Eanna CarrollBreakfast at the Burren

Videos and Results added

The 2013 Clare hillclimb was held 18 May at the Corkscrew hill outside Ballyvaughan. The event had been postponed from last month due to the sudden death of PJ Vaughan. PJ had been active competing in and organising the event for many years and was a very popular with all the hillclimb community. He is survived by his wife Joan, also a motorsport organisor with Galway Club, and two children.

PJ's months mind Mass was held on the Friday before the event, which a number of competitors and organisors attended.

The morning of the event began with competitors heading for the paddock area at the side of the road after the finish. Quite a few had stayed in motorhomes, converted vans or just simply the car they came in. The smell of sausages frying soon was the dominent feature of the early morning. As breakfast settled the discussion turned to the weather, drivers discussed the forecasted rain for the afternoon. Some said it would early, some said the event would be over before it came.

Next up was scrutiny provided by Limerick club members Niall Mullane and Gerry Keyes.

The practice run started in damp conditions. Gerard O'Connor said of his practice "I tried second gear coming out of the first hairpin and the car started to rotate, I used third after that and the car was still trying to break away"

The road was improving for the first and second runs, but the forecasted rain arrived during the third run, getting very wet for the fourth and final run.

Senan O'Connor was involved in a battle with 6 other "Cento Challenge" cars. this challenge is an informal grouping within class 1 at hillclimbs, consisting of 1.1 litre FIAT Seicento and Cinqecento cars with minimal modification. Senan set his quick time of 76.12s on the second run before the rain set in. this was good enough to be the quickest "Cento" and third in class one behing class winner and another Limerick Motor club member Trish Daly in her Mini. Trish's time of 75.29s was set in the first run, she did no further runs as a cooling problem revealed itself.

Donal Griffin driving a Delta T74 just did the two runs and finished sixth overall in 53.16s 4.07s behind the overall winner. Eanna Carroll in his turbocharged Honda Civic took third in class 3B with a time of 57.43s. Gerard O'Connor had a lonely win in class 5 as the only entrant with a time of 65.34s

Full Results

The Videos

Club members in this video (times are approximate locations of club members in this video)
Senan O'Connor 1m40s 15:21 29:56 44:03 49:04
Eanna Carroll 5:00 14:10 28:11 40:00 49:14 (in a Cento)
Gerard O'Connor 8:32 18:42 33:27
Donal Griffin 9:34 20:19 31:58
Trish Daly 5:46 16:20

On Board with Gerard O'Connor

In Car with Eanna Carroll

The Photos

Trish Daly

Trish Daly Austin Mini

Eanna Carroll

Eanna Carroll

Senan O'Connor

Senan O'Connor

Donal Griffin

Donal Griffin

Gerard O'Connor

 Photos by permission from

 Click for Caora Dubha website