Saturday 1 May 2010

First Stages - Saturday Morning and Early Afternoon

Another decent breakfast at the Rivermere and we were off to watch some action.  The roads around Killarney are a real mixed bag - and that's not necessarily obvious from the grading of the road.  It's the surface that's the challenge.  Generally, just assume its going to be very rough, very bumpy, very badly repaired and when you get better than that, its a nice surprise.

The Scooby's very firmly suspended and lowered, but no grounding so far, and the suspension's very well controlled, so no real problem.

After raiding Tescos for sarnies, crisps and drinks for the day ahead, we headed out to Stage 1 and watched at a 90 right just outside a few people's front gardens.  There were some very heavy showers just before the crews came through so the roads were pretty slippery.  McNulty's on rails, Gareth MacHale was a bit more sideways, but, of the top runners, Paul Bird in the Focus is the more spectacular.  The rain stops during the top 20 and by car 40, with the sunshine and breeze, the road is practically dry again.

Gareth MacHale

O'Callaghan

We enjoy the S1600 Clio, BMW compacts, Mk2 Escorts and Breen's S2000 Fiesta.


Stage 3 is next up for us and we find a fast left hander where the road has a large hump at the apex.  This is folllowed by a fast sweeping left where the faster crews cut the corner and spread gravel across the road.  Suprisingly, this doesn't cause problems to those that follow.  But where is Gareth MacHale? No sign of the Focus, so one of the favourites out already.  We also get our first glimpse here of the demonstration run of "famous" rally cars which includes an Opel Manta, Subaru Legacy, Mazda 323, Triumph TR8 and an Hillman Avenger, amongst others. Whilst the viewing here is good, photography is limited by the hawthorn bushes.  The weather continues to provide amusement with a mix here of sunshine, showers and hail.

Aaron MacHale

Dolan

Meade


 Avenger



As we were a bit ahead of time (there's no clues in the programme about when the historics and juniors will run so we'd allowed for watching them but it appears they don't join the rally until Stage 7, Moll's Gap) tonight, we top en route at Bob's mobile catering facility on the N22.  Its the usual fare - burgers, chips, tea etc., but fish too.  So John tucked into fish and chips and I added some chips to my sandwich.  The warm food and hot tea was welcome.

Patersons Reports on Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3 and Stage 5

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