Christmas Motorsport event for Ballybeggan track in Tralee
TRALEE is set to host a major motorsport event over the Christmas holiday for the first time thanks to a unique collaboration between the two motor clubs in the county that will bring horsepower of a different kind to the racecourse.
Killarney and District Motor Club will run its postponed Jimmy Devane Memorial Autocross at Tralee Racecourse on December 30. The event was initially due to run in the summer but heavy rainfall meant the chosen venue was left waterlogged on several occasions and the event, named for one of the club’s longest standing members, was deferred and deferred. It looked certain that the 2017 edition of the event would not run until KDMC officials approached Kerry Motor Club, which has used the former horseracing track at Ballybeggan for its auto solo and rally sprint events.
An agreement was reached between the two clubs and the racecourse owners to allow the event run at the end of December.
Christmas Autocross events are popular in Munster, with Cork Motor Club’s St Stephen’s Day outing often attracting 80 cars. Limerick Motor Club’s mid-week event attracts similar numbers. KDMC will be hoping for a large turnout of saloon cars and the spectacular Autocross buggies.
Meanwhile, Kerry Motor Club has confirmed that its annual Rose Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally will run on its traditional date of April 8. There were talks of moving to a late March date as the Easter Stages will run in County Antrim over the same weekend in April and the Tralee based club was concerned that the Northern Irish event would take some of its usual cross-border entries putting the event at financial risk.
However, no other suitable date was available on the calendar – the March date was deemed to close to the West Cork Rally’s St Patrick’s weekend slot- so the Tralee-based club elected to press on with its original date, buoyed by the fact the it will form a round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship next season. Club members undertook an initial route survey last weekend with more details set to be announced in coming weeks.
The London Irish Motor Club honoured Killarney native Mick Smith as its club person of the year at the club’s award night in Hendon in the north of the city on Saturday night.
Smith, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, was honoured for the pivotal role he played in re-forming the club three years ago. He is a regular visitor to Kerry having contested both the Rally of the Lakes and the Killarney Historic Rally on several occasions in the past in a variety of historic specification rally cars.
He attended this year’s Circuit of Kerry as a spectator and is regular competitor on Belgian events having lead a five car London Irish Motor Club team to great success on this year’s Flanders International Rally Challenge.