1977 Newry Mourne Forests Rally

A fight to the finish.

Campbell and Lyons’ intense duel: McCartney is NI Champion.

This report, by Richard Young, is reproduced from Autosport Magazine, 20 October 1977.

Good forest stages in Northern Ireland are about as common as Eskimos in the Sahara, so when Newry and District Motor Club announced that for its Mourne Forest rally it had found not one but two new stages, it just had to be something a bit special.

The Mourne Forest was the penultimate round of the Pirelli/Belfast Telegraph NI Stage Championship and as such attracted all the serious contenders, while the chance of tackling some virgin territory brought a lot of less serious ones as well, boosting the entry to over 60 – quite an improvement on previous events.

But, if the entry did a lot for the rally, the new stages did more. Both were tarmac forest drives. The kind of places that Mum, Dad and the kids trundle through on Sunday afternoons, admiring the scenery. Both were twisty and unpredictable, and if few crews actually admired the scenery much during the day, quite a lot of them inspected parts of it at very close quarters.

Clerk of the Course, Peter Scott, had acquired sponsorship for the event from Newry and Mourne District Council and the combination of good terrain, good weather and goodwill gave it all the atmosphere of an international rally.

Heading the entry away from the start at Warrenpoint was the Carrera of local man Sean Campbell (who was co-driven by Sammy Hamill), and doing his first NI championship event of the year. Behind him were the. usual battling bunch — Ronnie McCartney/Derek Smyth (Avenger), and Robert McBurney/Norman Smith in a works loaned VW Golf GTI, in place of the usual Porsche wagon at three. Jimmy Logan/Peter Irvine were at four in their RS2000, and Robin Lyons/Seamus McCanny (Avenger) at five. Winston Henry’s RS1800 completed the top half dozen.

The route was compact to the extreme, going first to Rostrevor Forest, loose and full of steep climbs and descents, then to Yellow Water, which is narrow and a bit rough, and then to Crocknafeola before repeating the first two; the stages all being within a couple of miles of the start. The short and bumpy Narrow Water followed, with its famous quarry and piles of cut timber, and then it was on to the two new ones, Slieveguilion and Camlough.

These were run twice each in the morning, and then twice again in the reverse direction after lunch. The final stage was Narrow Water again, but run the other way round.

To keep things tight, cars were run at 30 second intervals and spectators on most stages had two rallies for the price of one, the first cars coming through for their second run right on the tails of the lower seeds.

The first stage brought the first surprise when autotest ace John Lyons, out for the first time in the ex-Freddy Patterson/Philip McCartan/Tony Pond RS2000, set a time six seconds clear of anybody else. It didn’t last long for 200 yards after the finish of the stage the car broke a half-shaft, lost a wheel, and mingled with the surrounding countryside – a brief but promising appearance.

From then on it was Robin Lyons who set the pace in very determined fashion with a series of fastest times.

Campbell, unhappy with the Porsche’s behaviour on the loose, was prepared to wait for the tarmac to begin before making his effort, while Ronnie McCartney slotted into third place, for all he had to do to clinch the championship was finish in the first five.

SS4—Rostrevor 2—saw a slight mix-up when a late seeded Mini on its first run failed to climb one of the steeper bits and baulked the early runners on their second attempt. The stage was cancelled after one of the top bunch found it politic to stop for a while!

SS6—Narrow Water, suffered a similar fate after Philip McCartan’s troublesome Alpina BMW buried itself in a tree stump and blocked the stage, but not before Bertie Law’s Magnum, which had been in fourth place, had gone off trying to pass it. Then it was time for the two new stages.

Slievegullion was first, then Camlough and then a repeat performance before lunch. Most people had been looking forward to tackling them and Campbell was counting on some tarmac to check the progress of the flying Lyons, who was now almost 20 seconds ahead.

Spectators had been encouraged to visit the stages and they certainly sounded worthwhile. An innocent looking ess about a mile from the start of Slievegullion provided plenty of entertainment. First two Double O cars vanished into the scenery in quick succession. They were sent on their way and then it was the turn of Jimmy Logan, who dropped 30 seconds getting out again. Farther down the field it was complete chaos with one car after another flying off and spectators working overtime putting them back on the road. Even such wily old birds as Campbell and McCartney had moments.

Slievegullion had seen the end of Winston Henry’s efforts after a rock had savaged his steering. He spent 20 minutes getting mobile again and made fastest time on the next stage but was declared OTL at lunch time. McBurney’s Golf also stopped there with a broken camshaft.

By lunchtime, Campbell had cut Lyons’s advantage down to nine seconds with five stages to go — two more runs through Slievegullion, Camlough and a final blast along Narrow Water — and was hoping that he could gain enough on the tarmac bits to stay ahead of the Avenger on the final loose stage. But Lyons was not in a co-operative mood.

Trying all he knew, Robin kept the Porsche at bay through the four tarmac stages, arriving at the start of Narrow Water with a one-second advantage and a car full of smoke after a small electrical fire.

For the first mile of that final stage Lyons was visibly faster, the Avenger leaping and bucking on the narrow rutted track. At the quarry his progress was fearsome to behold, the car jumping high in the air over a series of bumps. But it proved to be his undoing, for on the final violent landing on the quarry floor, both rear shock absorbers gave up and Robin continued to the finish at a reduced pace.

The result: Campbell eight seconds faster, to win overall by seven seconds. McCartney completed a steady run to take third ahead of Logan who survived several off-road excursions to finish fourth.

RICHARD YOUNG

RESULTS OVERALL

1977 Mourne Forest Rally.

1. S. Campbell/S. Hamill (Porsche Carrera), 39mins 26secs;
2. R. Lyons/S. MeCanny (Chrysler Avenger), 39mins 33secs;
3. R. McCartney/D. Smyth (Chrysler Avenger), 40mins 22secs;
4. J. Logan/P. Irvine (RS2000), 41mins O4secs;
5. T. Cathers/D. Wilson (Chrysler Avenger), 41mins 32secs;
6. G. Robinson/D. Carey (Escort), 42mins 20secs,
7. F. Patterson/M. Reilly (RS2000), 42mins 21secs;
8. T. Fleming/R. McKee (Mazda RX3), 42mins 24secs:
9. R. Copeland/G. Campbell (Toyota Corolla), 42mins 52secs;
10. J. Davidson/T. Harryman (Chrysler Avenger), 43mins 01secs.