John Mulholland and the Donegal Rally 2008

[John Mulholland]

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.’

[youngsyd]

I take it that it didnt sell in Motorsport News then?

Good luck anyway!

[jayc20xe]

I've seen this car on all those rally's and i'll be seeing it again for the donegal international awsome car

[GAFF]

Best of Luck John , doubt I'll be at the rally.

[martinvrs]

Great first day to rally, Fabia WRC leads overall and John's VRS finished day 1 53rd

photo from stage 3

[octav.ed]

best of luck john & keep her lit.........

[GAFF]

Unfortunately it looks like the rally has finished in tragic circumstances,

Spectator dies in rally collision

Saturday, 14 June 2008 17:10

A spectator has died after being hit by a car at the Donegal International Rally.

The 18-year-old was hit by the car, which was taking part in the rally, at around 3.30pm.

The accident happened at Ballyarr, about four miles from Letterkenny.

The young man was pronounced dead at the scene which has been preserved for technical examination.

The road is closed and is not expected to re-open for some time.

Organisors of the Donegal International Rally say it has been cancelled for today.

A decision has not yet been made as to whether it will proceed tomorrow.

[jayc20xe]

:-( Sad news we were at the spot where he tried to cross the road seen it all unfold before us. Terrible accident, driver is injured too and badly handled by the gardai no respect for the young fella.

RIP

[martinvrs]

As Jayc20xe mentioned, there was an unfortunate incident on the event and as a result the rest of the rally was cancelled.

Some pics of the Skodas on the event, some others on the website.

[jayc20xe]

Cool pics Knockalla great spot for some pics - some beach's around that area, whats the camera looking for a new one like those pics whats the shutter speed

[martinvrs]

I use a Canon EOS 1d Mk2N and a variety of Canon f2.8 lenses.

Shutter speed for those shots probably varied between 1/800 & 1/2000

[GAFF]

Terrible accident, driver is injured too and badly handled by the gardai no respect for the young fella.

I'd be interested to hear more, any chance of PMing me

Btw Love the pic of the fabia with the sea in background

[Fluffy Bunny]

I'd be interested to hear more, any chance of PMing me

Btw Love the pic of the fabia with the sea in background

Andy (spinndrift) was out there playing.

From what I've heard is the guy that was killed was in the middle of the road after an Evo went through the stage and thought that he had the 30 second gap before the next car but the Evo had just over taken a Fiesta which was seconds behind and hit the spectator.

Both the crew are okay physically appparently.

[GAFF]

Andy (spinndrift) was out there playing.

From what I've heard is the guy that was killed was in the middle of the road after an Evo went through the stage and thought that he had the 30 second gap before the next car but the Evo had just over taken a Fiesta which was seconds behind and hit the spectator.

Both the crew are okay physically appparently.

I understand that bit, it was more of a case of why he felt it was badly handled

[jayc20xe]

Pm you now with some extra details but some that i don't mind putting up are

The marshal 16 or so with not a clue of what was going on - he did his best, blew his whistle but slack on the motorclubs half a 16 year old on his own

The gardai asking everyone to leave the scene then asking on tv and papers for witnesses to the accident

For not asking people that were there with young children around 6 if they needed someone to talk to after seeing the horrific accident

For the motorclub letting all the cars past including club cars with the body on the road

For the ambulance not being on the stage it was in ramelton village and had to tackle the 50 min delay in traffic

On the garrygort stage there were 150 people on a 90 right with no marshals on crowd control, we witnessed a young fella kicking his shoe off into the road after eugene went by and then run into the road and to get it bac as a subaru was coming

There WEREN'T enough marshals at the donegal rally this year and it shouldn't have gone ahead = i'm a huge rally fan and after the last tradegy when 2 spectators were killed safety was excellent but this year it looked terrible

I just think that in this day and age there should be an air ambulance or a doctor supplied with all these big knobs flying around, more back up because i can say if the car had gone into a crowd and injured 10 people it would have been a disaster

That young fella didn't stand a chance because the systems were all wrong and failed and anyone who say's different is a fool

[GAFF]

That does sound like things turned in a bit of a mess

For the motorclub letting all the cars past including club cars with the body on the road

Not condoning it but maybe it was the easiest way to remove the competitive rally traffic from the area. Not ideal but maybe easier to have the traffic follow the pre-planned route.

I just think that in this day and age there should be an air ambulance or a doctor supplied with all these big knobs flying around, more back up because i can say if the car had gone into a crowd and injured 10 people it would have been a disaster

See somewhere that theres a 400 Euro helicopter registration fee. Maybe some sort of system should be put in place for an air ambulance on be on standby. From a competitors point of view questions need to be asked what would happen them in a serious incident.

[spinndrift]

Firstly - motorsport is dangerous.

You cant have marshals everywhere-they are there for the competitors not the spectators. Marshals are placed where the C of C deems there is a risk.

You shouldnt be on a stage when it is live-rally fans understand this-the max power brigade don't.

I could go on.

[martinvrs]

That young fella didn't stand a chance because the systems were all wrong and failed and anyone who say's different is a fool

Sadly, he didn't stand a chance because he was in the path of a competing car. No fault of the motor club, and certainly no fault of the crew.