1969 QUB Winter Rally – Motorweek

Curley is Champion for the second time.

This report and Pictures by Esler Crawford first appeared in Motorweek dated 20 December 1969.

For the second year running Londonderry domiciled Cahal Curley has won the Ulster Rally Championship. Driving his usual Ford Escort Twin Cam Curley clinched the title with a very convincing win in last Saturday’s Queen’s University Winter Rally. Bangor driver Dessie McCartney who was leading the championship before the event had a rather off day and lost any chance of beating Curley by only finishing in eighth place. Said a jubilant Curley after the results had been announced, “I would like to thank Donald McEnaney who prepared the car so well and Austen Frazer who took me round”.

Although the final round, the Queens event was only the fifth qualifier in this year’s Championship due of course to the troubled state of the province leading to at least two of the other events being cancelled. Also. like the preceding Erne Safari and Scallon Cup events, it was a stages only rally — this time the scene of the action was Co. Derry where five of the better known forests were pressed into service. Two of the stages were to be run twice, this gave seven stages in all with a total competitive mileage of almost 40.

Nearly 90 entries were received including an Army Land Rover and two Army Minis but of course the main interest lay in the Dessie McCartney — Cahal Curley duel. After the previous four rounds McCartney, to many people’s surprise. had collected 23 points whereas reigning champion Curley had only 20 points. This meant that if the champion was to retain his title he had to keep two places ahead of McCartney in the final round which gave him the somewhat difficult task of not only having to beat McCartney but also having to keep someone else between the pair of them.

Other drivers who looked as if they might partake in this fascinating battle were Ronnie McCartney and Ronnie White but unfortunately Adrian Boyd had not entered and Robert McBurney’s BMW was still hors de combat.

The start was from the New University of Ulster at Co1eraine and on a very cold and dampish morning Curley led the cavalcade to the first stage at Springwell where the usual 5½ mile route through the forest was laid out. Driving» in his normal spectacular tail-sliding style Curley looked very fast. Running at number two Ronnie McCartney was equally fast and looked even more determined than usual – if that is possible? Ronnie White was also fast but Dessie McCartney was visibly slower than the first three and the times confirmed this. Ronnie McCartney took the stage with 8 min 3 secs. Curley and White were 13 seconds slower and Dessie a good 10 seconds slower again. (Other stage times are shown in the table at the end of the report).

Could it be possibly that Ronnie was going all out to run Curley into the ground while Dessie played a waiting game? We would have to wait and see. Even at this early stage several people were in trouble. The doubtful honour of being first to retire probably went to Bob Curran whose VW dropped a valve. Bert Holland had the frustrating experience of going off in his Anglia and only doing slight damage to the radiator only to be shunted well and truly by the runaway Cooper of Francis King.

Bob Birrell had a puncture in the Army Mini only to discover that the spare was flat, but a speedy trip to Macosquin got him going again. Birrel’s car belonged to the Colonel, who wondered on Monday morning how on earth his transport had suddenly sprouted a sump guard over the week-end! John Kerr stopped three times to investigate distributor trouble in his ex-Derek Boyd Lotus Cortina and eventually found some water in the works while Eric Boyce had to miss the next stage to clear a blocked jet in his Escort G.T. A great pity this as Eric’s later times indicated that he would have maybe won the Novices Class.

CAM FOREST

Cam Forest was next on the agenda where Ronnie McCartney put in another fantastic performance in his Cooper to beat Curley by 7 seconds with a time of 7-00. White was a second slower and Andy Irwin was going great guns in his 998 Cooper to appear on the leaderboard for the second time and beat the strangely subdued Dessie McCartney by a second.

A rough ford here caused some fun and games and George Windrum lost a lot of time replacing a distributor which jumped out of place as his Rapier leapt into the water. At the same place Leslie Carlisle broke his Anglia’s distributor.

The prize for the most spectacular accident of the day probably goes to Ian Moore whose Mini went over the edge of a bridge and landed on its side eight feet down in the river —— without doing any damage to the occupants. Charles Eyre-Maunsell put his Hunter into the undergrowth for an hour and a half and promptly repaired to the Brown Trout Inn for lunch after losing a lot of energy getting it out. David Penpraze lost the brakes on his Cooper but navigator William Morris assured the writer that the resourceful crew would soon effect repairs. When last seen, the pair were still lying underneath the car!

On the four mile Glenshane Forest Curley at last put Ronnie McCartney in his place by a solitary second with Ronnie White again third and Dessie McCartney still very very slow by comparison. A semi-expert who was putting up some very fast times in his Escort T.C. was Dubliner Jim McCosh while the unlikely Sprite of Ferran Boyle and the equally unlikely Renault 8S of Hugh O’Brien were doing well in the Novices class.

Andy Irwin’s good run came to an end here with a broken gearbox and Brian Boyd put his immaculate Cooper off just far enough to be unable to get back on, while Oliver Hadden retired his misfiring Cooper S. The dreaded Moydamlaght came next and here disaster befell Dessie McCartney in his bid to complete the autocross rally championship double. He got a puncture right at the start of the stage and lost, about four minutes changing the wheel. So unless Curley befell trouble the title looked as good as his. He rubbed in the point by having his best performance so far in taking 7-22 to Ronnie McCartney‘s 7-33 with the persistent White again third and McCosh and O’Brien again putting up very good times in their respective classes.

The very fast Banagher stage was next and on the tarmac Curley really got the Twin Cam motoring with a time of 10-43 despite nudging the bank at the notorious hairpin. Further disaster struck at the McCartney family here when Ronnie saw a wheel overtaking him. The front offside studs had sheared and he lost a crippling 30 minute maximum while the errant wheel was retrieved and temporary repairs effected with a stud from each of the other wheels. White was second fastest in 11-02, Jim Bovill was best semi-expert with his Twin Cam in 11-45 and Eric Boyce best Novice in 12-04.

SPREADEAGLED

After this there was a petrol halt at Dungiven where it was obvious that Curley was in a comfortable lead from White with Robin Lyons third after a steady rather than spectacular outing so far. Then it was back to Cam, run in the reverse direction this time. Here Curley completely spreadeagled the field with a time of 7-00 — no less than 28 seconds faster than Dessie McCartney -— despite talk of him having made contact with a tree.

Ronnie White never appeared at the finish of this stage and it transpired that his fine run had come to an end with a broken transmission. Ronnie McCartney arrived very late. He had struck more trouble in the form of a broken tie-rod and Rob Pollock had ingeniously repaired it with a bolt from the petrol tank. The ford again caused trouble with the Imps of Jim Campbell and Ken Graham both stopping with water in the Works although both quickly got going again.

J. McCullough’s Triumph Vitesse came through trailing its sump guard and stopped for attention at the end of the stage and I. Keys’s Morris 1100 stopped with a broken petrol pipe which the crew soon repaired.

The Army Land Rover was going strong and destined to finish in a very creditable 48th overall in the hands of L. Cpl R. Flint and Capt D. Campbell. In fact it beat the Minis of Lt Birrell and Cpl J. E. Adams who had lost a lot of time hauling each other out of the ditch earlier in the rally.

This left only the final stage — a repeat of Springwell -— which went off uneventfully. However the never say die spirit of Ronnie McCartney enabled him to share FTD with Curley even though it was of course to no avail.

The results, efficiently worked out by Dr Gordon Blair and his team of ladies, were a mere formality. They showed Curley an easy winner from Lyons but a big surprise was the third overall position of semi-expert McCosh who of course won this class as well. Poor Dessie McCartney could only manage 8th place and the championship duly went to Curley. And a well merited win it was for “C.B.” has shown a fine degree of mastery of forest and tarmac stages during the past year.

The event itself was well organised and congratulations are due to Clerk of the Course Stanley Meeke. However the penalties for failing a stage seemed a bit harsh and anyone incurring such a maximum was completely out of the running. And more than a few competitors should realise that the timekeeper’s job is difficult enough without them rushing through stages with competition numbers obscured, of the wrong size and colour, or simply not there at all. A few people were also noted as having not had their crash hat straps done up properly – you can be disqualified for that!

RESULTS

Class 1 – Experts:

1. C.B.Curley — A.Frazer, Ford Escort T.C., 54 min 40 secs;
2. R.Lyons – H.Johnston, BMC Cooper S, 58-49;
3. M.J.Johnson — I.Allen, BMC Cooper S 59-45;
4. W.H.Scott — K.Atkinson, Ford Escort T.C., 60-17;
5. D.McCartney — N.Henderson, BMC Cooper S, 61-08;
6. G.R.Baird — A.Walbridge, 998 Imp, 61-37;
7. N.Johnston — E.Magee, Toyota Corona, 62-10;
8. J.J.Campbell — B.Dorman, 998 Imp, 62-22.

Class 2 — Semi-Experts:

1. J.M.McCosh — S.Broadhead. Ford Escort T.C., 59-32;
2. T.Noble — A.Elliot, BMC Cooper S, 60-19;
3. J.Bovill — D. Bovill, Ford Escort T.C., 60-37;
4. D.Agnew — R.Pakenham. BMW 2002, 61-33;
5. J.E.Cathcart – E.Campbell, BMC Cooper, 61-39;
6. W.J.Ferguson — A.Masterson, Escort G.T., 61-44;
7. J.Wilson — B.Pinkerton, BMC Cooper S, 61-49.

Class 3 – Novices:

1. H.J.O’Brien — N.McNabb, Renault Gordini, 63-29;
2. F.G.Boyle — W.Duncan, A.H.Sprite, 63-33;
3. =E.P.Clark —_M.P.McGarth, Escort G.T. 64-11,
4. =A.Thompson, Cortina GT, 64-11:
5. M.Pedlow — R.Harkness, BMC Cooper, 64.45;
6. J.Donnelly — B.McLaughlin, Escort Twin Cam, 64-53.

Final positions in 1969 Ulster Rally Championship

1. Cahal Curley, Ford Escort Twin Cam, 30 points;
2. Desmond McCartney, BMC Cooper, S, 25;
3. Ronnie McCartney, BMC Cooper S 12;
4. John McClean, BMC Cooper S 11;
5. Alec Poole, BMC Cooper S 10;
6. Adrian Boyd, Ford Escort Twin Cam, 10.

STAGE TIMES

Springwell 1 — 7 mins allowed.

Class 1:

1st Ronnie McCartney (1293 BMC Cooper S) 8 min 03 sec; 2nd Ronnie White, (1293 BMC Cooper S), 8-16; 3rd C.B. Curley (1558 Escort Twin Cam), 8-16; 4th Dessie McCartney (1293 BMC Cooper S), 8-26; 5th Andy Irwin, (BMC Cooper), 8-26; 6th Harry Crawford, (BMC Cooper S), 8-38.

Class 2:

1st J. M. McCosh, (1558 Escort T.C.) 8-27; 2nd T. Noble, (BMC Cooper S), 8-54; 3rd J. Wilson, (BMC Cooper S), 8-56.

Class 3:

1st E. P. Clark, (Escort G.T.), 8-48; 2nd J. Donnelly, (Escort Twin Cam), 8-56; 3rd M. Pedlow, (BMC Cooper S) 8-18.

Cam 1 – 6 mins allowed

Class 1:

1st Ronnie McCartney 7-00; 2nd Curley 7-07; 3rd White 7-08; 4th Irwin 7-23: 5th D. McCartney, 7-24; 6th D.McKeag, Escort Twin Cam, 7-31; 8th Brian Boyd, BMC Cooper S, 7-37.

Class 2:

1st Jim Bovill, Escort Twin Cam, 7-41; 2nd Jim Keer, Lotus Cortina 7.45; 3rd McCosh. 7-48.

Class 3:

1st Clark 7-48; 2nd Donnelly, 8-03; 3rd F. G. Boyle, A. H. Sprite, 8-18.

Glenshane — 5 min allowed

Class 1:

1st Curley, 6-07; 2nd Ronnie McCartney 6-08; 3rd White, 6-14; 4th R. Lyons, BMC Cooper S, 5th 6-33; M. Johnston, BMC Cooper S, 6-36; 6th Dessie McCartney, BMC Cooper S, 6-37.

Class 2:

1st McCosh, 6-34; 2nd Agnew, (BMW 2002), 6-47; 3rd J.E.Cathcart, (BMC Cooper), 6-49;

Class 3:

1st Clark, 6-41; 2nd H.J.O’Brien, (Renault 8S), 7-03; 3rd E.F.Boyce, (Escort G.T.), 6-06; 4th J.R.McCourt, (Ford Zephyr), 6-06.

Moydamlaght — 6 mins allowed

Class 1:

1st Curley, 7-22; 2nd Ronnie McCartney, 7-33; 3rd White, 7-46; 4th R.Lyons, 7-59; 5th M. Johnston, 8-06.

Class 2:

1st McCosh, 8-02; 2nd Noble, 8-08; 3rd Cathcart, 8-11

Class 3:

1st O’Brien, 8-08; 2nd Boyce 8-30; 3rd A.Thompson (Cortina G.T.) 8-34.

BANAGHER — 9 mins allowed

Class 1:

1st Curley 10-43; 2nd White 11-02; 3rd Lyons 11-33; 4th Dessie McCartney 11-42; 5th M. Johnston 11-43.

Class 2:

1st Bovill 11-45; 2nd Cathcart 12-10; 3rd McCosh 12-10.

Class 3:

1st Boyce 12-04; 2nd F. G. Boyle 12-30; 3rd Clark 12-35.

CAM 2 — 6 mins allowed

Class 1:

1st Curley 7-00; 2nd Dessie McCartney 7-28; 3rd W. H. Scott (Escort Twin Cam) 7-33; 4th M.Johnston 7-36; 5th Lyons 7-36.

Class 2:

1st Noble 7-34; 2nd McCosh 7-42; 3rd Bovill 7-5.3.

Class 3:

1st Boyce 8-02; 2nd M. Pedlow 8.20.

Springwell 2 – 7 mins allowed

Class 1 :

1st Curley 8-10; 2nd Ronnie McCartney 8-10; 3rd Dessie McCartney 8-20; 4th Lyons 8-32; 5th Scott 8-34; 6th M. Johnston 8-52.

Class 2:

1st Bovill 8-21; 2nd McCosh 8-44; 3rd Noble 8-48.

Class 3:

1st Boyce 9-08; 2nd I. Tannahill (BMC Cooper) 9-16; 3rd Boyle, 9-19.