1969 Dessie McCartney Profile

Dessie McCartney rose to fame in a bucket!

This profile was written by Richard St John-Young and appeared in MotorWeek, with added photos from various sources, not all of them known.

MENTION “D.McC” to any follower of Motor Sport these days, and chances are they will immediately think of “The Bucket”, Dessie McCartney’s extremely successful Mini-based special with which he swept all (or most) before him in Autocross last year.

Dessie’s career, however, goes back a bit further than that to around 1965, in fact, when he first followed his older brother, Ronnie, into the ultra-competitive world of Motor Sport

Initially Dessie had played a bit with motor cycles, but when elder brother Ronnie switched to rallying cars Dessie soon followed suit, initially doing a few driving tests and Autocrosses.

He soon graduated to the “bigger stuff” in the form of rallies, scoring many good placings, usually assisted by Terry Harryman, in a trusty Austin Healy Sprite Mk1 which occasionally sported a supercharger.

By this time the name of “D.McC” had become synonymous with extremely quick and hairy motoring, and it was always a point of interest among the “cognoscenti’” as to which of the McCartney brothers finished ahead of the other.

Dessie’s next mount was the now legendary green Cooper “S” AIA 1275 which was built from an old Cooper bought in England, and which was probably the most successful of Dessie’s cars.

This car brought Dessie some tremendous success in the 1966 rally season and that year he somewhat eclipsed Ronnie’s successes by winning no fewer than six rallies, not counting numerous placings, and he autocrossed the car very successfully on a couple of occasions as well.

SYONFIN WIN

Perhaps his best performance in 1966 was setting Fastest Time of the Day at Omagh Motor Club’s Syonfin Hill Climb in June when, despite the presence of Malcolm Templeton’s Brabham and other very potent pieces of machinery, AIA 1275 was hustled up the hill quicker than anything else

1967 started well for Dessie, with a very good win in the Double Diamond rally down South, and continued with several other successes in rallies and autocrosses until the Omagh M.Cs Scallon Cup rally in September when after quite an eventful run, the car finally ran out of brakes, road and luck at about the same time, finishing up with a tree growing out of its left side!

Not surprisingly, the saga of AIA 1275 ends here, but it should go on record that, during its very active life, the car proved very reliable coming in 7th in the International Scottish Rally, the first privately entered car.

Following the demise of the green car, Dessie took a few months away from active competition, building a new rally car, a red one this time, based on a damaged works Cooper S, once used by the Scandinavian driver Lars Ytterbring. This Mini was endowed with all sorts of goodies and entered for the Circuit of Ireland with Mervyn Johnson in the “hot seat”.

CIRCUIT ATTEMPT

During the event Dessie was well placed when the clutch gave up the unequal struggle, and this was changed amid a storm of controversy as to the legality of the change. All misunderstandings were sorted out though, and Dessie continued, only to break the gear-box and retire.

The car’s next outing, the Larne Motor Club’s Starlight Rally, finished with another broken gear-box, and the beast was sold to Harry Cathcart, in whose hands it is giving better service. Maybe it likes him better!

It was at this point that “The Bucket” arrived on the scene. This was just a Mini with the top chopped off, and a large roll-over bar fitted, and it proved a winner on the Autocross scene, particularly when the going was rough.

The Bucket was also campaigned in several driving test meetings, and it did a couple of speed events as well, netting a class placing at Syonfin Hill Climb after a couple of exciting runs.

With a list of successes such as Dessie’s, it is difficult to believe that he is only 24, but it’s true. Although originally from Omagh, the family moved to Bangor in 1962, and it is here that Dessie is to be found these days, being something of “yer actual friendly purveyor of used cars’ most of the time.

Having been a Mini driver for some years now, I was interested to know whether he thought the Mini as a competitive Rally car had ‘had it’? “In Internationals possibly,” he said, “but it still has a long way to go in Club events.” In spite of his BMC heritage, his ideal car at present is a Ford Escort twin-cam which he describes as “too expensive, but very nice,” and plans to continue with Minis for the time being.

His new car, built from all new parts, had its first outing on the “Jack Frost” rally last week (see elsewhere for report) and he is now working towards the “Circuit” with this car, while work is also under way on a replacement for “The Bucket” which was sold recently.

A quite unassuming young man who doesn’t smoke or drink, “DMcC” has proved himself one of the quickest men around whether rallying through the forests, in and out of pylons, auto crossing round fields, he looks like proving himself very competitive in the coming year.

One of the events he hopes to do is the Manx Rally, a very tough “Circuit-like”event held in the Isle of Man. Dessie did it last year and enjoyed it immensely, so he hopes to return in 1969.

Of the future? Well, apart from those already mentioned, the new Autocross car and the Circuit of Ireland, he no real plans, preferring to take events as they come.

At present, with a good placing in the Ulster Rally Championship, he may continue and try to do well, but, as a person who prefers to drive for fun rather than for points, the URC holds no special attraction for Dessie.

Personally I would love to see a certain Red Mini do well this Easter, and so, I suspect, would a lot of other people. And another thing, it won’t be “D.McC’’s” fault if it doesn’t.