Limerick Festival of Speed July 31st 2011
H.R.C.A. Report
Left Greystones at 10.30am on Saturday met up with the rest of the Greystones mafia Ken Wolfgang Dave and of course Spike joined us. We arranged to meet up with Clive at junction 14 where we all took a break.
The journey down to Adare was good just held up a little outside the village.
On arrival at the Manor we were directed to the Paddock given our numbers for parking our cars and a special place to leave our trailers. All very well organised plenty of help on hand.
We proceeded to unload our cars and get ready for scrutiny as always feeling a little bit anxious.
Dave had a bit of trouble with his Golf in fact he taught he might be going home early. We had to remove the steering lock. Dave was not happy about this so he was told to take himself off for a walk and let the lads get on with the job. Well done to Pete Murray and Barry Smyth . Me being from the south side I would not know how to do it. It is great to have people like Pete and Barry always willing to lend a hand.
A little birdie overheard Dave saying they are over there wrecking me car,
There was a great atmosphere around the paddock. We had great fun Nino was parked up beside me on one side and Wolfgang was on the other side with everyone else near by. After scrutiny it was time to take a walk around the track. This did not take very long about five minutes but we did not know at the time that we would get two laps per run.
The course was very narrow in places with lots of trees along the way. There was a very severe hairpin at the start of the second lap.
We left the Manor around 5.30pm to check in to our lodgings and make ourselves pretty for the barbeque in the Golf Club. Well I have to say Wolfgang was the Best Dressed Man on the night in fact Vinny taught he was playing in the band. Wolfgang met up with lots of his old friends from when he lived in Adare.
The food was good except I did not like the dessert if I want a tart I would not go to the Golf Club. We all met up in the local hotel for a nightcap.
We arrived at the paddock early on Sunday morning it was wet with drizzly rain coming down. The weather did not affect the atmosphere the place was buzzing I met up with so many friends I had not seen for ages.
I did some interviews for the web and these will be posted when Kieran returns. It was great to walk about the two paddocks and chat with all the competitors and look at their cars.
As the day went on and after the drivers briefing we were chomping at the bit to get out and do the practice run. All went well except for the mk2 escort which had a close encounter with a bail of straw or hay (to be confirmed by Leo) the poor escort was not a pretty sight.
The rest of the day turned out to be a real festival of speed and lived up to all expectations. Simon McKinley gave a few demo runs in his escort boy what a spectacle. The pre 55 had a ball as well and many a bail of straw/hay was scattered there was even a car spotted waltzing in the woods among the trees. Well done to one and all if you log on to you tube festival of speed you will see some good footage.
For a first attempt it was very well organised and congratulations to the Limerick Motor Club for doing such a great job. I know the months of planning that has gone into organising this event and as a result of all the time and hard work Ireland now has its own Festival Of Speed. Once again well done to all of you.
One person in particular who made the day so enjoyable was Leo Nulty. His commentary was second to none. Rumour has it he was up in a tree. He has so much information about all the cars and drivers I think he must have a usb connection at the back of his head feeding all the information to him. Well done Leo I think you should have won the Tag Heuer watch for making the day so special.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on the website for the interviews and banter of the day.
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