Kirkistown celebrates its history as vintage cars entertain

Kirkistown may not be the most historically significant circuit in the world. But the Northern Irish venue does have history, and a couple of unique items in its backstory that bear repeating and were relevant to last weekend’s event.

For one thing, Kirkistown is now the only club-owned and operated circuit in the UK – a fact of which the 500 Motor Racing Club of Ireland, which found it, nurtured it, and developed it, are justly proud.

Another is that, as far as anybody knows, it’s the only current track that used to be a ship! The 1.5-mile circuit is roughly a third of what was originally built as an airfield in the early months of World War 2. Initially the RAF was in charge but, as hostilities dragged on, it was used less and less, and eventually the RAF pulled out. Because of its coastal location in the Ards Peninsula, the Royal Navy took over – at which point its name changed from RAF Kirkistown to HMS Corncrake 2, a ‘ship’ that never sailed…

When peace broke out, it remained unloved for several years until the recently-formed 500 Club appeared over the horizon in June 1953 and began organising race meetings there, initially as a leaseholder but ultimately as owner.

It was therefore fitting that the club should adopt a historic theme for this year’s June event, with pre-1955 sports & racing cars as the headline category.

A varied but interesting collection of ageing machinery turned out for last Saturday’s two races, with Andy Johnson’s Monza Alfa Romeo booming round to claim victory in the opener followed by a spirited David Wylie in his TT replica Frazer Nash, before the order was reversed in the sequel after a close contest. Simon Brien was third both times in an immaculate Jaguar XK120 and Ken McAvoy’s Riley Sprite followed them home.

An octet of Austins lined up for a brace of one-make outings for ‘Sevens’ and ended with Jack Brien finishing ahead of Angus Johnson and Ali Carver – all in Ulsters – pursued by a group of slightly more stately Chummies.

The Irish Historic Racing Car Association competitors were a little more feisty. Race one was won by John Benson’s Crossle from Gareth Thompson’s rare Ginetta G10 and Mark Russell in his Morgan +8. Favourite Jackie Cochrane finished a fighting fourth having survived a first-corner assault from Bernard Foley’s Crossle, which got no further. The Crossle was fixed for race two, however, where it placed third behind Thompson and Russell with the Tiger again in fourth spot.

Ronan Doherty cemented his Formula Ford 1600 Championship lead with a brace of wins from Pre-90 pacesetter Philip Harris, while Ashley McCulla and Allan McBurney circulated side by side for much of the race to eventually take third and fourth. Their fight did not last to the flag in race two as McBumey retired with a blown engine while McCulla, who was following closely, eventually placed an oily fifth behind Henry Campbell and David Nicholl.

Among the Fiestas, Neville Anderson and Aidan Mulready took a win apiece as did Mike Ward and Jim Larkham in Roadsports.

And, finally, Francis Allen won the first Mazda MX-5 encounter despite a 10-second false start penalty, to beat Damian Moran, while Craig Ewing was last after an adventure. However, Ewing was dominant in race two while Allen was runner-up.

Generally, grids were fairly small, but entertainment value was high as HMS Corncrake 2 lives on…

Allen overcame a false-start penalty to win one MX-5 race but had no answer to Ewing in the other

Photo by: Jimmy Graham