Tag Archives: rally

ONE person has died and another injured following an accident during the Clare Stages rally this afternoon. The incident occurred at around 1.30pm at Glencolumbkille near Carron where the Clare Stages Rally was being run. The event was immediately halted while emergency services were alerted and responded to the scene. National Ambulance Service paramedics responded to the incident while the Emergency Aeromedical Service air ambulance, Aeromed-01, based in Cork and operated by the HSE, was also requested to attend. In the meantime, the event’s own emergency response crews responded to the incident. The victim, Damien Fleming, a native of Kilcummin, County Kerry, was pronounced dead at the scene. A second man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. While the event was later halted, the road where the incident occurred has been closed and is not expected to reopen until tomorrow after Garda Forensic Collision Investigators have completed an examination of the scene The organisers of the event issued a …

A protest rally highlighting the “dire situation” facing North Clare’s waterways will be held in Ennistymon next week with campaigners saying “The rivers of Clare cannot be used as toilets”. The Save Our Rivers campaign was recently formed by a group of North Clare citizens who say they are “tired of the pollution, the fish kills and all the other forms of environmental destruction”. Group spokesperson Denis Vaughan is urging members of the public to show their support at the rally which will be held on Saturday, September 9 at 2pm at the Ennistymon Area Office of Clare County Council. According to Mr Vaughan there is a “clear need” for the campaign, explaining it comes after the recent high profile fish kill in the Ennistymon area in which thousands of fish died. They are also highlighting concerns over untreated sewage being pumped into the sea and rivers in North Clare. “Lahinch Beach is frequently closed because of the presence of …

As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations for Renault’s Formula One activity, they invited Irish rally legend, Rosemary Smith to Paul Ricard to become, at 79, the oldest person to drive a modern F1 car. Rosemary initially trained as a seamstress and opened her own dress shop, which unexpectedly became her route into the world of motorsport when one of her clients invited her to navigate in a rally. Rosemary has competed in some of the most iconic rallies around the world, taking home many trophies. A particularly poignant victory was the famous Tulip Rally, which she won in 1965, an achievement which made not only the motorsport world take notice but also Hollywood, with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sending her a huge bouquet and congratulatory letter. Despite these achievements, Rosemary never got the chance to partake in arguably the greatest motorsport experience – driving a Formula One car – until now. With encouragement from long-term friend and navigator, …

By Nicola Corless PARTS of the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route were closed to facilitate an unofficial “modified car rally”, it emerged this week. Gardaí have said they were “shocked” by a large, “planned and organised”, unofficial motoring event, which took place in the dead of night on roads between Lahinch and Ballyvaughan last month. On March 7, approximately 70 cars converged on the promenade in Lahinch before travelling to the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin and on to Corkscrew Hill in Ballyvaughan, where the main event occurred. Chief Superintendent John Kerin said that gardaí were shocked by what they saw on the night. “Activities of what people call ‘boy racers’ have dwindled a lot in recent years because of the economy but in the last couple of months there has been an increase in activities and they have become more organised so we put an operation in place to tackle this,” he said. “We had noticed ‘doughnuts’ on the roads …