Clare Motor Club Indoor Motorshow - 21 Nov 10

Event Poster

Posted: November 16, 2010 3:21 PM

INDOOR MOTORSPORT, BIKE AND CAR SHOW TO CELEBRATE CLARE MOTOR CLUB 30 YEARS

Posted: November 16, 2010 3:18 PM

Like all good ideas they start small and simple, the foundation of the Clare Motor Club was no different. On the 30th March 1980 three motorsport enthusiasts, Pete Larner, Dermot Kelleher and Paddy Bradley, met at Carspares on the Mill Road in Ennis and the chat began regarding forming a motor club.
It was decided to put out the word that a meeting and a Rally Video Show would be held in the Lifford Arms (now M.T. Pockets) on April 9th and if the attendance was good, the Club would be formed. About fifty people attended and it was decided that the club would be officially launched in the West County Hotel on 29th April 1980 and the first committee would be selected.

The Club applied to the R.I.A.C. for affiliation in 1981 but was turned down on the grounds that Clare was well served with clubs on both sides i.e. Limerick and Galway. Meetings followed with both clubs, Bridge Brophy of Galway and Shaun Wall and Donal Griffin of Limerick to enlist their help to be recognised by the governing body in Dublin and after several months of negotiations and helping out by providing marshals and officials for the Galway International and the Limerick Thomond Rally as well as running a stage for the Circuit of Ireland as it came through Clare. With the backing of the UAC and the late Wilfie Fitzsimons of the R.I.A.C. who the club members had met on a trip to the “Isle of Man Rally”, affiliation was finally granted on February 23rd. 1982. The Club ran its first Single Stage in 1982. In 1983, the Club ran a number of events, which included a forestry single stage run by Gerry Quinn and followed by a night navigation held by Eddie McCourt. A hill-climb by Olan Twomey, a tarmac single stage by John Butler, followed by another single stage at Shannon by Paddy Bradley and a mountain cross by Terry Hynes. The running of these events gave the club the confidence to repeat these events in 1984 as well as the addition of a test trail in May. The Club then took the ultimate step in increasing the tarmac single stage rally to a Stages Rally on July 8th, which was called the Hydro Hotel Stages Rally. Clerk of the Course was Johnny Hill and the event proved to be a great success.... On July 6th. 1986 the club moved to Kilkee where with the help of the town traders ran the Kilkee Stages Rally. Paddy Bradley was clerk of the course and the event was won by the late Frank Meagher.

The Clare Stages Rally was set up in 1988 by David Hogan and Dermot Kelleher and was based at the Amber Inn on the Tulla Road. Today the Clare Stages Rally has developed into one of the premier rounds of both the Dunlop National Rally Championship and the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship and the event which a lot of drivers want to win. As the Club is thirty years old this year the committee have decided to celebrate by having an indoor motorsport and car show next Sunday November 21st. in Unit J Ballymaley Business Park on the Gort Road.
Admission is free and there will be a lot to see for all the family including Modern & Vintage Rally Cars, Single Seaters, Modern & Vintage Motorbikes, Merchandising, Rally Videos show and Play Station for the kids.

Show will open from 1.00pm until 6.00 and further details or if you want to add an Exhibit contact the Club Pro on 086-6028367 / +353 86-6028367