Ballyvaughan Hillclimbs - 27-28 Apr 02

Posted: April 26, 2002 7:22 AM

This 1.1mile hill was run by Clare MC in the mid-eighties. It has a gentle gradient and will be very fast, as the surface is excellent and it is quite wide with only two significant bends. The hill is on the coast road from Ballyvaughan to Lisdoonvarna and is approximately five miles beyond Fanore village. Ballynalackan Castle is just beyond the road closed area.

At 2.2 miles, Ballyallaban hill on the Ballyvaughan to Glenslade road is the longest hill currently used for hillclimbing. Starting around the corner above the entrance to the Aillwee Caves the hill is extremely fast with a number of long straights interspersed with tight bends. The hill record of l min. 43.32secs, an average speed of 76.65mph, was set by Richard Young in his Cougar Rover in 1989, when he knocked 0.2 of a second off the 11 year record of Derek Shortall. It is the longest standing hill record in Ireland

Reigning Dunlop Hillclimb Champion and Galway Motor Club Champion Frank Byrnes will be hoping to secure victory on his home event. However he faces stiff opposition from a very impressive international field. Former champions Jenny Kennedy and Ronnie Maybin together with Peter McKinley, Michael Roche, and Peter Dunne are expected to Frank's main opposition. Winner of the last round Karl Cleary will not be competing after destroying his engine in Dungarvan two weeks ago.

Drivers and organisers will be paying a special tribute to the memory of Dick Bailey who was taken from us suddenly, and also to Hugh Massey. Go nEíri an Bóthar Libh

More details will be available on the GMC website this Friday www.iol.ie/~jordane/, and all going well photographs of the event will be available on Monday.

Roads will close at 10am each day and will re-open at 6.30pm approx.