RALLY NEWS NO.1           Dromhall Hotel Killarney - Saturday evening - 8pm

The talk in the Killarney bars this weekend is all about camshafts, brake horsepower, rips and revs. The Killarney Stages for Historic and Classic cars is back in town, and almost 150 cars will face the challenge of such brilliant rally roads as Molls Gap, Tim Healy, Cods Head & Ardgroom. Dessie Nutt, winner once again of the British Historic Championship, will lead the cars away in his Porsche. The Castlerock doctor has been working hard at his pace-notes, his 911 is in top fettle, and he will almost surely be the yardstick. Within the Historic section we have the division of post historic, for cars built between '68 and '74. Martin Freestone, Manx based but who spends most of his time in the Gambia, will almost certainly be the post historic benchmark in his beautiful Escort Mk1.

John Keatley and Steve Perez in their respective Porsches, Drexel Gillespie in his Lotus Cortina and Philip Wylie in his MGB are just some of the drivers in the Historic section who will be out to beat Dessie Nutt. Some of the Mini Cooper S drivers, particularly new Tarmac Historic Champion Mervyn Johnston, seeded back at 16, could spring a surprise, as could Con Ward, also in a Mini Cooper, seeded at 15. Both know the Kerry stages well. Adding variety to the Historic race will be such cars as the big Volvo of James O'Mahony, the Imp of Ian Fisher, the Anglia of Phil Foster. 

In the Post-Historic section, many drivers could be in the frame and Martin Freestone certainly won't get it easy. Perhaps the man who will provide the most sparks is Lloyd Hutchinson who beat a lot of modern cars to win his class in this year's forestry Championship. While drivers of the calibre John Farrell, Sean Tracey in his fabulous BMW Alpina won't be far away. Another whom it will be interesting to keep an eye on will be Martin Ward. The Loughrea man has long suffered from too high gearing in his Opel Manta. He has at last overcome that by buying an old Ascona and swapping the differentials.

The Classic cars promise an even more intense battle at the front. Philip Shaw, No.66 in his black Mk2 Escort, leads the Classic cars, but he'll need to keep a wary eye on his mirror for Kieran O'Neill behind in his Kadett, Welshman Phil Collins, local men Donie O'Sullivan and Tom Randles. Another cross channel crew who should go well is WWRS man Gareth Lloyd and co-driver Ken Rees from Prodrive.  Apart from O'Neill the classics are really all about Mk2 Escorts. There are a few more exceptions -Red Mills man Joe Connolly, normally a front runner in the Historics, is driving the ex Paul Fuchs Porsche and is running Classic because the 911 is a newer example. There are also a few Sunbeams and Starlets, but mostly the story is about Escorts. Philip Shaw looking in his mirror? Perhaps not, he's much too quick a man to be worrying about that. Should be quite a race!

Non-starters from the original programme list include Jimmy Lambert whose engine has developed a problem. John Tully (81) can't make it because of a family bereavement. James O'Sullivan is slotted in at 82 replacing Thomas Keyes. Frank O'Mahony, with his son Brian co-driving is a late entry and will carry 64 on his post-historic Mini Cooper.  Further additions to the entry list include Martin Ward's sons, Ollie and Michael at 154 in the Ascona. John Redmond at 152, and Peter O'Neill at 153, both in Escorts.  More non starters include - cars 51, 53, 110, 133, 146, 151. Gerarrd Stack is slotted in at 132 in his Manta. Bob Moran at 140 in his Escort.

New Clerk of the Course Tim Clifford and his team has put an enormous amount of hard work, in a very short space of time, into the rally.  It looks like a tough event, but has the makings of a good one.  Consideration and a bit of common sense all round, with an eye on safety, could make it a great one.  Another element of the rally is that Killarney Rotary Club is sponsoring a stage on the event, but also asking everyone to support the Rotary International Polio Plus project. Gert Maes will be in attendance at the finish in the Dromhall Hotel and we would ask you all to do your best to support this worthy cause.   Finally for now, two very good friends of the rally have died this week.  Joe Rochford from Waterford, marshalled and worked on events all over the country, including this one.  Joe sadly was found dead in bed last Monday morning.  Craven MC member John King, a gentleman and navigator extraordinaire, who loved his Irish rallying, also died on Monday. We extend our sincere condolences to their families and many friends.  BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON