“Keep the race in its place,” urges RSA chief at Mayo rally launch

“Keep the race in its place,” urges RSA chief


Road Safety
Daniel Carey

IF the new road safety initiative being piloted at the upcoming Mayo Stages Rally saves just one life, it has to be worthwhile. That was the message from Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority, at last Wednesday’s rally launch at the McWilliam Park Hotel.
The rally, which will take place in the Claremorris region on Sunday week, March 13, will see the unveiling of a partnership initiative by the RSA and Motorsport Ireland. Aimed at promoting a message about safe driving, it is particularly aimed at 17- to 24-year-olds. The link-up with Motorsport Ireland (MI) was, Brett said, “a wonderful opportunity” which would “make a lasting impression” and “pay dividends over the years”.
The RSA/MI plan aims, on the one hand, to involve young people in organised motorsport – which Brett described as a “safe outlet for young people” that teaches discipline. On the other hand, the initiative urges motorsport fans to “keep the race in its place”, setting out “the difference between rally driving and a drag race on the N17 at two o’clock in the morning”.
The RSA’s interactive shuttle – which includes driving simulators – will be in Claremorris on Saturday, March 12. Aaron MacHale, an RSA board member who’s also an Assistant Clerk of the Course this year, said there will be rally cars on display and information available on Mayo and District Motorsport Club. Drivers will be on hand to talk to those interested, and video footage and fire-fighters may also form part of the free show. “Let Mayo lead the way,” he urged.
Clerk of the Course SeΡn McHugh said he knew from his work in Ballyhaunis Community School that “talking down” to young people in relation to speed doesn’t work – “The more you try to lay down the law, the more they fight against you,” he told the audience. “Rally cars are designed and built to do what they do,” he explained to The Mayo News afterwards. “There’s a roll cage – a steel frame built inside the car to protect the occupants. There are special seats, and six [seat] belts holding you in place. You wear a helmet. And you’ve a co-driver with you who’s warning you of obstacles that are coming. It’s a safe, controlled environment in which you can drive a fast car as fast as you are able to …  rather than out ‘messing’ on the public road, where you’re a danger to both yourself and to the other road users.”
The initiative builds on work done at local level between the rally organisers and Noel Gibbons, Road Safety Officer with Mayo County Council. Gibbons said that as many motorsport fans are in the “vulnerable group” most commonly involved in road accidents, they are the “ideal audience” which road-safety campaigners need to reach.

Bekan man back in hot seat

THERE’S a story told that when those pioneers of cinema, the Lumière brothers, first showed their film of a train arriving into a station on the big screen in the 1890s, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming towards them that people screamed with fright.
The veracity of that tale is doubted in some quarters, though some of us may have felt like jumping back in our seats watching the final shot of SeΡn Hassett’s series of clips at last Wednesday’s Mayo Stages Rally launch. This time, of course, it was a car rather than a train that was coming directly towards us.
The thrill of “driving fast cars” and seeing them up close is something SeΡn McHugh describes well. Reflecting on last year’s event, he recalls “a great day out … for the whole family”, as his nieces and nephews enjoyed a “great” weekend watching the cars go by and waving at them.
McHugh is no stranger to the role of Clerk of the Course (or ‘general dogsbody’ as he puts it himself). He held the main organiser’s position in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and is now delighted to be running an event in his own area. In fact, the route goes past his own house in Bekan.
The 119-kilometre event will include three special stages, each repeated three times – one in the Ballindine/Irishtown area, one in the Bekan/Brickens region, and one in the vicinity of Barnacarroll. It’s round one of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship, and will begin with a ceremonial start on the Saturday evening in Claremorris Town Square, which Neil Sheridan of Mayo County Council predicts “will kick things off in a big way”.
There is, SeΡn McHugh explains, a long lead-up in getting a car ready for an event such as the Mayo Stages – “they’re temperamental beasts, I’m afraid!” he says with a smile. Similarly, organising an event is a protracted process. McHugh has known the date of the Mayo rally since last May, and he and his team have been working on it for the last six months – organising sponsorship, planning routes, talking to the people whose doors the race will run past.
“The rally went down so well last year that it was very easy to go back to people again,” the CoC told The Mayo News. “People just didn’t know what was coming last year. This year they’re aware of the type of event we run, and we’ve got a very positive response to running the rally in the area again.”
Joe Corcoran, President of Motorsport Ireland, called Mayo and District Motorsport Club “one of the strongest in the country” and said their rally was “always very well run”.

Timely boost for Claremorris

THE economic downturn has adversely affected motorsport, but the Mayo Stages Rally will provide a timely boost to businesses in the Claremorris area, and car fans can look forward to ‘a great spectacle’.
That’s according to Clerk of the Course SeΡn McHugh, who explained: “Obviously numbers are [down], but still people pick and choose, and thankfully they’re still picking our event … Some of the big cars, the really expensive cars to run, won’t be here, and won’t be seen for a number of years. But there’s still a very strong ‘clubman’ entry – Mark II Escorts and well-modified cars – which will create a great spectacle on the weekend.”
McHugh acknowledged that convincing people in Claremorris that “huge numbers” would turn up for the event was “a slow burner” last year. But the impact on the local economy is clear from the words of Eugene Waldron. The President of Claremorris Chamber of Commerce said the rally had “brought badly-wanted revenue to the town” last year, when there was “no bed available between Knock and Tuam” on the Saturday night.
Fergal Ryan, general manager of title sponsors and HQ the McWilliam Park Hotel, said Claremorris was “in for a fantastic weekend”, and hailed the “huge success” of last year’s event. Describing the rally as “the best event held in the town” in 2010, Cllr Richard Finn hailed the “huge input” of Mayo County Council’s outdoor staff and the local engineer. “He has to ensure the roads are in order for ye … and he has a bigger job the day after ye go to put the roads back together!” he said with a laugh.