BREEN FINALLY GETS AN MG METRO 6R4 AND PLANS TO COMPETE
Citroen World Rally Championship driver Craig Breen is aiming to rally a MG Metro 6R4 after his family ended a long quest to purchase an example of the Group B machine.
Breen grew up watching 6R4s as his dad Ray – who has returned to competition in a Ford Fiesta R5 in the Irish Forest Rally Championship this year – competed in a green, yellow and red example in the 1990s.
“Dad got the first 6R4 when I was four or five years of age, the reason I’m here now [in the WRC] is because of the 6R4,” said Breen.
“I followed dad around for years and years. At home my bedroom was beside the garage and when he switched it on all the windows and the trophies in my room would start shaking. I was just brought up around memories of the 6R4 and that’s why I love it so much.”
The car has the competition-eligible 2.5-litre engine and is the example Kris Meeke famously drove in a demonstration run on Rally Ireland in 2009.
“It’s never rallied, it’s only done demonstrations so it’s in really good condition,” added Craig Breen.
“It’s full international spec, and it’s the latest engine you can get for it. It’s on Proflex [dampers] at the moment, we’ll get some new dampers for it and it should be ready to go then.”
Both Breens want to drive the car in competition, not until the rest of the work has been completed on the car.
“I’ll have to talk to my dad, he’s the boss with it,” said Craig Breen. “We’ll get a bit of work done over the winter and we’ll see what we do then.”