The Motor Enthusiasts' Club is quite a unique club in that it organises and runs a wide variety of motorsport events, mainly due to the diversity of experience of the board members. The club is quite unlike other clubs who would concentrate on a single type of event. The event types cover both motorbike and car disciplines. Events run are as follows:

Sporting Trials

The MEC Club starting with the organising of Sporting Trials over 50 years ago. It involves driving a custom built trials car over rough and rugged terrain, over a pre-set guided course, without striking laid out markers defining the route of the course. Sporting trials are a highly competitive sport with a strong emphasis on the family with many Father & daughters and Father & Sons competing together. Sporting Trials are probably one of cheapest forms of motorsport to get into and offer the opportunity for drivers to get the feel of how to handle a car from the age of 14 years, with adult supervision.

Sporting Trials are generally held on farmland and in quarries in the Dublin / Wicklow area and events take place during the Autumn / Winter months, between September and April.

The cars are usually home built to fixed specifications. The more common of cars competing is based on a Volkswagen beetle, although when the car is finished only the engine, gearbox and axle is original Beetle. Overall exact specifications are published in the Motorsport Ireland Yearbook.

If you are interested in becoming involved then contact us, refer to Home Page for contacts or alternatively contact Motorsport Ireland, the governing body of the sport, at phone 01 677 5628.

Autotests

Autotests are one of the oldest disciplines in competitive motorsport in Ireland and is a real test of a wide range of driving skills. It is also one of the least expensive branches of motorsport. Each event consists of a number of tests (usually 10 or 12), that involve competitors carrying out a sequence of vehicular manoeuvres, as instructed in the test diagrams issued by the organisers. These manoeuvres include circling of pylons, "throwing" the car on the handbrake, crossing of lines and driving through slaloms, both forwards and reverse, in either first or reverse gears. Each driver is timed on each test and times are totalled to give results in each event. Minis and Specials based on Minis are the most common type of vehicle used, and there are also classes for larger saloons and for sports cars.

Racing


MEC run a number Circuit Motor Racing events ranging from normal local Clubman events to full International events. These events are normally run in Mondello Park with the Club providing the key organisational roles.

Typically, there is a choice of different Racing Championship Classes: "Single Seaters" - Formula Ireland, Formula Ford 1600, Formula Vee and Formula Sheane. "Saloon" - Dunlop Supercars, Fiat Uno and Punto. "Sportscars" - Stryker, Global Lights and Crossle. There are also classes for Historic Cars and Porsches.

The minimum age limit for circuit Racing is 16 years. A medical certificate is required and this is part of the licence application form.

Hillclimbs Sprints


Hillclimbs are an extremely exciting event and takes place on closed roads where competitors compete to achieve the fastest time driving from the bottom of a hill to a finish point at the top of the hill or about a mile up the hill at a designated finish line. The hill is usually about 1 mile long with competitors getting a practise run and 3 to 4 timed runs.

Again like Racing there is a wide range of classes and cars, from Saloon Rally cars to Single Seater cars.



Rallying



Rallies are a popular type of motor sport, they generally take place on closed tarmac or forestry roads where competitors compete to achieve the fastest time driving from one end of a stage to the other. There are usually 6/8 stages per club event and considerably in excess of this in an internantionrally.

Beside the driver sits the navigator who has to do all the calculations such as in timing, map reading and fuel guage watching




Bike Trials


Bike Trials are very similar to Sporting Trials with the exception of a couple of obvious differences. Trial bikes are used instead of cars, the competitors are usually a lot younger and the sections are slightly different.

Bikes are factory made specific to trials, the bikes have no saddles and are very lightweight. Trial bikes are made by manufacturers like Beta, Gas Gas, Montessa, Scorpa and Sherco.

The main objective a rider has is to ride through a set out course without putting a foot on the ground to correct the bike or through loss of balance. Sections have varying levels of difficulty depending on the level of the rider, from novice to expert. The rider with the least amount of marks in the graded level wins!

Trials are normally run by MEC in Wicklow and Kildare, in quarries and forests.

Brian Conlon

Past President & P.R.O.