1970 Monaghan Berry’s Brae

FUN AT BERRY’S BRAE

This report and pictures by Richard St. John Young first appeared in Motorweek dated 25th June 1970.

LAST SATURDAY (20th June 1970) the Monaghan Motor Club revived their hill at Berry’s Brae, and held an event which proved to be both interesting and exciting, although at times it looked as though things weren’t running as they should.

An entry of 34 was received, and, in fact there was only one non-starter, which was pretty good going. Not being a Sexton Trophy event, several of the usual Southern hill climb circus weren’t present, and it was left to David Furlong to provide the sound and fury as the lone single seater driver present. To make up for the relatively small Southern entry, there was a fair sized contingent from North of the border, including such people as Ian Johnston (Cooper), George Windrum (Imp) and Cahal Curley (Escort) ‘

PRACTICE

Practice got under way at a fairly leisurely hour, and despite the presence of spectators on the hill, who stepped back every time a car appeared, some fairly rapid times were recorded. A class for “vintage” cars made only one run, and the last car to climb had the pleasure of meeting Alec Poole and a couple of other rapid saloons on their way down, at the halfway mark!

Once all the preliminaries were finished with, and a couple of buses had found their way to the top, the first official runs got under way,

Class A, for small saloons was one of the most popular, boasting no fewer than seven entries. Fastest here was Pat Speer, who had come from Armagh with a rapid Imp, only completed on the morning of the event, with a first run climb in 82.08 secs. This, in fact, was his only ascent, as the car wasn’t in the best of health, despite its speed. George Wilson’s quick Mini beat George Windrum’s leaky Imp for second in the class.

MINIS

Class B, for “big Minis” saw a first class battle between Alec Poole in the Complan Mini, and Ian Johnston’s rapid ex-Patterson car. On the first run, they tied with 74 secs. each, and on Run No.2, Johnston brought this down to 73.56;, Poole however, was equal to the occasion, and fairly shot the little red car to the top in 71.80 to take the class, and, in fact second FTD as well. Mervyn Johnston in his rally Cooper S was a consistent third with his Cooper, in 75.74.

There was a great deal of “needle” in Class C, wherein dwelt the Escort TCs of Cahal Curley, Robert
Ward, and Gerry McNamara, plus Eamon Harvey’s out-of-line Anglia TC. The first runs saw Ward fastest with 75.36, ahead of Curley, McNamara and Harvey, half a second covering these three.

On run two, Harvey really got motoring to beat Ward with a 75.07, while McNamara got down to 75.48, and Curley, after some starting bothers, to 75.65. In all, a close thing. Poor Ward did things rather wrong somewhere on his second run, and did an 82.33.

NEW RECORD

As the only entrant in Class D, David Furlong had no trouble winning, but his performance in the Lola was no less electrifying, for he got the Lola to the top in 68.93 on his first run, to set a new hill record, and then improved to 68.19 on his second ascent, a 4.1 second improvement over Brian Cullen’s old record, and this with a rather “gone-off” surface due to melted tar. Alec Poole’s class winning time was also under the old record.

The only entries in Class E, for sports cars, were David Andrew’s Midget, which won, and E. Ingram’s rather unsafe looking Triumph TR2, which was second, not surprisingly.

So ended an interesting meeting, interesting, not only because of the close tussles in some classes, but also for the unusual machinery which appeared in one or two of them. For example the Smyth brothers’ Ford-powered Volkswagen, which, with the aid of a couple of blocks in the front to keep the nose down, went quite respectably.

Also John Mills’ Vauxhall Velox, the old gin-palace variety, which was pressed on very hard indeed, to the accompaniment of “Highway Patrol” noises from the spectators along the hill.

It was a pity that there weren’t a few more entries, for the hill is a good one, but an even bigger pity that there weren’t a few more marshals, for it would have taken no more than a bit of over-enthusiasm at some corners for there to be a massacre. Let’s hope the Monaghan MC have a bit more support from everybody next year.