Mullins motors to success in record time

THE peaceful tranquillity of the Burren was interrupted for the weekend as the area reverberated to the sound of F1-style engines as this year’s Connaught competition, Engines Hillclimb and Sprint Championship for the Frank Keane Trophy was staged.

The Clare and Galway Motor Clubs joined forces this year to arrange a double-header weekend on two of the great Irish Hillclimb venues, Corkscrew and Ballyallaban.
Superb weather on both days and a large entry of 55 competitors for Saturday and 71 for Sunday made for a smooth running of the event. The grippy tarmac and high speeds saw both hill records smashed again this year with drivers getting a practice run and four timed runs on Saturday, followed by a practice run and three timed runs on Sunday.
Paul O’Connell wasn’t available for the weekend but multiple former championship winner, Frank Byrnes and local expert and indeed the winner of Clare’s Ballyryan hillclimb in 2010, Sylvie Mullins, were on-hand to give championship leader Simon McKinley a good run for his money.
Sylvie’s first time on Saturday was enough to win the event and he improved further on runs two and three, setting a new record of 48.39s for the hill in his Judd V8 powered Gould, smashing Simon McKinley’s 2010 record of 56.00s.
McKinley’s best was just over 0.6s slower, enough for maximum points for the championship registered drivers and first in class 7. Frank Byrnes’s first time was his best on the day. Joe Courtney was another fast local, fourth overall and first in class six in his OMS. Brendan Keane made fourth in class 7, fifth overall in the swallow R14. John Byrne claimed second in class 6 and sixth overall.
Dermot Nolan shared his Reynard once again, this time with championship sponsor Phil Price. Dermot was seventh overall and Phil made the top 10. They were split by Adrian McCallion, who was third in class 6 and Rory Stephens, on his way to win class 3B.
Retired Shannon air traffic controller, Donal Griffin displayed some serious firepower with the F3000 Reynard he has developed and he finished in 11th position.
The glorious weather continued for round four of the championship held on Sunday at Ballyallaban and this time it was Simon McKinley’s chance to dominate as Sylvie Mullins did not make Sunday’s run after developing gear trouble in the Judd-engined Gould.
McKinley put in a spectacular drive to finish the 2.2-mile course in only 93.56s, again smashing his own hill record of 95.02 seconds, which he set in 2010. He was over 7.5s faster than second-placed Byrnes, who was over eight seconds ahead of third-placed Brendan Keane.
Dermot Nolan’s attempt on the final run ended in a spectacular crash after he clipped a rock on the inside of one of the Burren’s treacherous corners, He was lucky to walk away from an accident in which he went backwards through a stone wall.
Eanna Carroll took full advantage of his Civic suspension travel and utilised its power to land among the single seaters in fifth overall, just a second behind Dermot Nolan’s best and first in class 3B.
Adrian McCallion was first in class 6 and sixth overall. Phil Price was much closer to Dermot’s pace in the car they shared. The margin between them was the same as the day before but the hill was twice as long. Rory Stephens developed some engine problems as the day went on but still managed eighth overall and second in 3B. Trevor Cullen was, again, the fastest rear wheel drive saloon in his Escort G3, third in 3B and Ray Cunningham got the little mini into the top 10 and first in class 1.
Clare Motorclub were well represented in the results with John O’Sullivan finishing second in Class 8 in his Citroen C2 and Tony Tuttle finishing third in Class 9 in his Ford Escort on Saturday.
On Sunday’s Ballyallaban Hill, John O’Sullivan was the winner in Class 8 in his Citroen C2, Tom Ryan finished third in Class 8 in his Opel Corsa, while Al Meaney finished second in Class 2 in his Suzuki Swift.
The championship rolls into Carrick-on-Suir for rounds five and six on May 14 and 15.
Further information is available on www.irishhillclimb.com