Brendan Murphy shakes them up in Wales

Posted: November 9, 2004 9:34 AM

Brendan started the championship with the astra stages in early march after missing the first round Brendan steadily climbed up the leader board. With maximum point scores on such challenge and well known rallys as the Panaround, Swansea bay and woodpecker stages, also took podium finishes in the remaining five rounds. Brendan has also taken victory in class N4 to add to his group N and third overall achievement

The young mallow man commented “ Its been a long difficult, time consuming season but this has made it all worth while. There is still alot of work to be done over the winter with the car already gone to teg sport in England for a complete rebuild before the Galway international in February”

Brendan is intending to compete in the Danish rally championship next year also had the results to qualify for the Billy Coleman award as early as April this year.

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29/07/04
No place like home for Brendan Murphy
Eighteen year old Brendan Murphy from Mallow in Co. Cork took Group N honours in his Subaru Impreza in last weekend's The Windscreen Company Cork Forest Rally. Driving in his home event and co-driven by Patrick Condon, Brendan took advantage of his rivals mishaps to record an excellent 8th overall and win the Group N category.

Photos: CMV Productions

A strong entry assembled for the start of the event in Mallow and Brendan knew he'd have to be at his best to beat the likes of John Shanahan, Pete Willoughby, Stephen Moore and John McGlaughlin. After taking things cautiously on the first loop of stages Brendan found himself in a solid 7th place after 3 stages, the only problem he encountered was a slight turbo lag. For the second loop of stages Brendan really put the pressure on, and for stage 4 his time was a stunning 31 seconds faster than his first run over the stage and was second fastest in Group N. A further 3rd and 2nd on the last two stages of the day saw Brendan & Patrick move up to 4th in Group N overnight and only 26.8 seconds off second place.

Sunday morning opened with the infamous 16 mile Streamhill Bridge stage where the turbo lag problems hit again but 5th fastest in Group N was achieved. This problem was to get progressively worse as the day went on. However it didn't stop him from posting a third fastest time on the 8th stage as the pace began to hot up. At this point Brendan & Patrick were up to 3rd behind John Shanahan and Pete Willoughby. Stage 10, Streamhill Bridge 2 proved to be decisive in the battle as Shanahan retired with mechanical problems and Willoughby also hit trouble. Brendan set his first fastest time to move within two seconds of Willoughby with just two stages remaining.

Stage 11 the penultimate stage saw the crew set another fastest time and take 11 seconds off their previous run to go into a 3.9 second lead with just one short stage left. Both drivers went on a serious charge through the last stage with Pete Willoughby setting a fastest time, but as Brendan was only 0.2 seconds slower, he won Group N by 3.7 seconds after a fierce battle. It was a great achievement in his first full year rallying.

Brendan would like to thank his sponsors for the event, Kealys Coaches Kanturk, JMR Tiles Mallow, and Getconnected.com whose support helped make victory at the weekend possible.

• 2004 Cork Forest Rally - 24-25 Jul 04

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23/07/04
Pre Cork Forestry
18yr old Subaru Impreza mounted charger Brendan Murphy returns to home turf for this weekends Mallow based Cork Forestry. Fresh from a very solid result on last weekends Swansea bay rally where Brendan finished 29th overall and first registered group N runner in the Welsh National series.

Swansea bay runs on such classic WRC stages as Resolven, Rhonda and Walters Arena and it was a fast slippy sometimes foggy challenge right from the first stage. Brendan was hampered somewhat by an intermittent misfire and a hub that was damaged in the rough conditions that such wet weather brings to the fast gravel roads. However he pushed on to complete the rally at a measured pace mindful of the need to bring the car home first in the points for the Welsh championship and the fact that his hometown rally was approaching in under a week. The end result of 29th overall, car intact and best in championship was pleasing as the Welsh ditches were littered with many cars that had succumbed to both the rough and slippy nature of the fast s! tages.

This weekend sees Brendan at home in Mallow with a short distance to travel to compete, something new after the many treks to the Welsh forests this season. Another new aspect is Wexford Co driver Patrick Condon; he has stepped in at the 11th hour as Brendans regular navigator for the Welsh Championship Martin Brady from Navan has regrettably had to take a step back for this weekend due to the pressures of work commitments. The 2 day Cork Forestry is home ground for teenager Brendan and he is in relaxed form planning to enjoy the weekend and the return to Irish gravel. So the loss of Martin for the weekend should not stop his stride unduly. Brendan and Pat have 2 days & 90 miles of the best of Irish forests ahead on the Windscreen Company backed event in the group N Subaru. The event starts on Saturday at 12.30pm and heads for its first forest in Killavullen.

• 2004 Cork Forest Rally - 24-25 Jul 04

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08/06/04
Mutiny throws up Character Building run for Brendan Murphy
Brendan Murphy and his co driver Martin Brady arrived in the town of Llandrindod Wells in Mid Wales buoyed by the confidence of previous strong results in their Get Connected supported Subaru Impreza. However retirements are part and parcel of rallying, notwithstanding that the first one is sometimes the hardest to swallow.

The Mallow youngster's tale of woe began on a flat left corner near the end of stage two where at full rally speed Brendan hit a rock that had probably been dragged onto the road by an earlier competitor, a hazard that co driver Martin Brady could not have had in the pace notes and Brendan could not avoid. At the end of the stage when examined the damage was even worse than feared with a severely bent cross member and steering pointing at very awkward angles. This was a bitter blow given the encouraging time achieved on the challenging 16 mile opening stage. The first stage had gone to the plan of a cautious approach but still netted a time ahead of all but one of the class rivals in the Welsh National Championship.

Thanks to the valiant efforts of the chase car and their emergency repairs 4 more stages were attempted with the ill handling car and the times were encouraging despite the difficulty. Brendan was driving impressively in the face of the problems, but then electrical problems began. These electrical woes were as a result of the damage caused by the errant stone on stage 2, on stage 6 sparks from damaged wires forced the crew to stop in fear of fire starting and over 3 minutes were lost with this and the intermittent loss of electrical power.

On return to the service halt the Maxspeed mechanics tried valiantly to repair the damaged steering, but the scale of the task given the extensive damage was such that the time in the service halt wasn't enough and retirement was the reluctant outcome. The result is not one that will dishearten the crew too much though, dropped scores are a part of this 9 round championship and the pace both before and after the rock mishap was encouraging compared to the championship rivals. Swansea Bay is the next target in 5 weeks t! ime and possibly then a homecoming event with the Mallow based Cork Forestry the following July Weekend. Mutiny can be reflected on as a learning event for Brendan who is still less than a year in stage rallying. With thanks to the kind support of Get Connected.

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17/05/04
Second Time out-Murphy & Brady take dust choked Second
Saturday 15th May saw 18 year old Brendan Murphy and his Co Driver Martin Brady tackle the Rally Wales national event. It was their second round of the 04 Welsh National Championship in their Maxspeed run Impreza.

Scorching Sunshine and little wind accompanied the crew on each of the challenging 5 stages which made up 65 tough competitive miles. Stage one Dyfi was started very steady with learning and experience being the goal. No risks were taken, still on this tough stage there was a big slide down a ditch on a long hairpin and then difficulty negotiating another very tight hairpin uphill, not helped by a un- co operative reverse gear. The crew came out of the stage in a confident mood having been second fastest on the stage despite the dramas taking 3 seconds out of the great Gwyndaf Evans who was on his home ground in the little MG.

However things were to turnaround slightly, Thomas Curtis who was running much further back on the road had set a scorching fastest time by 10 seconds on stage one and then on Stage 2 Gwyndaf proved how he is one of the best by taking fastest time by 13 seconds with Curtis second fastest one second up on Brendan, the race was certainly hotting up.

Murphy and Brady responded on SS3 with their first fastest time of the day by 2 seconds from Curtis, but by now Murphy at second car on the road was catching a slower car by 40 to 50 seconds per stage. It was brutally frustrating for the crew and exceptionally risky- Martin came out of SS3 choking on dust saying " We can see nothing, we are backing off on straights and on some occasions coming to a dead stop, its just a solid wall of dust, its killing our times and really unsafe" Brendan was equally dejected saying "We are catching dust from the first mile and as we get closer to the Escort it gets more dangerous- the notes are good but I just cant commit 100% to what I cant see, we couldn't recce these stages and its new territory, we will keep trying but the championship is the most important thing so we will only push so much"

Stage 4 which was Dyfi again saw local ace Curtis take 3 seconds from the Irish challengers, Gwyndaf now dropping back, he also suffering from the dust of slower cars. With it all to play for on the last 11 miles of Gartheiniog Brendan and Martin set off into the dust on a scorching pace pushing as hard as the dust and blinding evening sun would allow. It wasn't to be the luckiest stage, a puncture was picked up with 8 miles to go. The Kumho tyre still held a good deal of strength despite rapidly deflating, but the pace was seriously hampered. The crew came out on a wheel rim amazed to find despite this they were against fastest overall by 9.6 seconds, a brilliant last stage push but not enough to see off Tom Curtis who took a hard fought win by 2.8 seconds.

The crew left Wales quite happy with their second overall, a career best for both of them, reflecting on what experience had been gained and this included moving up to 3rd in the overall group N Championship standings and leading the junior category. Next round is Mutiny in early June, and Brendan and Martin are focused on further improving the standings and getting more experience in the Welsh forest and also appearing with support from new team sponsor mobile phone experts Get Connected.

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08/03/04
Welsh National Championship beckons for Murphy & Brady
Promising Mallow based 18 year old Brendan Murphy has chosen the Competition Car Insurance Welsh National Championship as his challenge for the 2004 season. Having teamed with Navan based Co Driver Martin Brady preparations are now at an advanced stage to tackle this 9 round Welsh Gravel Championship. A Group N Subaru Impreza has been sourced from Welsh based Group N experts Maxspeed and this team has been chosen to oversee Brendan's ambitious 2004 campaign.

Brendan has just returned from a 2 day session with another group N expert Brendan Crealy at his excellent Superdrive Facility near Portadown. Both Brendan's were very impressed, Brendan Murphy with the performance of the new car and with the help and tutoring of the Superdrive staff. Brendan Crealy was impressed with the underlying speed of the Mallow young gun. Crealys synopsis was that at 18 years of age with the level of natural talent and commitment already in place this young man has a potentially bright future ahead of him, praise indeed from such an accomplished driver as Brendan Crealy.

Not to be left on the sidelines Co Driver Martin Brady sat in for a few runs of the Superdrive gravel track with his new driver for 2004. Martin exited the car very impressed and very hopeful for the season, commenting that

"Brendan's instant confidence and controlled aggression with an un familiar car impressed me greatly, its an excellent car and he knows how to make it work, I'm looking forward to this championship immensely"

Brendan comes from a solid background in both Karting and single seaters also he undertook a selected challenge of Irish gravel and tarmac events in 2003 using both a Subaru Leone to gain 4wd experience on gravel and a Toyota Corolla on tarmac, securing impressive finishes whilst concentrating on gaining valuable miles.

So the stage is set for the Welsh National Championship for Brendan and Martin, their first event being the Astra stages in early April and later in the year such quality events as Rally Wales, Woodpecker Stages and The Bulldog Rally to name but 3.