5 times Irish Tarmac Champ Donnelly on charity drive
15-10-2010
08:07
Eugene Donnelly, five times Irish Tarmac Rally Champion, is set to champion a charity cause on the Skibbereen Fastnet Stages on Sunday 24th October. Instead of a state of the art World Rally Car, like Eugene scored his five tarmac titles in, “the Genie” is going back to the grass-roots of rallying, and he will drive a class 10, 1600cc Vauxhall Nova, which is being kindly loaned by Skibbereen and District Car Club chairman Alan Clarke.
Raffle tickets have been sold to ride in the passenger seat with the champion on the all tarmac event, over €3,000 has already been raised for the West Cork Rapid Response unit. This is a locally based voluntary group working in partnership with and supporting the existing HSE Medical Emergency services with a Rapid Response Vehicle based in and servicing all of West Cork. This is literally a life saving service, and its aims are simply to put the…right people in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment and the right skills to achieve the right outcome. Skibbereen and District Car Club fund-raising co-ordinator Niall O’Sullivan is very excited about Eugene’s attendance. “It’s fantastic to have Eugene do the event, and he’s very enthusiastic about it. There has already been a lot of interest from the runner’s in his class, and they feel honored to have someone like Eugene competing with them in their class. It’s a credit to him that he’s willing to have a bash at it and it’s all for a very worth-while cause.” The lucky winner of the raffle was a club member, Sean Carey from Ballineen, Co. Cork. “Sean is one of the guys you see first helping with the club events and one of the last to leave. He’s a real clubman motorsports enthusiast, but sadly due to a stroke he had several years ago he’s unable to take the co-driver’s seat. However he has given his seat to co-driver Adrian Deasy who he mentored in his early years” commented Niall.
For Eugene the rally promises to be a good day’s fun. “I’m looking forward to the day’s craic with the guys we are competing with. It’s important to realize that rallying isn’t all about the cars at the front of the rally. Rallying in Ireland survives thanks to the clubmen who don’t have a car costing tens of thousands, and maybe can only afford to contest 3-4 rallies a year. It’s these competitors who keep the whole sport going and have their own class battles. It’s all about the enjoyment of driving and the sport not all about the cars, and I am certainly out to enjoy myself. I remember when I first went rallying I would have driven the rally car to the events maybe up to three or four hours away, competed and then drove home again, and I was rallying at least 15 years before I got a taste of a WRC car.” Eugene’s front wheel drive experience is limited to contesting this event two years ago in a C2 S1600, and a night navigation rally he contested many years ago in a Golf GTI, but he isn’t unduly worried. “I’m going to go for a day’s enjoyment, and of course it’s for a very good cause, the West Cork Rapid Response unit, which is a real life saving service.”
Skibbereen and District Car Club chairman Alan Clarke is the man providing the 1600cc Nova for the event, and he has been making detailed preparations to the car. “The car is a fairly simple class 10 Nova, with a 1600cc 8 valve engine. I took up rallying a few years ago, and have done several events with the car, and I suppose my best runs have been two second places in class on the West Cork Rally in the past two years. I expect Eugene to take a lot more out of it though, and we have been preparing the car to try and make it stronger. I think it’s great to see Eugene come to compete with the guys down the field, and also for such a good cause. The rapid response unit has already saved lives, as it provides more rapid treatment, and also is equipped with the latest equipment, and equipment to carry out emergency operations that the ambulances cant.”
The West Cork Hotel is the headquarters for the event which features 145 kilometres of closed road rallying. For more information on the event visit www.skibbdcc.com
