These are the things that dreams are made off. This week, Donegal Daily’s motor columnist Brian McDaid talked to Damien Tourish who was the overall winner of the Fastnet Rally in Cork at the weekend in his Ford Mk2 Escort.
Gerard Browne for G. Browne Toolhire was one happy man as he punched the air in Bantry on Sunday evening. You could be mistaken for thinking he was the driver of the 1976 Dublin registered Ford Escort as it sat on the finishing ramp of the 2018 Fastnet Rally.
Gerard’s joy was an expression of long-term belief in his lifelong friend Damien Tourish who with navigator Domhall McAlaney brought their Ford Escort Mk2 over the finish line as outright winners for a historic win.
AslingTourish , Alice Mc Aleany and Linda Browne out in numbers to support Damien Tourish’s on his over all win overall win in Cork at the weekend. as a very Proud sponsor Gerard Browne celebrates in the centre of the picture.
All day on Sunday Shannonside rally results nearly went into meltdown as supporters from Donegal that weren’t able to make it to Cork were waiting in anticipation on every update once the word was out that Tourish was leading the rally in Cork.
Rough Times
The Fastnet as a race may be more famous to those of a sea fairing nature, It’s also a yacht race which is organised by the Royal Racing Club which rounds the Fastnet Rock before its finish in Plymouth.
A race against the elements and a big test for navigation skills. Competitors take on gale force winds low-pressure systems depressions and meteorological disturbances which are likely to occur, and how best to use them, is the key to success in the race.
Not unlike Damien Tourish’s career in rallying has had all too many shipwrecks and low-pressure points and failures over the last few years. Most of the phone calls home started with them words …“We Are Out” ….
But failure is all about how you get up again and prepare for your next challenge. The potential from the first day that Damien stepped behind the wheel of a Honda Civic and then progressed to an Evo was always there when then early times came in and Tourish was knocking on the door for the lead in the class he was competing.
Even double winner of the Donegal International Rally, James Cullen was one of the first to spot the ability of Tourish when he first started out and how had the great to be able to carry speed.
Damien credited the knowledge that people like James Cullen share with him as a part of an overall learning process to make a win possible.
Damien Tourish and his proud wife Aisling celebrate on the finishing ramp of the Fastnet rally in Cork at the weekend.
Even after taking a break from the sport the decision to buy this rally car was only supposed to be “for the fun of it”.
The Mk2 Ford Escort came with a 1976 Dublin registration which is nearly a decade older than Damien is himself.
On Sunday evening, Tourish finished with 21 seconds to spare ahead of the WRC Ford Fiesta of Welsh man Melvyn Evans.
Over the nine stages, the crews battled it out after local favourite on the event Darragh O Riordan’s Ford Fiestas retired.
Damien who was just nine seconds back and was in the driving seat to take the lead and after a couple of charges by the Welsh man, he settled for second place with one stage to go.
One of the things that Damien credited his win at the weekend was the fact that they put a lot of preparation into making their own pace notes for every rally they do.
They make them from scratch this means they are pushing right from the moment they come off the start line of the very first stage.
Last weekend everything came together for Damien Tourish
On Monday evening at his home near Cloghan Tourish still hadn’t fully come to terms with the fact that he was the overall winner of the 2018 Fastnet Rally in a two-wheel drive car.
The KGP Power plant built in Co. Donegal By Kevin Gallagher better knowns in the rallying circles at EGG. This is the 2.1 unit in John Squeek Mc Hughs Corolla and Damien Tourish also has the locally built power plant in 2.5 KGP Engine which gave him an overall win. Photos Brian McDaid
That car never missed a beat all weekend right from the start. People like Paul Reid from Reid Motorsport, Rodney Stewart from Synergy Motorsport and Kevin “EGG” Gallagher from KGP are all winners and without them, this win might never have happened.
Emotional at the finish.
On Sunday afternoon, old local men made their way over to congratulate Damien at the finishing ramp and told him what it was like to see another Mk Ford Escort make it first on to the finishing ramp and how they remembered Frank O’Mahoney winning one of the first Fastnet Rally many moons ago – long before Damien was even born in a similar Ford Escort.
Damien Tourish and Domhall Mc Alaney celebrate their outright win on the Cork Fastnet Rally at the weekend.
Damien and Domhall’s Escort could well have recorded a home win in a way as far a 52 HYI was concerned. County Cork was where Ford had their assembly plant back in the day where thousands of Ford Escort Mk2’s came off Ford’s production line in the seventies.
The final word
Thanks must go to the people that have believed and places sponsorship in Damien Tourish by supporting him, especially in the unsuccessful times. I’m sure Gerard Browne was the best ambassador for them when he travelled to Cork with his wife Linda to enjoy Damien success, evening the landlady where they were staying down in Cork though it was Gerard Browne how won the rally he was in such high spirits.
We have included a small video to thank all of Damien Sponsors and also have included the video we did when Donegal Daily first interviewed Damien two years ago.
(Video: Brian McDaid)
Making tracks
And finally, when Damien Tourish is not collecting the laurels for outright wins with his Mk2 Escort he still is driving, but in a vehicle with no steering wheel!
Damien works for himself working on various types of ground works. He can regularly be seen behind the controls of his Hitachi digger.
By chance, Damien was just one of two digger drivers from Donegal who ended up in the top ten of the Fastnet Rally this week.
John Squeek Mc Hugh with his Toyota Corolla which he finished 8th overall in the Fastnet Rally in Cork with Brian Boyle on the notes Photo Brian McDaid.
Damien made the long journey from Ballybofey to Bantry but another Donegal digger driver made the even longer journey from the other side of the world.
Originally from Glenties, John ‘Squeek’ McHugh parked his digger in Brisbane, Australia when he travelled home to do the Harvest Rally at the start of October, which also included the Fastnet Rally before he heads back to Australia at the start of November.
On the Notes was a former winner of the Donegal Rally, Brian Boyle, who came out of early retirement to sit on with ‘Squeek’ on both events.
His Toyota, which is run by Rodney Stewart, finished 8th overall on the weekend’s rally – a brilliant result for the Glenties Boys.
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