At the launch of the CityNorth Hotel-sponsored ALMC car rally were clerk-of-the-course Noel devlin (left), CityNorth Hotel general manager Aodan Aogan Dunne and Meath driver Ivan O'Connor from Dunshaughlin who will be competing in his Mk 2 Ford Escort.

Capacity entry for car rally

Published: Wed 14 Jul 2010, 4:57 PM

CityNorth Hotel near Stamullen will reverberate to the sound of well-tuned throaty gas guzzlers this weekend for the 2010 model of the Aer Lingus Motor Club stages rally on Sunday. Months of planning, 12 months according to the enthusiastic organisers headed by popular clerk of the course Noel Devlin speaking at the launch of the event last Thursday night at CityNorth Hotel. Scrutiny for the 120 cars which are expected to blast off the ramp at 30-second intervals next Sunday morning will take place at the adjoining business park on Saturday evening. That will provide an excellent opportunity for spectators to get a closer look at some of the cars that will be running in the top 10, but also at the older rally cars which have been around for many years. "We expect to have a capacity field for the rally and we have three very good stages which will be repeated three times each," Devlin told the Meath Chronicle. This year's stages rally is also a counting round of the Richard Egger Insurance MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, the Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge and the Loughran Signs Midlands East Rally Championship. The rally will feature stages near Ardcath, Garristown and Hollystown with the Hollystown stage featuring a portion of a route once used in the old Circuit of Ireland rally when it was a marathon five-day event. There will be more than 100 miles of competitive stages and the clerk of the course reminded competitors that the distance from the end of the final stage back to CityNorth is 20 miles - "make sure you have enough fuel to get home," he suggested. This year's rally will feature new rallying groups, the Metro 6R4 Challenge and the BMW M3 Challenge and the MK2 Escort Challenge. It is likely to attract a large number of competitors from England with one crew travelling from Devon. The MK2 Escort Challenge will run as part of the 2010 ALMC Stages Rally and will provide Ford Escort MK2 rally car drivers with an opportunity to go head-to-head while running as part of the main field. Competitors taking part in the challenge will still have the opportunity to win class honours as part of the main rally while also being eligible to top the challenge event. "Feedback from Escort owners has been very positive they are looking forward to competing against each other on the ALMC stages event while having a chance of not only taking overall event honours but also winning their own challenge event," remarked the hard-working clerk-of-the-course. Entries for the Escort challenge include Ivan O'Connor, Trevor Mulligan and Pat Donegan plus an entry from Neil Williams from Wales. The first car will go down the ramp at CityNorth at 9.30 on Sunday morning. The finish is expected at around 7.o on Sunday evening. The two Meath-based stages are around Ardcath and Kilbride with a stage also scheduled near Garristown. There will be more than 150 marshalls on duty for the event and spectators are urged to co-operate with the marshalls at all times in the interests of safety.