THERE’S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING (THIRD TIME AROUND)
Rally Report 3
Sunday, August 19 2001
John Dier

Leading the list is that for the first time the regs and entry form are available on line. Due to the short notice that this year’s rally has had, we offered the use of this facility to the club.

Please do remember that all forms have to be returned by post only to the address on the form. We cannot take any forms to this site or the e-mail addresses that are in the e-mail section.

This - having said that - should help a lot. Due to the later than normal start to the organisation of the rally, Wexford Motor Club would be glad of the extra time created by intending crews downloading the regs and then posting them in before the closing date.

Also, this will be the first year since the year dot that the entry list will be totally Irish. The fact that there seems to be a few animals roaming round the UK with a dose of spots and a limp has regretfully put paid to overseas competitors.

That aside, Wexford’s popularity will probably see the biggest collection of Irish rally cars ever seen. This will probably do more for the clubman rally driver than anyone could have thought.

Wexford has always had a huge UK entry, which left every budding Austin McHale chomping at the bit to take part in one of the very rare two-day non-international rallies. This will give these crews a great chance to shine over the two days. Albeit shorter than normal it will still be a test even for the big boys like Eamon Boland.

This leads me on to another first. This will be the first rally since pace notes were allowed that there would be no recce in the week and day prior to the rally. It will make the two days like single stage rallies.

The first day especially, with the familiarisation run and then the two timed runs on the one stage will be like a single stage. It will be a nice way for the two-day debutantes to ease their way in to the second day.

Sunday’s three stages repeated three times after the pace note run will really let the navigators come into their own. Any man or women that can successfully jot down the details of three stages in quick succession and be able to read them with out much time to tidy them up before the start proper will be worth ten seconds to their driver.

This leads on to the other aspect of an all Irish rally. The winner will be Irish.

I know that is the most obvious statement ever made but that is the reality of the situation. Over previous years we have speculated whether we would see any of the oversees gang topple the two winners of the last ten years.

Yes, there have been only two winners in that time.

Stephen Murphy and the previously mentioned Boland are the only names on the trophy for a decade. If the latter wins this year’s event, it will create the next first, a six-time winner.

It would have been nice to see the likes of Pete Doughty or the now legendary John Price take the win. John especially has made the trip across the pond for as many years as I can remember. He has never taken the laurels even though he had the fastest times in 1990 when Geoff Kitney’s little darian took the win.

The turbo-charged cars made their comeback that year and because of this carried a multiplication factor to even up the playing field. John has faithfully stuck with his beloved 6R4’s while others have moved on to more powerful beast’s of burden. This alone will probably knock on the head him winning.

His no-show this year, to put it bluntly, makes it impossible this year.

Having said that, this year will probably see some of the drivers that have moved on to bigger and better things to show up to get some badly needed miles under their tyres. This could be a blessing in disguise, as it could turn this year’s rally in to the tightest in quite a few years.

Where in some of the last few years Eamon Boland has had the rally won by Saturday night this year should be totally different.

Let’s face it no one could build up a lead in two stages that will see them through the next day’s nine. Paul Harris gave Boland a defeat in the Stonethrowers in the last few weeks. If any one can remember a few years ago Harris came the long trip down from Donegal with his Sunbeam and gave the 4x4’s a real fright by finishing second. If he turns up with his Subaru it will be “game on”.

Another first this year is in this web site.

Three years ago the thought of the rally having a web site was the last thing on my mind. Let’s face it - until Will and myself sat down the week before the rally two years ago there was no thought of a site.

We wondered if South East Radio would put stuff on their site to help with the rally coverage. The two of us then had the bright idea to set up our own site. Me not being the most knowledgeable of computer terminology wondered how we would get it set up in a week.

Hey presto!!! And Will has a site up and running by the Wednesday. The rest they say is history.

Things have got better and better since.

The Sunday of last year’s rally had the highest number of hits in one hour that we had seen. Not to be out done when we did the forestry rally and the single stage this figure was matched.

To have had the number of hits that we have had has been a huge surprise and is a good plus sign for our advertisers. Long may it continue.

To this end, we are giving you a lot more for the price of your log on. We will be giving you sound bites and up to date photos as the weekend progresses.

Also with what time we will have on hands we will try an “ask the experts” slot this year. If any one e-mail us this year we will try get an answer for you from whatever experts we can stop in the middle of the road.

I am not trying to claim to be the worlds rally expert, but as they said in the ad “If I can’t I know a man who can”.

After all up till I got my own computer during the last year, I thought that e-mail was an order by post service for illegal narcotics.

Happy rallying.