Day: April 18, 2017

Billy Coleman the three times Circuit of Ireland Rally winner was reunited with a Rothmans 911 during Circuit Deja Vu in Killarney over the Easter Weekend, the Porsche 911 he drove is now owned and beautifully restored by John Mulholland, a County Antrim motor trader, the Porsche was a genuine Porsche 911 similar to the car that Billy drove for the Rothmans Team in the 1985 season.
Billy’s first Circuit win was in 1975 in an Escort RS1600. He repeated the win a year later in an RS1800 but it was another eight years before Billy, this time at the wheel of an Opel Manta 400 and with Ronan Morgan as his co-driver sprayed the champagne again at the finish of the five-day marathon, for the Circuit De Ja Vu Run last Sunday Ronan was back in the hot seat again to accompany Billy.

The Circuit De ja Vu is the brainchild of both Alan Tyndall of RPM Motorsport and Beatty Crawford who was a former Circuit of Ireland winning Co-Driver back in 1971,the Event was established to Celebrate the Glory Years of Rallying in the 70s and 80s and this Event without doubt captured that with some great Cars and Drivers from the that Period coming from near and far to be part of the Celebration,this was the second year that the Event was Ran and like last years Event which was also based in Killarney it was an outstanding Success.

Billy Coleman was not the only Millstreet Native to take part in the Circuit De Je Vu over the weekend,Conor Falvey had French Champion Bernard Beguin behind the wheel of his beautiful Porsche for the Run while his Brother Todd Falvey had Saeed Al-Hajri who is a former winner of the 1989 Cork 20 driving his Car which was also a Porsche along the Route as well, both Al-Hajri and Beguin are former Rothmans Teamates to Coleman so it was fitting that they all got together along with another former Rothmans driver from the same Era Jimmy McRae who was driving a Vauxhall Chevette,Former World Champion Stig Blomqvist was another famous driver to do the Run in an Audi Quattro while Donagh Kelly and Denis Biggerstaff each wheeled out a Metro 6R4 for the day,the other Millstreet Drivers that completed the Course included Kevin Hickey with co-driver Matthew Twomey in there beautifully turned out Replica of Billy Colemans 1979 Circuit of Ireland Ford Escort,and Ballydalys Denis Moynihan also completed the Course in his immaculate Mark 1 Escort, the Run which was based at the Malton Hotel departed at 10 am on Easter Sunday to tackle some famous Rally Stages along the way such as Molls Gap, Healy Pass, Cods Head, Ardgroom, and Killmackillogue and finished back in the Malton Hotel at around 4.30pm,the Event was a great Success and was enjoyed by both Competitors and Spectators who turned out in quite large numbers.

Below are the Local Crews who took part along with some Famous Stars as well and in Order they are

Kevin Hickey/ Matthew Twomey Motorcraft Mark 2Ecort

Denis Moynihan Escort Mark 1

Bernard Beguin/Conor Falvey Posrche 911

Billy Coleman/Ronan Morgan Porsche 911

Saeed Al-Hajri /Todd Falvey Porsche 911