Coleman crushes the Carreras

By RICHARD ST-JOHN YOUNG Photos by MARTIN HOLMES, first published in Autosport Magazine, 12 February 1976.

The spectators lining Galway’s Eyre Square on Sunday afternoon weren’t surprised when Billy Coleman’s Escort drove on to the ramp at the end of the Henley Forklift Galway International Rally. You see, they all knew, even before the start, that Billy was going to win.

It would have been unthinkable for anybody but Billy to have taken the premier award. He was cheered when he left the start on Friday night, and whenever the Thomas Motors Escort 2 stopped anywhere, it was immediately besieged by scores of well wishers, all keen to have a word with Millstreet’s most celebrated son. Even Billy himself seemed remarkably unperturbed by this, his second International win, but there were quite a few people around who found the whole thing quite amazing. For Billy Coleman, co-driven on this occasion by Jim Porter, had destroyed the myth that nothing but a Porsche can possibly work on Irish tarmac.

While it can be argued that Billy’s Circuit of Ireland win last year was an inspired “one-off”, or that Warmbold’s BMW victory in Donegal was the result of a particularly good pace-noting job, on this occasion, Billy Coleman, aided and abetted by Jim Porter, had driven the Porsche challenge, the strongest seen on any Irish International for a very long time, right into the ground.

Right from the start, the Escort, the car driven by Roger Clark on the Monte, had run away from all pursuers, and as the faster Porsches fell by the wayside one by one, Billy just kept on going, with a smile on his face, and the cheers of his countless fans always there.

But before the start it had looked like anybody’s rally. Twelve Porsche Carreras appeared on the entry list. Ten started, the absentees being Dan Grewer, who should have driven Piggy Thompson’s car, but broke the crankshaft on the way to the start, and Phil Coulter, who had to go to America to attend to some musical business. Of those ten Carreras, only three finished, the rest departed during the course of the event, most of them dramatically.

Leader of the Porsche contingent, at number one was Dessie McCartney with the ex-Gierowski (de Stefano) “batmobile,” now resplendent in a new coat of paint. Billy was running at two, ahead of the Chequered Flag Porsche of Cahal Curley/Austin Frazer. An empty slot at four marked the non-appearance of Chris Sclater’s Toyota Celica, although co-driver Martin Holmes was present to keep an eye on trends. The number five spot was kept open in anticipation of an unknown star who never appeared, but at six came Brian Evans, his Carrera fresh from a Stuttgart rebuild and now churning out a good 270 bhp. John Brown was in the hot seat.

At seven came Brian Nelson, with Malcolm Neill telling him which way to go. The Nelson Carrera, the latest car to appear on the Irish scene, is an ex-racer, and, as is usual with Nelson’s cars, was immaculately prepared. There was no number eight, but David Agnew weighed in at nine with his recently rebuilt Porsche just ahead of the second non-Porsche to appear at the top of the list, the Haynes of Maidstone Escort MK 2 of John Taylor, assisted by John Horton, whose knowledge of rubber compounds almost equals Dan Grewers!

Two more Porsches came next, Manxman Dennis Easthope at 11, and Jan Churchill/Rupert Saunders at 14.

On paper, before the event got under way, it looked like being a close affair. Coleman was favourite of course, but there was so much rapid Stuttgart machinery about that surely, one of them must work. Things got under way in earnest at 17.00 on Friday, when the field took off to tackle eight slippery sections in darkness. Roads were, for the most part, damp, but generally conditions were good.

Right from the start of the first stage, the six-miler at Peterswell, Coleman showed that he meant business, taking fastest time from Evans by 19 secs, with Nelson a further second in arrears. He did it again on the next test, 6.3 miles of Chevy Chase, this time with Churchill next man up, and Harold Morley’s Carrera third.

At the first service, which followed, Curley changed his wide front tyres for something a little narrower, while Taylor made frantic efforts to find some brakes, which had vanished almost at the beginning. McCartney, too, was in trouble with a misfire. David Agnew was seen to be playing round with rear suspension settings, but seemed more concerned about a boiled onion he had eaten at lunchtime. . . . Coleman extended his lead further on S3, Thoorballylee, with Churchill again in pursuit, and Curley benefiting from the change of tyres, third fastest. It was close, but the Escort seemed to have a definite advantage, in spite of Billy’s protests that he was just getting used to the car.

Already there were dramas. Evans crunched one rear corner of the Porsche on the second test, while both he and Nelson occasionally had off-song engines.

Group One Escort driver John Bridges had the doubtful distinction of being the first man to roll, falling gently over on the first section, but continuing, albeit without a windscreen, while Fred Patterson’s BMW sounded rough and was laying a trail of petrol from a loose fuel union.

The third and fourth stages provided a lot more action, Agnew had a puncture on Stage 3, while on Stage 4, the 13-miler at Ballybuck, Churchill banged the back of the Porsche quite badly, breaking the engine mountings, but continuing with the sump guard holding everything in place, and enough damage done elsewhere to cause him serious problems later in the event. Geoff Crabtree’s Carrera joined the ranks of the misfiring Porsches, and had clutch problems as well, while David Lindsay’s smart Escort 2 suffered the same brake problems as Taylor’s car.

Galway’s Friday sections have traditionally caused a great deal of mechanical mayhem, and this year was no exception. The square in the little town of Gort, which was being used as a service park, the cars visiting the town after every couple of stages, was the scene of much frantic activity as the night progressed. Ballybuck saw Curley get into the groove with a time eight seconds faster than Coleman, with Morley third, 13 seconds in arrears. Back at Peterswell again, Billy was back in front, ahead of Curley and McCartney who had cured his misfire and changed tyres just for good measure. It was however all in vain for Dessie, when on the next section, Chevy Chase 2, the oil cooler split, and the engine pumped 2½ gallons of nice hot gooey lubricant into the spare wheel compartment. Exit Dessie and Carrera No 1…

And so it-went on. Curley was fastest on SS 6, with Coleman just one second in arrears, while Nelson got it all together again to emerge third fastest. Evans,Taylor andMorley made up the top six.

Taylor was not having the happiest of nights, trying to cope with a brakeless Escort and his first taste of tarmac rallying, Irish style, all at the same time; but it was slowly coming right, and John Horton was learning to relax.

Neither was it the best of nights for Cork husband and wife crew Mick and Anne O’Connell, whose Mk 1 Escort was putting up some very rapid times, and getting into the top half dozen on occasions. Alternator failure dropped them. down the field when the lights went out, and left them with a long haul back up from 24th place to attempt on Saturday.

Departures at around this time included the Escorts of Jeremiah Buckley, Billy’s cousin, and Brendan Fagan, but as others fell by the wayside, Billy Coleman kept up the pressure, arriving back in Galway for the overnight halt almost three minutes clear of Nelson, whose consistency had earned him second place. Curley was third, seven seconds behind, with Evans, Morley and Taylor completing the top half dozen.

In Group One, the interest was centred on a three-cornered fight -between Ronnie McCartney/Derek Smyth with their Lloyds of Stafford Escort RS2000, the similar car of Sean and Yvonne Campbell, and Phillip McCartan/Aidan Rice with their Mk 1 version, the car which won the Tour of Britain in the hands of Tony Pond.

At the end of the night, Ronnie was ahead with Campbell second, and McCartan third, but it was all very close.

The word on Friday was that the Saturday stages would be rough, but few people realised just how rough. For those who had the time to look, the scenery was spectacular, but the bumpy corrugated tarmac of Connemara gave most people plenty to think about without bothering about the view. O’Connell set off to regain some of his lost places with a vengeance, and took time off everybody on the first stage of the day, at Moycullen, beating Coleman over the 9 miles by five seconds.

It was Taylor’s turn to shine on the aptly named Porridgetown, while Coleman, Curley and Evans all tied for second fastest two seconds down. But it was here that the roughness began to show, and Evans came off the stage with the engine cover missing from the Porsche, the whole lot having fallen off after a particularly severe landing. A short stage at Glann saw Billy set another fastest time, and then it was on to the stage which did all the damage. Oughterard, 15 miles of humps, most. of them with little kinks in the middle, strange cambers, the occasional bridge, and a strong crosswind combined to do a lot of damage.

David Lindsay’s Mk 2 Escort departed here with the rear suspension torn out. Morley had an argument with a bridge parapet and did the side of © the Porsche a lot of no good. He took no further part in proceedings. Hugh O’Brien’s ex-Derek Boyd Escort said goodbye to its shell once and for all after a spectacular 80 mph cartwheel, and no sooner had he climbed out of the wreckage than Joe Greenan’s Gp 1 BMW arrived to join him.

Curley was fastest here, with Coleman, Evans and Nelson in hot pursuit, Taylor, with a return to braking bothers, ran out of road and lost six minutes getting back on, which left him with a lot of catching up to do, a task he set to with a will, taking third fastest on the next stage, along with Curley and Easthope. Coleman and Evans were now in front.

Ronnie McCartney, who had done five miles of Oughterard on a flat tyre, fell off briefly on this one, losing the Group One lead to McCartan, Campbell, broke both rear shock absorbers off, and was forced to carry on with a set of standard units which did not work at all well on the very rough surfaces.

Meanwhile, as one bumpy mountain-type stage followed another, more problems began to appear. Nelson lost his engine cover in the same manner as Evans, but with it went the gearbox oil cooler, and, shortly afterwards, all the gearbox oil as well. But in spite of doing two stages with a virtually dry gearbox, the Porsche stood up to the ordeal, although following crews found themselves working very hard to stay on the island with a slippery carpet to deal with.

The run up to the lunch halt at Clifden was notable for a number of things, most notable of which was the progress of Jan Churchill, who had managed to secure the Porsche engine with the bit from a pneumatic drill, reputedly purchased from an old woman who just happened to have one handy. The yellow Porsche was having a real go, as was Manxman Ian Corkill, whose Mk 2 Escort was beginning to appear regularly in the top six. John and Robin Lyons retired their Escort RS in the bog just before lunch, while Bernard Banning went out with a bent rack on his Avenger.

But the feature of the morning was the departure of Cahal Curley. After a series of punctures, all on the near side rear corner of the car, the driveshaft cried “enough,” and let go, giving “CB” a minor “off,” though with little damage to the car. So, the strongest potential Porsche challenge was ended, just as it was starting to make its presence felt.

At the lunch halt in Clifden, near the spot where Alcock and Brown invented the Irish Tourist Board, much frantic work was in progress. Coleman’s merry men changed the haifshafts on the Escort, just as a precaution, while Ronnie McCartney changed to some taller tyres, partly in the interests of speed, and partly to help keep the car off the ground. The Lloyds car had suffered five punctures during the morning, and the ever-present McCartan was looking like a possible GP 1 winner.

After the rigours of the morning, several new faces had appeared on the leader board… Ken Shields and Peter Lyster, whose Carrera was one of the neatest and least spectacular to watch, had climbed quietly up to fifth place behind Coleman, Nelson, Evans and Agnew. Corkill was in sixth having a very spectacular drive, while the O’Connell family had pulled back to eighth position behind Ronnie McCartney. McCartan and Campbell completed the top ten, while Taylor, in eleventh place was making a strong impression on those in front.

The afternoon stages were the morning ones run in the reverse direction, and here, while Coleman maintained his three minute advantage over the pursuing hordes, Evans really began to pile on the coals, overtaking Nelson for second over the next two stages. Churchill, too, was going very «ell, and moving back up, getting within five seconds of Coleman over the infamous Sky Road just after lunch. Regrettably, his efforts were short-lived, however, for after three more stages, the yellow Porsche. was out. Damage to the exhaust system the previous night meant that the engine was blowing flame out through the carburettors on the overrun, and eventually, things got so hot that the air filter, and the carburettor intakes themselves melted, so Jan came to a reluctant halt.

Evans was the next to go, spinning the Porsche into the scenery on that infamous 15 miler, and breaking the oil tank among other things. His service ‘crew had earlier scoured Clifden to buy half a dozen tea strainers which were then wired over the air intakes, there being a very real danger that the engine might swallow a stone or two with the engine cover missing.

As the rally headed back towards Galway, the Group One threesome began to make their presence felt, appearing in the tcp half dozen quite regularly on stages. The O’Connells, too, were pressing on, getting in among the Porsches on almost every stage and for almost the first time since the start, John Taylor was smiling. After a fluid change, and some hard work by ace “wrench” Ricky Bell, his brakes were more or less working and he started taking time off everybody just to prove it.

On the final stage of the day, Moycullen, the Porsche challenge for an outright win spluttered to a complete halt when Nelson’s car staggered through, sounding very sick, to retire at the finish. There were theories that, as Nelson’s crew had not done the tea-strainer trick, the engine had eaten a rock, but a broken rocker was diagnosed, and the blue Carrera was led away on the end of a rope to sit in disgrace in parc ferme.

Other departures around this time included Sean Campbell, who slid off the infamous 15-miler, and got stuck, while Brian Kingsland’s 3-litre Capri had planted itself in the bog a couple of stages earlier. At the end of the day, Coleman’s lead over the new second man, Agnew, was almost ten minutes, while Shields had quietly got to within 18 secs of the other Porsche.

Corkill, who was driving like a demon, three wheeling the Escort about the place and generally driving the crowds mad, had made it to fourth, while fellow Manxman Dennis Easthope was trying to keep a very determined Mick O’Connell at bay in fifth. Taylor had progressed to seventh ahead of the Group One battle between McCartney and McCartan, while a new arrival in the top ten was the Porsche Carrera of Geoff Crabtree, which was still suffering from clutch bothers, although its Friday night misfire had been cured.

Sunday, although sunny, featured wet roads, and the first couple of stages, Grange and Abbert, were very slippery indeed. Grange claimed Corkill, who managed a “straight on at T” and almost parked in a river. The Escort was undamaged, but it was too well embedded in the mud to be driven out and that was that.

Coleman started the Sunday run intent on getting to the finish, and was quite happy to motor relatively gently. But Taylor and O’Connell were at it hammer and tongs, while Agnew and Shields also had a dispute going over second place. But. once more, disasters stepped in to resolve things. On the third stage of the day, Hillswood, O’Connell went off in a big way, damaging the Escort badly, against a rather solid school. Anne O’Connell broke her leg in the accident, and there was a mild disruption while an ambulance was summoned to take her to hospital. A sad end to a fine drive which could well have netted the popular pair third place.

Two stages later, it was Agnew’s turn, the Porsche wiping a substantial wall, and doing considerable damage to the offside rear corner. Although he tried to drive on, the car only managed to travel about a mile before expiring completely and handing second place to Shields, who, despite his unspectacular progress, was going consistently quickly.

Attention then focused on Taylor, two minutes behind Shields, and taking time off him all the way. In the closing stages, he whittled the gap down to just over a minute, but it was just too much, and while Coleman cruised home to a victory for Ford, Shields, in the best of the three surviving Carreras, made it to second place, 8m 20s behind, to salvage some honour for Porsche. Taylor galloped home third, still with uncertain brakes, 1m 6s behind.

Easthope’s smooth performance in the Carrera netted him fourth place ahead of Group One winner McCartney, while Crabtree’s Carrera eventually made it to sixth place…

Galway 1976 was every bit as tough as its predecessors, and must surely go down in history as the event on which the Porsches were routed.

Galway International Rally 1976
Overall Results:

1. B. Coleman/J. Porter (Ford Escort RS1800) 281m 48s;
2. K. Shields/P. Lyster (Porsche Carrera} 290.08;
3. J. Taylor/J. Horton (Ford Escort RS1800) 291.14;
4. D. Easthope/M. Castle (Porsche Carrera) 292.52;
5. R. McCartney/D. Smyth (Ford Escort RS2000) 298.59;
6. G. Crabtree/D, Marston (Porsche Carrera) 303.51;
7. R. Smith/G. Janger (Triumph Dolomite Sprint) 306.28;
8. C. Gunn/H. McEvoy (Ford Escort RS2000) 309.33.

Group one: 1, McCartney/Smyth (Escort RS2000); 2, Smith/Janger (Triumph Dolomite Sprint); 3, Gunn/McEvoy (Escort RS2000).