Enniskillen Motor Club 50th Dinner - (Sat) 1 Mar 14

Enniskillen Motor Club 50th Dinner Celebrations

Posted: February 25, 2014 9:34 PM

Enniskillen Motor Club are ‘all systems go’ for their 50th Dinner celebrations coming up on Saturday 1st March in The Manor House Hotel. The fun starts off in The Fisher Suite with a combined audio-visual and pictorial display of the various ‘ups and downs’ and ‘thrills and spills’ featuring a marvellous selection of the Novelty Driving Tests, Autotests, Karts, Navigation/Road Rallying, Special Stage Rallying and Sprints organised by EMC over the last 50 years. Austin Frazer, Club President and sole original Committee member, announced that, ‘This is a very special occasion for the Club and it is most encouraging for us to be able to meet up with so many ‘faces from the past’,

Guest of honour will be Garry Jennings who is current Irish Tarmac Rally Champion who will also bring along some rallying memorabilia from his own collection to augment the display on the night.

Drew Wilson Chairman says, ‘Over 200 tickets have been sold to date so if you haven’t got yours already you need to contact Jackie Elliott on 07884 074168 as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. We have something really special planned for rally fans and with the combination of; old film footage, a booklet featuring characters and moments from the last 50 years of motor sport in Fermanagh plus a static pictorial display of old photographs and motor sport articles from such long-lost publications from the 60s and 70s as ‘WHEELSPIN’, Motorweek, and Ireland’s Saturday Night, a super evening is guaranteed! We are looking forward to sharing an evening of motor sport nostalgia with old friends and new, from around Fermanagh and further a field.’

Wilson went on to emphasise that this is just the beginning of a truly exciting year for EMC and motor sport in Fermanagh. Apart from the upcoming gala evening, The Motor Club plans to run a full calendar of 7 events this year. Indeed the action will start within a week of the 50th Dinner with the McAleer’s Spar Erne Safari Navigation Rally: - a round of the 2014 N Ireland Navigation Rally Championship. This will start once again, on Friday 7th March, from McAleer’s Spar on the Dromore Road in Irvinestown and finish in Mahon’s Hotel, Irvinestown. Indeed it is hoped that in this special year some ‘Old Stagers’ from yesteryear will be persuaded to come out and show us how it used to be done. ‘Northern Ireland Road Rally Champion of 1981’- Gerry McGarrity, Reggie Britton and ‘Rocket Ron’ Neely are all names from the past who may well feature on this year’s entry list. Drew is also Clerk of the Course [CofC]for ‘The Safari’ this year and will once more run a Navigation Class on Tuesday 4th March in the Belmore Court Motel at 8pm [Tel 07851 052322 to book a place].

On Saturday 5th May Ron Neely will be CofC for The May Day Stages Rally, taking place as usual over the tarmac and concrete of St Angelo airport. This rally attracted over 120 entries last year and Ron hopes that the sun will appear again this Bank Holiday Monday 5th May.

Saturday 24th May sees our round of the N Ireland Autotest Championship held on Fisher Engineering’s yard across from St Angelo Airfield. Last year CofC, Keith Boyd got a thorough soaking as cars splashed their way over the wet and slippery concrete and he is fervently hoping for some improvements in the weather this time round.

After a lay-off of over 20 years Saturday 5th July sees the return of ‘The Erne Trophy Sprint’. Club Secretary Declan Gannon stated, ‘What better way for EMC to celebrate our 50th than to bring back this extremely popular event. Initially run over two days in the 70s, the event for this first come-back year will be a one-day affair and will feature the usual ‘Sprint’ fare of single-seaters, specials, saloons and rally cars over the smooth tarmac-only track.

July promises to be another really busy month for EMC with the running of The Campbell’s Rally Time Trial in Clarke’s Quarry later in the month on Saturday 19th. With Eamonn McGarrity as CofC this extremely popular event just goes from strength. Held in blistering heat last year no-one will complain if Eamonn has to employ tankers to keep the dust down once again.

On Saturday 6th September sees the Lakeland Stages Rally run as a round of the 2014 MSA ANICC N Ireland Stage Rally Championship. EMC President Austin Frazer says that, ‘EMC will pull something special out of the hat for our ‘flagship event’ in this, our 50th year. Gerry Cavanagh, Clerk of the Course, and his team will have the enthusiastic and wholehearted support of EMC to go ‘flat out’ and create a memorable rally in the Fermanagh forests’.

The final EMC motor sport event of 2014 will be The Clubman’s Stages 2WD Rally which saw a terrific return to the forest last October. With veteran Drew Wilson as CofC this rally, which will take place on Saturday 4th October, it promises to end the year on a well-deserved high for the 50-year old Enniskillen Motor Club.