History made at Birr & District Motor Club Autocross

BIRR & District Motor Club hosted the largest entry of the season for the finale of the Tallybrooke Civil Engineering Ltd. National Loose Surface Autocross Championship and the CJN Plant Ltd. and Barrett International Transport Munster Autocross Championship.

49 entries tackled the track set by Clerk of the Course Stephen Carway, Deputy Clerk of the Course Noelle Horan and their team.

The Club is grateful to Paddy Kelly for his kind permission to host the event at Dereen Sand and Gravel, and are thankful for all the help from Paddy and his team to prepare the site.

From early morning, competitors were arriving to the venue eager to take to the track and set their best time out of three runs. Once the competition got underway, the spectators and marshalls were treated to a wide variety of saloons, buggys and specials battling it out for the last Championship points.

There was special interest in the times of Cathal Mulcaire, who was making history competing in both a buggy and a saloon at the same event and he was aiming to be top of the timesheets in both.

The weather kept mainly dry for the fast and technical track, and the drivers capitalised on the drying conditions to set faster times. Thanks to the hard work of the marshalls and the starter team, there were minimal delays as the large number of drivers completed their runs and gathered for the prizegiving.

A huge thank you to the marshalls, competitors and all the team for helping to clear the site to enable the quarry to resume business unhindered.

Birr & District Motor Club Chairman, David Forde, welcomed everyone to the prizegiving and noted that the entry was outstanding. He thanked Paddy Kelly, Stephen Carway, Noelle Horan, the marshalls, ambulances, timekeepers, MI Safety Delegate Dermot Kelleher, MI Steward Eamonn Barrett and all who had helped out. He invited those present to give a round of applause in appreciation for all their hard work.

The Club was delighted to give a donation to Paddy Kelly to a charity of his choice. Paddy thanked the Club and said the donation will be matched and given to Crescent Comprehensive School who do great work. Paddy was delighted at the turnout for the day, along with the great interest in the event and hopes to see everyone again next year.

Clerk of the Course, Stephen Carway noted that their Chairman had thanked everyone and he wished to add it was a great event. He said it worked as everyone had worked together; competitors, marshalls, the organisers and it was all completed in daylight. He thanked Noelle, noting she did most of the work and invited Noelle to say a few words. Noelle said it is a fantastic team, everyone works together. She thanked everyone for their support, their help and noted it was a great event with the biggest entry of the year.

Chairman of the Motorsport Ireland Autocross Commission, Brian Keegan was asked to speak to the large group and said that they've come to the end of another successful year of Autocross; Grass, Gravel, Mondello Autocross. He thanked the large number of entries for supporting the Birr event and noted there has been great entries all year. On behalf of the Commission, he thanked everyone.

Brian was delighted to announce that the Motorsport Ireland Champions of Irish Motorsport Awards takes place next month and the Motorsport Ireland President, Aiden Harper has invited the Junior Championship Winners to attend. Brian thanked the sponsors of the Championships and confirmed that the Autocross Awards will take place in early 2025 at the Lady Gregory Hotel, Gort. He hopes all will be able to attend.

Clerk of the Course Stephen Carway presented the awards.

Overall Fastest Time of the Day (FTD) in the 4WD was Michael Fitzgibbon. On being presented his award, he thanked Noelle, Stephen, all in the club, the marshalls and competitors for a great event and hopes to see all again next year.

History was made at the Autocross as Cathal Mulcaire was successful in his bid to clinch the Overall FTD in both the Saloon and Buggy classes. He was asked to say a few words, where he thanked the club, the marshalls, and noted that Noelle had the event well advertised and it was nice to see so many out and hopefully this will carry into next year with more good entries.

Class Results

1 - 1st Adam Grace, 2nd Tristan Horan, 3rd Conor O'Connell.

2 - 1st Mike Casey, 2nd Martin Bond, 3rd Gráinne Caplis.

3 - 1st George Shinnors, 2nd Pat Horan, 3rd Patricia Denning.

4 - 1st Padraig Forde, 2nd Declan Burke, 3rd Gerard O'Connell.

5 - 1st James Lowry, 2nd Mike O'Connor Snr.

6 - 1st Joe McHale, 2nd Alan Drew, 3rd Trevor Hogan.

8 - 1st Jake Lynch.

9 - 1st Anthony Dineen.

10 - 1st Declan O'Regan, 2nd Ray Hassett, 3rd James O'Keeffe.

11 - 1st Dean Murphy, 2nd Eoghain McMahon, 3rd Anthony Whelan.

12 - 1st Mike O'Connor Jnr, 2nd James Last.

13 - 1st Mikey O'Connor, 2nd Finn Gardiner Hynes, 3rd William Cavanagh Jnr.

Birr & District Motor Club - 1st Ronan Shanahan, 2nd Conor Leenane, 3rd Sebastian Szopa

The two sets of Championship results are currently posted as provisional. Upon being finalised in the coming weeks, they will be published on www.birrmotorclub.com.

Next up for Birr & District Motor Club is their final event of 2024, the hugely enjoyable Christmas Turkey Chaser Autotest on December 28th. For more information on this or their other Club events, head over to their website (www.birrmotorclub.com) or social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, X).