John Mulholland

Everyone welcome to come to the 2011 Lurgan Park Rally on 30th July where they can see the very very rare Skoda 130Rs driven by yours truly. Only 38 of these specialist Rally Cars were ever built by the factory and a lot less have survived !!!!!

Finlay Harp, In response to your post I would personally like to invite you to our Skoda showroom at Castle Road Randalstown where I would like to show you our extensive facilities and go through our customer feedback forms. This should give you the confidence to deal with us and reiterate why we are the provinces number 1 Skoda Retailer and ranked within the top 5 volume rest of the UK. Regards John Mulholland

Dear bulleteer, With reference to your visit to our service department. Before the work commenced on your car a quote was given, agreed and signed by yourself to include extra items which you requested. At no time during the servicing or at the collection of your vehicle and the final invoice being issued, did you query your bill. If this was the case you should have raised the issue with one of our experienced service advisors. In relation to your issue with the brakes they are a wear and tear item and you spoke at length with our workshop foreman and he explained your query reference noisy brakes and corroded discs to your satisfaction. From our experience a BMW garage is alot more expensive than a Skoda dealership. Please contact us in person by telephoning 028 9447 3903 and we will be only to glad to resolve any of your issues.

After the highs of 2nd in class on the Manx International Rally in July and 1st diesel home, the Ulster International on 22nd and 23rd August proved a lot more challenging. During the first stage of the Ulster International Rally, travelling flat out in 5th gear, John’s car suffered a catastrophic brake failure whilst entering a 90 degree square right turn. To scrub off speed, and turn the car sideways, John applied the handbrake. But with gravel in the junction this launched the car over the hedge and sideways into a telegraph pole. The estimated speed of impact was around 70mph. The telegraph pole broke into 3 pieces with the navigator’s side taking most of the impact. As the pole broke, it slammed into the roof on the driver’s side, causing further damage and smashing both driver’s and passenger’s front windows. Remarkably the car was still driving and John reckons the whole incident only cost them around 30 seconds. John and Dessie then completed 2 more stages before entering service in Armagh city centre. A car was hurriedly dispatched from our Skoda garage in Randalstown to Armagh, with spare doors and windows. Our mechanics equipped with porta powers and sledge hammers, descended on the Fabia like flies and had us turned around in the 20 minutes allocated. John and Dessie completed the whole rally and finished a very credible 3rd overall in class. Testament to how strong and reliable Skoda products are. More importantly John was the first diesel powered car home, beating Fin McCaul, a regular British Championship contender in a BMW and Steve Graham in a Vauxhall Astra. This completed a hat trick for John and the Skoda Fabia with three 3rd places in a row in the last three Ulster Internationals. Photograph shows the telegraph pole cut off at approximately 7 feet from the ground and the car after the event.

Thanks. We had thought of the Skoda dealer but I was thinking if we need a part outside of their opening hours.

On local events we have a spare vRS was can use for any part we need. As this event is on the Isle of Man we wont be talking the other vRS. I hope we will have any spares with us that we may need. I am just asking in case we need a part we may not have with us. Thanks for your interest.

Hi folks I am competing in the Isle of Man rally this month 18th-20th July. Due to restrictions on the ferry from N Ireland we are unable to carry as many spares as usual. This is where we are looking for your help. In the event of us needing an unusal part (for exmaple a water bottle hose) we have not brought with us can you assist us by having access to your vRS? This would allow us to continue the rally without having to retire. We would obvisously appreciate this and you would be componsated accordingly. Many thanks John

Our Fabia vRS is away getting prepared for the Isle of Man so unfortunately we will not be able to make this show.

Dealer’s rally bid in Skoda JOHN Mullholland – Skoda’s largest retailer in Northern Ireland – is putting final touches to his Fabia this week as he prepares for the International Donegal Rally. The Fabia VRS has been built from scratch by John and his rally team and is the only diesel car to participate in the competition. Painstakingly developed and regularly improved over the past two years, this ambitious supermini, with its impressive 200bhp, has shown top form at recent rallies including the Killarney International Rally of the Lakes and the Galway International Rally. John said: ‘Our car has an advanced diesel engine and is a testimony to the high build quality and reliability of Skodas. ‘This is a people’s rally car built and developed for a fraction of the cost normally required to engineer a rally car, which means you don’t need to be a millionaire to participate in the sport. ‘Good performance at Donegal will help our result towards gaining another entry in Rally Ireland, which opens the WRC rally calendar in January 2009, the first round of the World Rally Championship.’ John’s navigator on the day will be Eamonn Garman who swaps his navigating duties with Desi McGlade. Commenting on his team, John said: ‘I would like to thank my great mechanics who painstakingly prepared the car for the arduous rallies and all the boys at K.G. Motorsport who do a brilliant job looking after the car on events. ‘And, last but not least, I would like to thank the main sponsor N.I.I.B without whom none of this would be possible.’

We hope to have the Skoda Fabia vrs rally car at this show

This upgrade can be done here at John Mulholland Motors in Randalstown. Telephone Connor on 02894473903

John Mulholland Aftersales offers all our Briskoda Members a Free 25 point healthcheck and Carwash while you enjoy a cup of coffee in our new state of the art Service Center and Test Drive the new range of Skoda's

Dear Pete As Sales Manager I was disappointed to read your comments. We pride ourselves on offering a prompt and professional service at all times to both new and existing customers. I take exception to your comment that a group of salesmen ignored you for 5 minutes whilst they talked about football. As you were interested in a Skoda Octavia you were introduced to me by a member of the Hyundai staff. On qualification you stated that you would not being dealing until end of Jan/beginning of Feb. You refused the invitation to test drive the product or to appoint another time for this. To give you the best part exchange price we needed to see the vehicle involved and carry out the appropiate VCA and HPI checks and yet you did'nt have the car with you. I'm sorry if your visit did'nt meet your expections but if I can be of any help in the future, please call me on 028 9447 3903. Best regards Maurice Blelock Skoda Brand Manager

Fin received a wrong notional time for stages 7 and 8 which were cancelled on the Friday evening.These wrong times gave him a 2 minute advantage over us but if you add all the stage times over the 4 days we categorically beat him by 6 seconds. Tom Walsh clerk of the course tried to get the F.I.A to overturn this after seeing the mistake but the only way they would consider it if we lodged an appeal and put up the financial bond.I didint see the value we know we beat him fairly and squarely. Regards John N.B where is the buggy meet and I will check my diary.

A Big Thankyou to all my fans, it was great the support we received from all the spectators in Rally Ireland. I have never competed in as hard a Rally in 25 years. The conditions were atrocious and tyre choices near impossible to call, one minute abrasive tar, the next loose gravel into absolute gutters and then shiny tar to top it off. Little "S1 ODA" held off the challenges of Fin McCaul in the diesel BMW 120D to win with a 6 second margin over the 4 days and take away the Innaugral Diesel Cup in Rally Ireland 2007. Once again many thanks for your continued support. John:rofl: NB: The Rally Car is on permanent display now in our showroom at Randalstown as it came off the last stage in Mullaghmore "dirt and all" - you are all most welcome to call in and have a seat and photo if you wish.