Autocross History
Autocross was a very popular club event from the 1960s to the 1990s when difficulties with getting venues led to the end of this event. Events were mainly held on loose surfaces such as quarries with the occasional grass surface event. The Limerick Motor club event had national championship status for a number of years. the club sometimes held 5 autocross events in a single year.
Some snippets from events down through the years
14 August 1966
Even with 55 entries the event at Adare was a close battle between Larry Mooney (VW) and Conor Linehan (Mini Cooper S). At the end of three timed runs Linehan won by a fifth of a second
24 July 1974
Jacky Thomas won the Castrol championship round at Adare
17 July 1977
Gordon Percy from Cloughjordan driving his Rover V8 powered Vampire Special was the winner . There were 40 drivers at the Newcastle West venue.
16 July 1978
The sixth round of the Castrol Autocross championship was held near Newcastle West. Billy Cavanagh from Cloughjordan won in his Rover V8 Special from tim turner and John Farrelll. The event was run over a fast dry track and had 45 starters
24 June 1984
Peter Whyte from the Naul, Co. Dublin in his Ford Special won this Castrol Championship round from a field of 49. The event was held at Meelick, the tight nature of the course led to seven cars rolling.
16 July 1995.
Despite the bad weather there were 21 entries for this event. Liam Fitzgibbon took first overall in his nwe Escort ahead of Mervyn Shorten and Alan Shinnors. Brigetta McAuliffe took the Best Lady award
27 August 1995
Club member Liam Fitzgibbon provided the field for this grass surface event (the first the cub had run on grass for a number of years). the event was won by Dick McCarthy
24 September 1995
This was the final round of the 1995club championship. Liam Fitzgibbon won on the day and took the championship.
16 June 1996
This was a round of the national championship with 47 entries. Pat Dowling was CoC for the very sucessful event run on a hot sunday afternoon. Club members results included Alan shinnors first in class 3 and Jack Bennet 2nd in class 6
17 August 2003
This event was won by G Lucey in a Celica special and held at Cullen, Co. Tipperary
