each competitor had two runs, cars being run one at a time on their first go and in pairs at the second attempt. With the course cutting up so badly everyone was slower on their second runs and in fact the early numbers had the course in far better condition than the later ones. Thus the Mini boys came out best and FTD went to Jack Harris’ 1275 “S” from Ted Hobson (Mini) who was making a very welcome re-appearance on the scene. Despite the size of the entry some of the six classes had to be amalgamated, these being large saloons (rear-wheel-drive) and rear-engined saloons, and sports cars and specials.

Class winners, who received a nice little cash award to make their efforts worth-while, were Ted Hobson, Jack Harris who also won the Novice Award — there being only a few drivers who can’t call themselves Novices in Autocrosses), Harold Hagan (Midget) and Ken Irwin (Imp). This latter win was particularly interesting as another Imp was second and was followed by no lesser personalities than Ronnie McCartney (R8-Gordini), Larry Mooney and Robert McBurney (“Big Beetles”), and Cathal Curley and Robin Steenson (Cortina GT’s).

The month came to a close with the UAC’s “Novices and Officials” rally on the “30th and this year this was run by Ken Shields and Lee and Albert Lucas.

ONE of the saddest pieces of news heard for quite a long time concerns the cancellation of the Circuit of Ulster, one of the most popular of all the local rallies, Why this cancellation has come about is beyond comprehension and no explanation has been openly offered for it by the North of Ireland Motor Club. I can only hope that the organisers have decided that July is a bad time to hold a really big rally, what with holidays and the “short” nights, and will be running the “Circuit” later in the year when conditions are more favourable for a Championship rally.

ON a brighter note I must say how pleased I have been in the last couple of months to hear of so many new clubs coming on the scene, all with the intention of becoming RAC recognised and running events suitable for the regular competitor. Probably the first of these which came to my notice was the Stranmillis Motor Club which is run by and for the students of Stranmillis College and which has a few members who have appeared in “outside” events. Next on the list came the news that a club had been formed in Harland and Woolf’s and this must surely have the potential of becoming one of the biggest of the local clubs.

It has often been wondered why the Royal Ulster Constabulary hasn’t had a Motor Club but with the advent of the Q-Cars it was obvious that this would only be a matter of time and it has recently come to pass. It seems that there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the Force and that some of their members are hoping that next year we may see an RUC team competing in the International Police Rally.

The other club of which I have just heard about is for employees at the British Enkalon Factory at Antrim and they already have a membership of over 50, have run a few “black” events quite successfully and will be applying for RAC recognition in the very near future. I’m sure that everyone will join with me in wishing all these clubs every success with the hope that they will soon be members of the Association of N.I. Car Clubs and running events in which we can all compete.

A FAVOURITE topic in this column concerns new cars likely to be seen in the various drivers’ hands. Usually drivers who have had a fair amount of success with a particular make and model stick to it although perhaps replacing it with a more powerful version, e.g. Mini — Mini-Cooper — Mini-Cooper S. Occasionally we get a complete change of make and type as with Ronnie McCartney who changed from a Mini-Cooper to a 1071 “S” to a Vauxhall Velox to a Mk 1 Sprite to a Mk 2 Spite and recently to an R8-Gordini and a 997 Cooper.

Another very successful driver who has recently changed his make of car but has kept to the same type, ie. a large saloon, is Ken Shields who is now to be seen at the wheel of Cortina GT. It will be very interesting to see just how well Ken does in this car in tests as in the VX 4/90 he was as fast as anybody in the big class in what was not a very potent car. On the other hand Robin Steenson appears to be abandoning the Cortina GT as he is selling his present one and is also trying to dispose of all the equipment he has for it. As to what he is going for now I couldn’t persuade him to tell me.

Another man who is due for a change is Robert Woodside who has been using the same old VW for quite a while now (Robert reckons it’s the slowest one ever made!). By the time this report appears it should have been disposed of, but even Robert doesn’t know what’s going to replace it. It has been suggested that Ian’s ex-works Midget may find its way into his hands if Ian gets a new Midget, but on the other hand it is a well-known fact that Robert has a passion for a Healey 3000, so don’t be surprised.