1976 Kildare Hideout Rally

McCartney/Smyth Pairing is best.

This report is made up of reports by Paul Phelan that appeared in the Irish Times on 8th November 1976, and in RallySport Magazine in December. The championship points positions are from the records of Joe Duggan. The “Summary of Results” is from my own records.

LARNE DRIVER Ronnie McCartney and Derek Smyth won the Co. Kildare Motor Club Hideout Rally which finished near Portlaoise yesterday morning, and thus gave his newly-built Ford Escort RS2000 a highly successful shake down test prior to tackling the RAC Rally of Britain later this month.

Second place want to Limerick-man James Doherty in a Hillman Avenger navigated by Rae Inglis, but Sean Campbell of Newry clinched his third BP National Championship title by finishing third in the field of 25.

The rally covered 360 miles, with 55 navigation time points and 10 forest stages included. The rally format consisted of a night navigation section in Counties Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny and Laois, followed, after a long breakfast halt, by ten forest stages in daylight. However, the road sections turned out to be marathons, having over 125 miles between petrol stops so that many crews had to cut time points simply because they didn’t have enough fuel to do the full distance.

At the mid-point petrol halt in Carlow, only Sean Campbell/Paul Phelan and Ronnie Burney/Derek Johnston were without penalty, followed by Brendan Fagan/Kenny Johnston (2) and James Doherty/Rae Inglis (3). McCartney and Smyth had 5 marks after stopping to take on fuel in the last section.

After the petrol halt the route became much tighter and the clean sheets soon disappeared. A long series of 4 and 5 minute sections left no time to spare and it became clear that a compromise was going to be necessary between dropping some time and getting to the finish. 130 miles later, at the end of the second navigation section, only three crews had completed the full route – Campbell, Doherty and McCartney, who again had to take on fuel in the last section.

Positions after the two long navigation sections:

1. Sean Campbell/Paul Phelan 12 marks
2. Ronnie McCartney/Derek Smyth 15
3. James Doherty/Rae Inglis 17
4. Brendan Fagan/Kenny Johnston 207
5. Mark Slevin /Sam Meyer 339
6. Ronnie Burney/Derek Johnston 390
7. John Coyne/Christie Farrell 422
8. Wesley Abraham/Ivor Ferguson 481

Campbell, who is navigated this year by Paul Phelan, was thus leading the event after two long navigation sections from Kilcullen to Carlow and then to Portlaoise, when petrol economy played a vital part, but they lost their lead when an engine cross-member came undone and their car careered into a ditch on the second-last forest stage of the rally.

After breakfast at the Montague Motel neat Port Laois, the eighteen survivors set off to the forests, but Ger Buckley’s championship hopes had gone, with the Cork man languishing in second-last position.

One minute on the navigation was equal to 10 seconds in the forests, so McCartney was going to have to take over 30 seconds off Sean Campbell in just 29 miles. With the Group 1 Escort RS2000s being so equally matched, this was a tall order, and with two stages to go, Campbell had only conceded 9 seconds to the hard trying McCartney.

On the ninth stage, Campbell’s car began to handle badly and lurched off the road. The engine crossmember had become detached on one side causing the off-side front wheel to run at an odd angle. Although spectators helped them back on to the road, they lost over nine minutes before they got going again and had to crawl through the 10th stage in order to reach the finish at all.

There were 15 finishers, and the first eight cars home were standard group one machines.

HIDEOUT RALLY 1976 — Overall placings:

1. R J McCartney/D Smyth (Ford Escort RS2000) 105.7;
2. J Doherty/R Inglis (Hillman Avenger) 130.6;
3. S Campbell/P Phelan (Ford Escort RS2000) 165.5;
4. B Fagan/K Johnson (Ford Mexico) 346.5;
5. M Slevin/S Meyer (Ford Mexico) 467.6;
6. W Abraham/I Ferguson (Ford Escort RS2000) 657.0;
7. D Wright/C McColom (Hillman Avenger) 804.7;
8. S Murphy/T Britton (Ford Escort) 820.1;
9. J Scallon/R Harkness (Ford Escort RS2000) 956.3:
10. R Craigie/D Flannagan (Fiat 128 Coupe) 1028.2,

1976 BP National Rally Championship Positions with one round to go (all points shown):

Drivers:

1. Sean Campbell 65 points
2. James Doherty 47
3. Ger. Buckley 42
4. Brendan Fagan 40
5. Fred Patterson 36

Navigators:

1. Derek Smyth 73 points
2. Paul Phelan 64
3. John Caplice 42
4. Kenny Johnston 40
5. Derek Johnston 38