The Ballyvaughan Hillclimb weekend report:

Galway & Clare motor clubs teamed up this weekend just gone to run two of the most spectacular hills in use in the Irish Hillclimb Championship.

Corkscrew

Dry Tarmac and Sunshine greeted the competitors Saturday Morning, right from the word go the pace was simply breathtaking.   Sylvie Mullins in his Gould was in top form, and spectators gasped at his speed as he passed the mid-point of the hill. He was driving like a man possessed. Irish Champion Simon McKinley simply had no answer for Sylvie’s pace. Galway Driver Frank Byrnes battled hard all day, but he too could not match the pace of Sylvie.

This weekend also saw the return of John Farrell in his MK1 Escort, you may remember John had a  spectacular accident on Ballyallaban a few years ago. John has lost none of his form, and was giving the escort wellie on Saturday.

Saturdays award for the most wonderful sounding car has to go to Ian Quinn, his Hayabusa Mini produced the most amazing music on the hill.  

 Sylvie Mullins

 Simon McKinley

Frank Byrnes

  Results Motorsport Ireland

 

1 Sylvie Mullins (Gould GR37-Judd) 48.39s (Hill record),

2 Simon McKinley (Lant RT2) 49.05s,

3 Frank Byrnes (Pilbeam MP45 Rover V8) 50.32s, 

4 Joe Courtney (OMS-Suzuki) 52.19s,

5 Brendan Keane (Swallow DR14 F3) 52.35s,

6 John Byrne (Jedi-Honda) 52.38s, 

7 Dermot Nolan (Reynard 873-Connaught) 52.45s, 

8 Adrian McCallion (Normandale) 53.61s, 

9 Rory Stephens (Radical SR3 Hayabusa Turbo) 53.71s,

10 Phil Price (Reynard 873-Connaught) 54.22s.

 

 

Ballyallaban

Sunday morning was another bright sunny day, the view of Galway bay from the hill simply stunning, from early morning spectators made their annual pilgrimage to this shrine of Speed, by 8:30am the carpark was full. Word had got out that Simon McKinley would be going for his record again, and the disciples of speed waited patiently for the fastest man in the Irish Hillclimb Championship to take to the stage.

Ballyallaban Hill has a fearsome reputation for breaking drivers and their cars, this 2.2 miles of twisted undulating Tarmac is  dangerous wet or dry, and one of the first to fall foul of this Hill was Ian Quinn in his Mini. Ian was within sight of the finish when the bonnet of the car flew up blocking his view, and this was on the fastest part of the hill. luckily Ian was only shaken, but the Mini was damaged extensively to the front, and may need a new shell. Hopefully we'll see Ian out again soon.

As mentioned, John Farrell returned to the hill, the scene of  his spectacular crash a few years ago, John proved he's still a force to reckoned with and was driving the socks off his beautiful MK1 Escort.

 

Rory Stevens was going well in his outrageously good looking Radical, but we did see him back off on his final run; And what of the Champ Simon? He put in a very fast run for his first timed run, but he was unusually neat thru the Carpark, but not for long, On his next run he was sideways just before the Carpark, and sideways thru the carpark, his speed up the hill was breathtaking. And as a result Simon beat his own record of 95.02 with a mind boggling 93.56s. I think only he could do this, proving once again he is the King of this Hill.

Frank Byrnes tried hard all day to catch Simon, but it was clear that was not going to be possible, Frank's car was hemorrhaging time on the second part of the hill, and lets face it Simon appears to be able to bend the laws of Physics at will. Frank did however put in some good runs, his last run had him sideways in the Carpark as he carried an incredible amount of speed into the corner.

 

In the dying moments of the event the Nolan car had a spectacular scary off just below John Farrell's crash, the car lost it over the bumps and crashed heavily into the remains of those hard walls. Thankfully the driver, although badly shaken he was unhurt. But sadly another wonderful machine was heavily damaged.

It was with a tinge of sadness we exited the hill, but we had witnessed another Epic Ballyallaban event, and we look forward to next year again, when some of the fastest machines in Ireland go head to head on this wonderful hill.

 

1 Simon McKinley (Lant RT2) 93.56s (Hill record),

2 Frank Byrnes (Pilbeam MP45 Rover V8) 101.28s,

3 Brendan Keane (Swallow DR14 F3) 109.71s,

4 Dermot Nolan (Reynard 873-Connaught) 113.23s,

5 Eanna Carroll (Civic Turbo) 114.28s,

6 Adrian McCallion (Normandale) 115.30s,

7 Phil Price (Reynard 873-Connaught) 115.42s,

8 Rory Stephens (Radical SR3 Hayabusa Turbo) 115.48s,

9 Trevor Cullen (Escort G3) 115.64s,

10 Ray Cunningham (Mini) 116.21s.