Tralee firm at the centre of motorsport’s future
TRALEE’S connection with the history and heritage of the motor industry and motorsport in Ireland looks set to continue thanks to US multinational Tillotsen which has two plants in the town.
Back in the late 1950s the county town was earmarked as one of the locations to manufacture Shamrock Cars thanks to US businessman and company founder William Curtis who was married to a Tralee woman. History of the car’s time in Tralee is sketchy but Curtis did build a factory in the town before moving the whole operation to county Monaghan.
Nearly 60 years before that, Charles Rolls of Rolls Royce fame won the second-ever closed road motorsport event in Ireland when he took victory on the Ballyfinnane Hillclimb in 1903.
These two historical events are part of the reason why Kerry enjoys such a huge car culture and it is only fitting that a Tralee firm looks set to continue that heritage.
Tillotsen is better known for manufacturing carburettors for small engines at one of its Tralee plants but its global concerns and sister operations make several other different components.
This partially led to the formation of Tillotsen Racing. The Tralee based subsidiary manufactures karts that are used in competitions across the world.
Karting is considered the entry-level for motor racing and while many Formula One World Champions, including current champion Lewis Hamilton, started their careers in karting, it is also possible for a driver to spend his entire career in karts.
The last four CIK World and European karting champions used Tillotsen Racing products that were manufactured in Tralee in their championship success.
Since its foundation little over a year ago, Tillotson Racing has sold over 100 racing karts from its Tralee base.
The firm exhibited at last weekend’s Autosport International, Europe’s biggest motorsport trade fair, in Birmingham, England, where a new one-make Tillotsen kart racing championship was launched for UK-based drivers.
“All the engine parts on display at the show are manufactured in Tralee,” engineer Mark Ffrench said. “The karts on display are assembled in Tralee with parts from other Tillotsen factories all over the world. Look where we are – we are at the biggest motorsport show in Europe, we have the biggest kart display here and it all came from Tralee.”
As well as launching the new UK championship Ffrench confirmed that Tillotsen Racing was active in several other countries including The Netherlands, Belgium and the USA and plans for 2020 include expanding its Irish racing operations and cracking the Australian market.
“Tralee is the central hub for all of this,” Ffrench added.
AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL
LAST weekend, Motorsport Ireland
broke new ground by exhibiting at Autosport International, Europe’s biggest motorsport trade fair.
The Irish governing body’s attendance at the show was made possible by support from a number of motor clubs across the country including Killarney and District Motor Club.
Over the four days, MI and KDMC officials met with 1000s of visitors as they promoted Irish events to international drivers and fans.
The late Russel Brookes was the last overseas driver to win the Rally of the Lakes. He won the 1989 event, the same year he became the last foreign driver to win the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship title. This is a statistic that Irish organisers are keen to address.
“We came here not knowing what the reaction would be,” said outgoing Rally of the Lakes clerk of the course Dermot Healy. “The reaction has been overwhelming and we have met people from all over Europe. In my opinion, this should become an annual event. We learned a lot.”
Visitors to the Motorsport Ireland stand over the four days included rally legend and 1981 World Champion Ari Vatanen and 1964 Monte Carlo Rally winner Paddy Hopkirk who revealed that he has a holiday home in South Kerry and often visited the county.
Killarney-based World Rally Championship co-driver Paul Nagle attended on Friday but remained tight-lipped on 2020 plans. However, he and his driver Craig Breen attended a Hyundai Motorsport meeting in Germany on Saturday and an announcement regarding a second world rally team is due later this week.
London Irish Motor Club secretary John F O’Mahony from Killarney visited on Saturday while his Kerry Motor Club counterpart Stephen O’Connell was there on both Friday and Saturday.
CIRCUIT OF KERRY
PLANS for Kerry Motor Club’s Circuit of Kerry, set for April 5, are at an advanced stage after senior club officials completed a route survey over the Christmas break.
While details of the second round of the Triton Showers Irish National championship remain fluid, for the time being, clerk of the course Eoin Duffin has promised a radical shake-up of the route and hopes to include roads that are normally linked with The Kerry Winter Rally but that have never been used for the Circuit of Kerry.
Club members, in a separate operation to the Motorsport Ireland effort attended last weekend’s Autosport International show where they spoke to several UK-based drivers in an effort to convince them to enter the Traleebased rally which is also a round of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship and the Moriarty’s Centra Kingdom of Kerry Rally Championship.