It was a case of first time unlucky for the rapid Graham Quinn from Dunboyne in his Peugeot 106 as he tackled his first single stage rally and only his 3rd Tarmac rally with his Navan based Co driver Martin Brady
Posted: August 20, 2003 7:53 PM
The North East Motorsports club ran their annual tarmac single stage on a demmanding course of 9 miles over White Mountain just outside Collon in Co Louth and Graham and Martin faced stiff oposition in their class with over 15 other similar 1600cc Group A cars to battle against.
The first drama of the day for the crew came when the intercom failed on the practice stage, but swift wiring repair skills from Graham in service left
the intercom good as new and the lads left service in confident mood as they
headed for the first stage, however luck was to desert them. A puncture just
a mile into the first stage caused by glancing off a large rock on the
inside of a corner made for a tough battle to finish the stage. The rapidly
deflating tyre caused the car to understeer into a bank further down the
stage and this gifted the crew with a second puncture and left them crossing
the finish line with both front tyres in shreds and on two rims much to the
amusement of the time keepers.
Stage two brought even more bad luck when a suspension strut burst possibly as a result of the damage caused by driving on the punctures. This new problem made the car almost undriveable but Graham battled on to finish the stage much annoyed.
The final stage and the gloves were off as Graham and Martin sat at the
start line determined to salvage the day and set a blistering time with a
car which was now back to full health after service. Amazingly in luck that
only Basil Fawlty could have it started to bucket rain just as they started
the stage, and the 106 was on a set of shinny slicks all round. Again
another fine drive from the determined Dunboyne man saw an impressive time
in the conditions and brought a fine recovery to 18th overall and 5th in the hotly contested class 6 which left Graham and Martin somewhat satisfied but still mournefull of what could have been were it not for the appauling luck.
Better luck next time perhaps? The crew would like to congratulate Eugene Megan on the class win and 11th overall and thank the two competitors who sportingly loaned them spare wheels to get back to service and the Quinn racing service crew including Marty Amy and Laura, and also fellow 106 competitor Ivan Allen for generously loaning parts from his own car.
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