Jordan and Birrane to be remembered at Mondello Park

RTÉ News​

14 hours ago

Mondello Park will hold its annual Carol Nash Historic festival of classic racing this weekend and tributes to the late Eddie Jordan and Martin Birrane, the late owner of the Co Kildare circuit, who would have turned 90 this year, will feature.
The main straight at Mondello Park will be renamed the Birrane Straight in honour of the Mayo man, who saved the track from closure when he bought the venue back in the mid-1980s
Birrane set up the Mondello Park museum some years ago and two of its cars, the V10-engined Jordan 195 and the Pacific PR01, which saw action in the 1994 F1 season, will both have demonstration runs as part of the 'Eddie Jordan - From Grid to Glory' event.
Some of Jordan's family, as well as friends and former teammates, will be along for the Jordan-themed events on Saturday.
Five-time grand prix winner John Watson will also be in attendance along with Dubliner Derek Daly the last driver from the Republic of Ireland to race in F1, when he competed for Williams Grand Prix back in 1982,
Martin Donnelly, whose 1990 crash in the Lotus-Lamborghini was referenced in F1:The Movie this year, will also be in Mondello.
FIA Formula 2 driver Alex Dunne, who may be on his way to F1 next season with the new Cadillac outfit, and World Rally Championship driver Josh McErlean will make up the new breed of Irish drivers plying their trade at the top of world motorsport this weekend
Not only will there be static displays and celebrity drivers, but Mondello will also finally get to host Formula Ford 1600 racing, the class where most began their racing careers.
On Saturday the drivers in FF1600 will vie for the Fionn Murray Trophy and on Sunday for the Vivion Daly Trophy. They were both stalwarts of the series back in its heyday in the 1980s and '90s and he families of Fionn and Vivion will be in attendance to present the trophies.
Let us hope those who are in Mondello will get to see a decent grid of cars representing FFord racing.
The Irish International Grand Prix Trophy; The Dublin Grand Prix Trophy; and The St Brigid's Trophy, which cover open-wheel, GT, saloon, and vintage car grids from the 1920s to 1960s will also take to the track over the two days
Meanwhile, the Ulster Rally takes place this Friday and Saturday and is the penultimate round of NAPA Autoparts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (ITRC), with only the Cork 20 to run as the final round in October.
The Galway International was due to be the opening round in February, but it was cancelled due to storm damage, reducing the ITRC to six rounds.
The 2023 ITRC winner and number-one seed Callum Devine arrives at the Ulster Rally carrying the momentum of three consecutive victories and seeking hist first in this event, having notched up runner-up finishes in the past two years.
Devine would win the ITRC for a second time with victory in the Newry-based event.
Hot on his heels is the in-form David Kelly, who sits 21 points behind Devine in the championship standings and has been knocking on the door of his maiden rally victory all season.
Adding intrigue to the Rally2 category are the father and son duo of Declan and Michael Boyle, both competing in Skoda Fabias.
Declan Boyle, the 2014 ITRC winner finds himself sitting just six points behind Kelly and holding a narrow three-point advantage over his son Michael.
Kevin Eves and Chris Melly will be looking to build on their encouraging seventh-place finish in Donegal as they continue their maiden season campaigning a Ford Fiesta Rally2.
International interest comes courtesy of Welsh driver Osian Pryce, the 2022 British Rally Champion, who will behind the wheel of his Hyundai i20 Rally2.
Pryce has an abundance of Ulster Rally experience, including victory in the Citroen DS3 R3T category back in 2013.
Adding further depth to the Rally2 field is the welcome return of Darren Gass, the 2012 Irish Tarmac Rally Champion, driving a Volkswagen Polo R5.