RtG The Daily Dispatch - Shamrock 2024 - day 1 - Flipbook - Page 5
Day 2: Fota Island - Gougane Barra - Kenmare, 13 May 2025
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Farm track: Robert Cook and Geoffrey Morson, 1937 Chevrolet Coupe
Race track: Andrew and Ann Boland, 1934 Talbot AV105
We then climbed into a rugged section through the Nagles
Mountains for a map-based Regularity along the River
Bride and into Coleman Country. Named in honour of Irish
rallying legend, Billy Coleman, who hails from these parts,
his family had generously allowed us to use part of their
farm for the next two sections. First though, refreshments
were offered at the Time Control in Baltydaniel East,
going some way to wash away the dust kicked up over the
morning.
The Test through Ballygiblin was exceptional, a mile of
closed roads, sharp turns, gravel and dirt. With a ruined
farmhouse as its centre piece and vivid yellow rape fields
providing the backdrop, this Test looked and felt very
special. A Regularity through Abraham’s Cross Roads
followed, also with Coleman family connections. Here
crews had farm tracks to navigate and found themselves
weaving past assorted agricultural machinery and some
very large buildings.
Further along the road a Passage Control in the Drishane
Castle Equestrian Centre led us into a Test at the Green
Glens Arena, a one-time Eurovision venue. A further Passage
Control in Mullaghanish was then all that stood in the way
of lunch. After an undeniably busy morning, the tired
and dusty crews were glad to pull into the lakeside Time
Control in Gougane Barra for steaming bowls of seafood
chowder. A stroll along the lake shore further fortified the
Simon Arscott and Emily Anderson, 1937 Aston Martin Speed
www.rallytheglobe.com
