Chairman in the driving seat for great win
Donegal Motor Club Chairman , Brian Brogan won the West Cork National Rally at the weekend in his Mk2 Ford Escort finishing 6.3 seconds ahead of the all new Ford Fiesta R5+ of Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy.
Brian and his navigator didn’t know that the “”cutting edge” Ford Fiesta was in their rally to the end of day one.
“We were so focused on our regulars like Wesley Patterson, Frank Kelly and Adrian Hetherington, all in Mk2 Escorts that it was only when Ring appeared on our leaderboard that we knew we had an extra dimension to deal with
“His Fiesta was changed at the start of the rally so it could run in the modified class on the national rally,” revealed Brian.
Brian and Damien were up for the challenge and were “full of the pipe” right from the start.
“Our car was going really well and the slippery conditions suited us. We hoped to be there, or there about in the top three positions at end of day one. We were more than happy with our progress until Alan Ring’s Fiesta R5+ appeared on our leader board.
“On Sunday we had to change our plan of action and dig deep to take on the Fiesta. We were racing against a Corkman on his home event which should have given him the advantage but we were very focused and put in a very good time on the 2nd last stage to give us the win.”
As chairman of the Donegal Motor Club, Brian was full of praise for the efforts of all the Donegal competitors that made the trip to Cork to compete in the event. What can a say about Donagh Kelly who notched up his third overall win in a row in Cork and is the first rally driver ever to do so.
My navigator’s cousins Kyle and Dale Mc Gettigan had a great run in their Toyota Corolla GT. Dungloe’s John Bonnar was in the mix in his Escort and Johnny Baird, who navigated for Wesley Patterson were going well until they suffered electrical problems.
The motor club chairman was also full of praise for the reception that they received from the Cork competitors and motor club. Its lovely to hear people at the other end of the country saying they can’t wait for June every year to get up to Donegal for our three day event, Brian said.
Kelly makes history with a hat-trick in Cork
Frosses man Donagh Kelly and co-driver Conor Foley, finished a minute and 26.4 seconds ahead of the Citroen DS3 R5 of Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin on the West Cork Rally at the Weekend. Garry Jennings and David Moynihan in their Subaru were 43 seconds behind in third.
The damp first stage suited Kelly who was quick to go into the lead and was 6.7 seconds up on Jennings, who had to change navigators to his brother-in-law David Moynihan at a late hour to replace regular co-driver Rory Kennedy.
Kelly went 13 seconds ahead in the next stage and Alister Fisher displaced Cronin in the chase for third.
On the repeat of the pair of stages Kelly continued to set the best times and he arrived at the service with 18.7 seconds lead over Jennings in 2nd place.
Kelly ended an untroubled day 51.8 seconds ahead of Cronin who was quickest on S.S. 8. Jennings lost more time when he stalled on the same stage, but stayed in third. Former winner Daragh O’Riordan in a Ford Fiesta WRC ended the day in seventh.
On the second day, Kelly stayed on course but had overheating problems in his Focus prior to the final stage. Third placed Jennings decided on using the final leg as a test exercise.
A chip of the Old Mac
Damien Mc Gettigan proudly raises the Bones O Connor Modified National Challenge West Cork Rally Cup at the homecoming in Letterkenny on Monday night. Photo Brian McDaid
Damien McGettigan celebrated his first outright victory as navigator for Brian Brogan on the West Cork National Rally at the weekend. McGettigan who is from the second generation of rallying dynasty of the McGettigans with his father Seamus (Mac) who was also a navigator on the first all Donegal team to win their home international rally back in 1983 with Vincent Bonnar, also in a MK2 Escort. Family and friends turned out in Letterkenny on Monday evening to welcome home as the crew who proudly displayed the Bones O Connor West Cork National Rally Cup. and other silverware.
Paddy and Fanny the gate
7,142 supporters made their way home through the gates of the O’Donnell Park on Sunday evening. For the most of them, who were Donegal fans the news wasn’t good. It was the second defeat on the trot, not like our boys at all.
The Donegal team’s new sponsors KN Networks Group probably got the news as fast as everyone else through the telecom networks that KN Networks provide nationwide. For the company boss from Frosses, Donagh Kelly could be forgiven for his distraction.
As the national media were exporting the news and images out of the O’Donnell Park on Sunday evening better news was being imported up from the west of Co. Cork.
Donagh Kelly was on day two of the West Cork Rally and was notching up a unique hat-trick by winning the event for the third time.
More good news was on the way up from there too as the national rally title was going to Donegal’s Brian Brogan. The good news of both wins made there way home and Brian’s win was welcomed at the old gatehouse across the road from the O’Donnell Park.
The old gatehouse was once only known locally as “Paddy and Fanny the gate” . Paddy and his wife Fanny Mc Monagle lived there, but were also gatehouse keepers in the day of the Letterkenny to Burtonport railway which closed in 1947. This was the gatehouse for Ballymacool House over the centuries.
The old gatehouse welcomed the first owners of Ballymacool House, the Spans of Bristol then it was the Boyds and finally the Kelly’s of the Mill. The gates were opened to greet all the special modes of transport in arrived in Letterkenny since transport began.
So it was fitting that on Monday evening the old gatehouse which now is refurbished into Tir na Nog Bar welcomed home a beautiful black Ford Escort all the way from the other side of Ireland, and it was the Brogan clan and McGettigans who were the boys around town at the weekend as they celebrated a great over all win on the West Cork Rally.
One of a kind
It’s hard to believe that only one Ford Escort Mk2 RS 1800 sold and originally registered in Co. Donegal.
DZP 700 was that car which I recently seen at a classic car show. The car was a special order placed by the Ford dealership of the day in the mid 70’s, Friel’s of Creeslough.
The young salesman that placed the order was Mr. Noel McGinley. The car was ordered for a local man by the name of Sheridan.
Noel said it seemed to take for ever for the special order to arrive, and when the car eventually did arrive it looked like most of the other 2-door Mk2 Ford Escorts of the day with the exception of a thick blue strip along the lower panels,
One of Ford’s most successful motorsport cars, and like any rally car there had to be a road version to enable the cars to obtain homologation to go racing.
Ford built a limited undisclosed number of road cars, thought to be around 109. These road cars were built in a small unit at the Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) Pilot Plant Aveley Essex, later to become Special Vehicle Operations (SVO). This site is where the earlier Mexicos and RS cars were built.
The Ford RS1800 launch date was 10th June 1975 with a price of £2825 in England for the basic model and £2990 for the custom version, with a plusher interior. By the end of production in September 1977, this price had risen to £4274.
Noel sold the car new in the mid 70’s as salesman for Friel’s of Cresslough and was to take the car as a trade in when he started his own business McGinley Motors in Letterkenny and went on to sell the only originally registered Donegal RS1800 road car for the second time.
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