Competition returns to Curragh

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The International motor races which took place in Eire at The Curragh, from 1949-’54, will be celebrated with a sprint run on the camp roads by the Irish Motor Racing Club and Curragh Local History Group on September 25-26. The original 4.9-mile circuit is no longer available, but a representative short course is being devised for the Dunlop and Motor Imports-backed retrospective.

Stirling Moss won both the Wakefield and O’Boyle Trophy events there in 1951, driving an HWM-Jaguar, setting a 3m 31.8s (83.96mph) lap record which survived until the final meeting in 1954. Other winners included Anthony Powys-Lybbe (Alfa P3), Duncan Hamilton (Maserati), and Peter Whitehead (Cooper-Jaguar). Racing stopped following Joe Quinn’s fatal accident in in which a spectator and a marshal also died.

Numerous cars which raced at the venue, 30 miles south of Dublin, are promised to compete, and all surviving competitors are invited to the Saturday night reunion, at which films of the races will be shown. Event veterans should contact Edward Fitzgerald (00 353 87 259 8833) and Oliver McCrossan (00 353 45 431 769).