Well it has been hectic this last few weeks as the season finally kicked off. I always think that March is such a slow month waiting for the first race meeting of the season. I, along with a good selection of the Mondello regulars, pointed her North for the first meeting of the season at the end of last month. With Vees, Sheanes, Ginetta Juniors all opening their championship campaigns at the meeting, the racing was always going to be good. It was wonderful to see a capacity FF1600 entry, with a qualifying race required early on to sort the grid for the main race. Ivor McCullough was typically impressive on his way to another win but particularly impressive from my point of view, were the performances of Sean Doyle and Niall Murray. Despite having no single seater experience, Murray was right in there, whilst Doyle was his usual feisty self, probably pulling off the move of the race, scrabbling round the outside of Murray and Steven Daly together at Fishermans mid-race! Both Doyle and Murray looked to be on the ragged edge for the duration, often using all the kerbs and a little more on the way out of the chicane. Great to watch, I have no doubt they will challenge for wins in this series during the year. I can’t wait to see a capacity FF1600 grid heading down to Ford corner when they return to Mondello later in the year! It was a weekend to forget for MI Young Driver of the year Kevin O’Hara, who struggled with setup over the weekend before badly damaging the chassis of his Van Diemen in a big shunt. His pace is undoubted but Kevin’s is not the luckiest guy around- he must be due a break soon! Kevin Sheane posted intentions of regaining his 2011 title when he took the Formula Sheane lead off the line and fought off the attentions of Brian Hearty for the duration. The new FCR The FCR Media Team at Kirkistown. Image from JayTee Photographic Media team made their debut with Sheanes for Barry Rabbitt, in Golden Pages livery and Jennifer Mullan in Mobileready.ie and sayso.ie colours. Rabbitt ran with the leaders until gear selection issues dropped him back, but fought back to 5th by the end. The Ginetta Junior class had a handful of cars on the grid, despite the addition of Eorann O’Neill for this one. Always puzzles me that this class is not over subscribed, as the cars appear to be reasonably priced, if you talk to the right people (!) and the running costs are way below that of top line karting. There may be a few exciting additions to this class soon though, so watch this space! Dylan Curley took both wins with Jack Finlay and Sophie Byrne sharing the running up spots. Ray Moore was impressive and pretty much untouchable in Vees and one wonders who will challenge him in 2013…. Kirkistown Fiestas gave great entertainment with a four car battle for the duration. As usual, young Turkington was ahead when it mattered, but he had to work for this one! The Patch Fiestas were brilliant on their debut. Image from Con Connolly The Mondello season opener a few weeks later will probably be remembered for the debut of Mondello.tv, which I feel has huge potential going forward. The idea of live TV is a daunting one, and having been involved, I can confirm that it was a steep learning curve and there was a lot of running round behind the scenes. The small issues can easily be ironed out however and in general the feedback was fantastic. The other big news was the debut of the Patch Tyre Equipment Fiesta championship. As I have said before, one of the best things about this series, cost apart, is the fact that 80% of these guys are complete novices, first time licence holders. This can only be good for the sport. The racing too was fantastic. I had feared that some hero might decide to challenge for the lead at the first corner from 14th on the grid with resultant carnage but in the main part, the driving standards were superb, hard but fair. Any incidents were dealt with and indeed the offending drivers put their hands up and took the blame. A Ford representative checked all the cars with a diagnostic tool and further checks will be made at each round. A number of cars were sealed for stripdown too. It is hugely important to police this class from a technical point of view and it would appear that the Mondello Park Sports Club are on top of this so far with an inventory of genuine Ford parts which they will fit to cars at random during the year, whilst checking the competitors’ parts. Moore continued his Vee domination with a strong win, with Dan Polley and Robbie Allen showing well with fighting drives up the grid. Colm Blackburn impressed with another B/C win to add to his Kirkistown one in the works Leastone. Alan Watkins took another Stryker win but it seems Dave Griffin and Alan Auerbach have the pace to challenge him in 2013. Griffin had a misfire in race one I haven’t owned the Mini or the Hiace in this picture- yet! but tangled with Watkins whilst challenging for the lead in race two, whilst the spectacular Auerbach chased down Watkins and was about to challenge when the leader retired- signs of a good season for the budget sportscars. Future Classics also made their debut at this meeting and it was great to see such an eclectic mix on the grid for the first race. Ian Thornton’s Mk1 Golf GTi ran away with the race but in his wake, Unos, 205GTIs, a Chevette and even an MG Maestro battled mightily. (It was only when I realised I had owned two of the Unos, The Maestro and the Golf at some stage, that I realised I might have a problem!) I also made my Mondello Bar debut on the Saturday night, pulling pints for a good selection of drivers, mechanics and supporters. Ian Beatty’s better half, Sharon, has taken over the running of the bar this year- the changes are noticeable already, and I have no doubt there will be various promotions there during race meetings this year. (How about a Mexican Fiesta night for the Patch Fiesta gang at some stage?!) On the following Monday, I was delighted to have been invited to give a talk to the members of the RIAC Archive in Dawson Street. I had intended to prepare something for it but as ever time ran out and I had to wing it. I was convinced I would bore them to tears with stories of Dad bringing me to Mondello as a kid, my karting debut thanks to Donal Loughrey, my various races, then a few stories about various commentaries etc. I need not have worried, the members are huge enthusiasts and it was a wonderful evening. One of my favourite stories, and one which I would not believe were I not involved in it, recalled when Donal Loughrey and I left Bolton Street DIT at lunch time on a Wednesday, got the 11 bus to UCD and walked back to the Loughrey household, where we Donal Loughrey at the wheel of the machine which gave us both our debuts- wish I still had it now! loaded his recently purchased ex Morgan Dempsey Zip-Dap kart into his Mother’s Fiat Uno. We did this quite regualarly but on this particular day it rained. We has no wets so took to the track on slicks! When we braked at the grandstand, the rears locked, and with direct drive, the engine stopped, accompanied by a deafening silence, until the brake was released and the motor restarted. As ever, we alternated runs and the last run was my turn. By this time Gerry Dorgan had headed away for his tea and left us to our own devices. Wednesday afternoon testing ran most weeks and sessions were for cars, karts and bikes, with bikes running left hand in back then. at one stage I came through turn two, probably still known as B.O.A.C. back then (As an interesting aside, I was walking by Ray Moore’s pit last weekend and overheard him discussing how the car handles “through B.O.A.C” with Bernard Dolan!), With an armful of opposite lock on, the rear right mounted the exit kerb and around I went. After two failed efforts to push start, I lay on the grass to catch my breath. I decided to give it one more go and it fired, I jumped aboard and headed for “Duckhams”, throttle wide open. Unbeknownst to me, 6 bikers were at the end of the pitlane. With no marshalls about, they listened, heard nothing, assumed the track was empty, and left the pitlane- left hand in!!! I was coming up out of Duckhams on the end of the rack when I met them. They passed me like a flash on both sides and when I returned to the pitlane, I was apparently as white as a sheet and didn’t see the funny side of it, unlike Donal!! Great days….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbtLXXdiyhc
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