The Phoenix Park: A year short of their centenary, the future of the Phoenix Park motor races seem in doubt because of the state of the roads. Conor Lally reports

Residents of the streets around Dublin's Phoenix Park don't have to be told when August has arrived, they can usually hear it. It is the time of year when the most famous event on Ireland's motor racing calendar, the Phoenix Park Motor Races, takes place. But this year the scream of engines from cars hurtling through the park's leafy streets never arrived.

At the last minute the event lost a key sponsor, leading to a shortfall in funding and so the event was cancelled.

Next year is the centenary of the races and, while the organisers of the annual event - Motorsport Ireland, the Irish Motor Racing Club and Leinster Motor Club - are confident of attracting new backing, the races may still be scuppered.

The road surface in the Phoenix Park, they say, has deteriorated to such an extent in recent years it may be simply too unsafe in 12 months' time to allow cars to race there.

Cecil Sparks, chairman of Motorsport Ireland, says the road surface is so bad, his organisation has put aside €100,000 to help with a much-needed resurfacing job. If the roads were not in such a state of disrepair, that money could have been used to help stage this year's event, he says. And he is adamant if major work is not undertaken in the park soon, next year's centenary races are in serious doubt.

"Without the resurfacing there would be absolutely no chance of going ahead with centenary celebrations in 2003," he adds. "Even with the €100,000, further work still needs to be done".

Gary Manning is the clerk of the course for the annual races. He says that while Dúchas, the body with responsibility for the park's upkeep, "has the best will in the world", the funding has simply not been made available to repair the roads.

"The basic problem is that in recent years the volume of traffic flowing through the park has increased dramatically," he says.

Manning believes the park's Oldtown circuit - a 1.9 mile loop to the south of the main road - should be resurfaced and developed as a circuit for motor racing and indeed for any other sport that would like to use it. "The park can still run if that circuit is all closed off to traffic and there's also great viewing on the course. The park races are older than Le Mans and older than any of the current Formula 1 races. We used to get 100,000 people into the park for the races, the atmosphere was always tremendous."

Another sport affected by the state of the park's roads is cycling. Like Motor Sport Ireland, cycling's governing body, Cycling Ireland, is so in need of the park as a venue that the cash-strapped body is in the process of raising €100,000 to help fund the repairs.

Cycling Ireland spokesman Ciaran Mc Kenna says the park's surface is simply too big a safety risk to allow riders race there. Only one event has been held there in well over two years when formerly sometimes three would be held every week.

"Our insurance premium has gone up from €32,000 to €65,000 in the last two years," explains McKenna. "If we held a race in the park and someone had a bad crash they could claim against us. And if we had one or two bad claims we may not get insured again. We just can't afford to take the risk."

McKenna says cycling races have been held in the park for almost as long as the motor races. And while the cyclists have not been banned from competing, a decision was taken for safety reasons by the sport in 2000 not to use the park as a venue. Apart from the finish of the FBD Milk Rás earlier this season, no races have taken place in the park for most of the last three cycling seasons.

"With the number of cars now on the roads, it's very hard to get circuits that are safe," says McKenna.

"At least when we had the park we could close the roads and away we went. It's also very centrally located so any riders coming from any part of Leinster could be at the park within about and hour and a half which is very important when lads were coming from work for midweek races. But now it's gone, it really has been a huge blow for us. We're absolutely desperate to get the park back."

PERHAPS most worryingly for cycling, he adds, the levels of underage riders racing in Leinster this year are the lowest for decades because "without the park they have fewer safe places" to race. And many parents believe the open roads are not suitable for youngsters, he adds.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment and Local Government, of which Dúchas is part, denies the roads are unsafe. He says Dúchas is "keenly aware" of its responsibility to maintain the park.

"The roads may not be up to the standard needed for rally driving but they are not that bad," he says.

He also insists that this year's Phoenix Park races were cancelled for funding issues alone, adding that some sections of the park's roads have already been earmarked for repair.