Clare Motorclub are holding their annual Autotest weekend on the 28th and 29th of April.

The event kicks off on Saturday with drivers sign on at 3pm and competition starting at 4pm. Sign on for Sunday will be at 10am and competition beginning at 11am.

Secretary for the event is John Lyons and he can be reached on 087-6781833.

All details can be found on the attached regulations and entry form.

Why not bring along your own car and see how good you are? You dont necessarily have to have a specific car to compete. No rollcages... no harness, no helmet, no hans...On the day licences can also be granted.

The club will be running a class for beginners and using simpler less challenging tests.

The 14^th & 15^th of April sees the annual running of the “Monteberg Rallysprint” which is based in the Belgian village of Dranouter. This village is tucked in to the Southwestern region of Belgium and is only a couple of KM’s from the French border.

Similar to a Multi-Stage rally, a Rallysprint is a motorsport event which takes place on a closed section of public road where competitors race against the clock over the same distance. This one section of road is used repeatedly.

Pictured from left to right: Michael Fitzgibbon/Patrick Baker, Patrick Kelly/Alan Kelly, Niall O'Sullivan/Tom Ryan

Each year the event attracts a number of international competitors from all over Europe and this year is no different with the inclusion of three of our own Clare Motorclub crews heading off on the 3000km round trip by sea and road. It’s the first venture into competitive motorsport outside of Ireland for all of the crews travelling and many months and countless man-hours of hard work have been put in to have the cars in tip top condition and ready for action.

Michael Fitzgibbon of Ennis takes his fresh 1600cc Honda Civic to compete. Michael will have Patrick Baker of Newmarket on Fergus navigating for him. This crew have competed together as recently as February of this year in the Galway International rally where they took home some silverware.

Patrick Kelly of Cahercalla estate in Ennis brings out his special Honda Civic to do class battles with Michael Fitzgibbon. Patrick will be co-driven by his cousin Alan Kelly also from Ennis. This car holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of Clare Motorclub members in that it is the car of the late Dermot Molloy, a former member of the Club.

Niall O Sullivan of Kilrush Road in Ennis unveils his brand new Citroen C2 1400cc car. O’Sullivan can be found competing in anything from a Mitsubishi EVO 9 to a Toyota Corolla Twin Cam but the little C2’s seem to be an O’ Sullivan favourite. Niall will be co-driven by Tom Ryan of Kilmorane Heights on the Kilrush Road. Tom is normally found behind the driver’s seat of his Opel Corsa giving some of Irelands Class 9 competitors a good run for their money.

Best of luck to all crews.

Joe Baker

Last weekend saw the annual running of Kerry Motorclubs “Carlton Hotel Tralee” Circuit of Kerry Rally. As per usual, there was a number of Clare Motorclub members taking part in the event.  This was Round 3 of the Dunlop National Championship and  Round 2 of The Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.

(picture shows, Mike Dolan & Carrie Moroney)

CMC members taking part were;

8: Grainne McEnery navigating for Mike Quinn in their Class 14 Escort,

22: Jane Cogan navigating for Frank Sweeney in their Class 13 Escort.

28: Jim Casey navigating for Aidan Walsh in their Class 13 Peugeot 205.

60: All Clare crew of Mike Dolan & Carrie Moroney in a Class 11 Civic.

63: All Clare crew of Keith Naughton & Brendan Behan in a Class 13 Escort.

75: Ciara O Connell navigating for Kerrys Conor Walsh in a Class 10 MK4 Escort.

80: All Clare crew of Anthony Breen & Fergal Keane in their Class 8 Impreza.

109: Martin Casey in his Class 11 civic in the Junior category.

Mike Quinn & Grainne McEnery battled it out all day with Frank Kelly and Declan Boyle for Class 14 honours. Kelly took the win in class by 6 seconds from Boyle with Quinn 1min off in 3^rd in Class and finishing 6^th Overall.

Frank Sweeney & Jane Cogan started off Class 13 with a lead of 9 seconds on the first stage from Tommy Mason. This lead was cut by 3 seconds after SS2 . Mason picked up the pace from then on and slowly edged out a lead of 50 seconds at the finish of the rally. Frank and Jane held Charlie Hickey at bay and kept their well deserved 2^nd in Class and 9^th Overall in the rally and some trophies for the mantle piece.

The familiar pairing of Aidan Walsh and Jim Casey in the RWD 205 also took on Class 13. Unfortunately, Clare Motorclubs most experienced navigator had his day cut short in stage 5. The crew were lying in 7^th in class and 29^th overall at the time.

First Clare crew home safe to Parc Ferme were the new pairing of Mike Dolan and Carrie Moroney. This was only their second event in the new class 11 civic built by Mike and also only his second time sitting with Carrie. The crew tested the waters a few weeks back in Birr and had a strong finish there also. Dolan and Moroney chose wrong tyres for the first loop of stages and also had a slight incident with a ditch on a square right due to the car not turning in (thats the story anyway). There was also issues with the car being a bit down on power as the accelerator cable had stretched a bit and wasn’t responding fully. But all of these issues were sorted in service by the team and the crew had a trouble free run after that to take silverware for 5^th in Class 11 and 47^th overall.

Keith Naughton & Brendan Behan took part in their Class 13 Mk2 Ford Escort and brought home “Best Clare Crew” award. The crew climbed from 17^th in class to finish a strong 12^th in Class and 57^th overall.

Clare’s Ciara O Connell was navigating for Conor Walsh in a Class 10 MK4 escort and fought from 8^th in class 10 to finish a strong 6^th in class and 56^th overall.

Anthony Breen and Fergal Keane took on the competitive Class 8 cars for the day and climbed from 80^th overall after the first stage to finish 55^th overall and take the Class 8 win.

Marty Casey dusted off his Class 16 Civic to take on the Junior category of the rally. The Juniors tackled the first 6 stages of the day. Casey had Cork woman Olivia McCarthy on the notes for the day and they crew finished 10^th in class and 11^th overall.

Well done to everyone who took part and represented Clare Motorclub so well. Also thank you to all club members that travelled to marshall and assist on the event.

Joe Baker

Marshalls urgently required for this weekends Circuit Of Kerry. Meeting point is Headleys Bridge just off the N21 between Abbeyfeale and Castle Island. Meeting time is 7.15am for Stage 1 & 3. Please contact alan on 086-2162464 asap.

For any further info and map to location please go to www.kerrymotorclub.com and scroll across the Circuit Of Kerry Dashboard to "Marshall Meeting Points".

Congratulations to Tom Ryan for winning this years Club Championship. Tom won this years championship by 18 points and took part in various disciplines throughout the year to take the title.

Also congratulations to Grainne McEnery on being awarded Club Person Of The Year.

Yes, that is Alan O Callaghan (CMC Chairman) in the pic too..

Rounds three & four of the “Connaught Competition Engines Irish Hillclimb & Sprint Championship 2012” will take place near Ballyvaughan in North Clare on April 14^th. & 15^th.

This year’s 12 round Championship takes place over six weekends taking in some of the most scenic parts of Clare, Galway, Wexford, Wicklow and Donegal and the events bring a much needed boost to the local economy with demand for accommodation, food and entertainment.

For the second year in succession The Clare Motor Club have teamed up with the Galway Motor Club to co promote one hillclimb weekend. The Clare Club will run the Corkscrew Hill on Saturday under Clerk of the Course Dermot Kelleher from Clarecastle while Sunday’s hill Ballyallaban will be run by the Galway Motor Club under Clerk of the Course Joan Vaughan from Ballyvaughan. This will give competitors a great opportunity to compete on two of the best and most challenging hills in the Hillclimb Championship series.

Photo shows left to right - Dermot Kelleher (Clare COC), Cillian Connole ( Driver), Joan Vaughan (Galway COC),Sylvie Mullins ( Driver)

“Logue’s Lodge”, Ballyvaughan have again stepped in as the main sponsor of this year’s event and both clubs are very grateful to Alan for his generous sponsorship.

A special weekend menu will be available each night over the weekend including prizegiving, video footage of each day’s action and music till late.

All the championship contenders are expected to attend including current Hillclimb champion Simon McKinley driving his Lant RT4.

There should also be a big turn out in the Rally Car Classes with Clare & Galway Motor Club members fighting for positions in the various classes.

Contact details for the Event Seretary for the Clare & Galway Hillclimb have been changed.
Please contact Joan on 086 8902057 for Entries and all other information about the event.

Optional Mechanical & Documentation Scrutiny will take place at the Ballyvaughan Filling Station, Ballyvaughan on this Friday evening 13^TH. April between

6.00 and 8.00pm. There will also be Mechanical & Documentation Scrutiny in the paddock of both hills between 8.00am and 10.00am.

Prizegiving will take place on Saturday & Sunday Evenings at Logues Lodge, Ballyvaughan and will be followed by music and entertainment. Meals will be available all day in the restaurant.

REGS & ENTRY FORM ATTACHED AT FOOT OF ARTICLE

Entry forms are now available to download from both club websites - www.claremotorclub.com. Or www.galwaymotorclub.ie

Dermot Kelleher

Pro Clare Motor Club

Tom Ryan is Clare Motorclubs Club Champion for 2011. The winner by 18 points took part in the championship in a variety of different events ranging from Rallying to Karting. Congratulations to Tom for his efforts.

The 2012 National rally championship and 2012 West Coast Rally Championship kicks off this Sunday 26^th February with no fewer than 13 Clare Motorclub members taking part. Following the huge success of the Galway International rally and large entry list, this Birr rally looks no different with close to 150 main field entries, 21 Junior entries and a total of 5 Historic entrants. Hopefully if numbers like this keep appearing there will be no fear of Irish Rallying.

12        Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery,                 Class 14        Escort

41        Frank Sweeney/Jane Cogan,                   Class 13        Escort

75        Tony Tuttle/Sean Kiernan,                       Class 13        Escort

101     George Whelan/Noel McMahon,             Class 11        Civic

114     Anthony Breen/James Kelly,                   Class 8           Impreza

155     Paddy O Reilly/Jim Casey,                                                 G5 Escort

147     Mike Dolan/Carrie Moroney,                     Class 11        Civic

J4        Pa Horan/Pa Baker,                                   Class 16        Nova

J22      Michael Fitzgibbon/Tom Ryan,               Class 16        Civic

Joe Baker

Birr Motorclub are seeking our help and assistance for the upcoming Birr Stages Rally on Sunday 26th February.

Anyone interested in helping out or marshalling please contact Alan O Callaghan as soon as possible on 086-2162464.

Clare Motorclub are assisting on SS1,4,7. Meeting at Corcorans bar, Rathdowney at 07.30am.