Don't put your cars away yet for winter!

Limerick Motor Club are delighted to announce that with the help of Motorsport Ireland and the GSMC we have secured a new date to re-run our rounds of the Irish Hillclimb & Sprint Championship in Ballingarry on the 30th September and 1st October.

To avoid the likelihood of a reoccurrence of what happened at our last event which had to be postponed due to adverse weather, we have now got both a field and road paddock.

Entries will be online at link below so keep your car ticking over and we hope to see you all on the 30th September.

This cup was the first perpetual trophy used by Limerick Motor Club in an open event. The cup was presented in 1948 by Richard Southwell Windham Robert Wyndham-Quin, Viscount Adare and was the Premier Award for the Lahinch Strand Races, this title was used by the heir apparent to the Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, he succeeded to the Earldom in 1952 on the death of his father. The first winner on Sunday August 8th 1948 was R B Le Fanu driving a self built car known as the LERA.

As there were no further strand races run, the cup was awarded from 1949 as the premier award for hill climbs. The cup was not awarded after 1969 as hill climbs were not organised from 1970 to 1999. The cup's location was unknown until 2023 when it was returned to the club.

The cup can claim to be the oldest trophy in Irish motorsport, it was hallmarked in London about 1895 and repurposed by Viscount Adare for Limerick Motor Club.

The drivers and cars were varied through the years. KP (Kevin) Murray from Sligo won the hill at The Slate Quarries in 1949 with his self built Murray Mercury special, this car was powered by a 3917cc Mercury flathead V8. The Corkscrew hill in Co. Clare was first used by the club in 1950. The result, a tie, shows the extremes of car design that was present in the 1950s. AP (Alec) McArthur from Sligo in a 3917cc Trifor Special had an equal time with the light weight 497cc JAP V-twin powered (motorcycle engines are not a new thing!) Leprechaun special of Redmond Gallagher from Tallaght. Redmond Gallagher continued with wins in 1951,1952 and 1953 (the engine was now 998cc). The event did not run in 1954. Len Earl, Bailieborough, won the trophy in 1955 with his "old faithful", the Vanguard Special. Next was two years of production cars, WET (Billy) Bradshaw, Dublin, was victor in 1956 using a Jaguar XK120 and in 1957 Louis Beshoff used a Triumph TR3. Single seater racing cars now took over Hector Graham from Bangor used a JAP powered Cooper to win in 1958 and 1959. A Climax powered Lotus was used by WJ Reid in 1960. Dan McAllister, Shankill Dublin, had a three year run 1961 to 1963 using a Cooper Climax, the 1963 engine was “blown”. Based on inscriptions on the cup the next event was 1966 and won by Dublin’s Frank Keane, who presented the trophy now used for the current hillclimb and sprint championship. Another tie happened in 1967 between Richie Heeley from Malahide, Lotus 31, and Limerick Motor Club member Brian Cullen, Crossle. The 1968 ascent was won by Cullen, Lola T60 Ford, and Heeley, Lotus supercharged Dragon 1,500cc, winning the Adare Cup over two days ,Ballinalacken and Corkscrew,in 1969, the last time it was presented.

Low entries caused the 1970 event to be cancelled and no further hills were run by Limerick Motor Club until Denis Hogan Sr revived the event in 2000.