Forestry rally car fans fall head over wheels for 80 amazing cars
HUNDREDS of people gathered in New Ross to see a selection of world class rally cars whose owners were setting off on the Carrick on Suir Willie Loughman Forestry Rally.
Stafford’s New Ross was centre stage for this year’s rally which saw drivers from across the country competing over 70 miles of stages. Some of the rally cars were very expensive - the kind most people would never get to see up close, only on TV.
One of the organisers Pierce Handrick said drivers took on the forests outside Mullinavat before travelling to Inistioge and finally White Mountain.
They returned to Stafford’s yard for the main service of the day which attracted a large crowd of spectators who eagerly awaited to see some of these awesome cars and meet the drivers and navigators and see the mechanics at work.
Afterwards they continued on to repeat the same stages, Pierce said.
Some of the local drivers were Eoin Neville in a Mitsubishi Evo, Neil Hickey in a Subaru Impreza, James Bradley in a Vauxhall Nova and PJ Doyle in a Peugeot 205.
The overall winner driving a driving a Skoda Fabia R5 was Martin McCormack and co driver Barney Mitchell, both of whom hail from Derry. In second place was 2nd Andrew Purcell from Waterford, with Sam Moffett from Monaghan in third.
On the Limit Sports will have highlights of the rally on Saturday, February 2, on RV4 at 10.15 a.m.