From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE IRISH RELIABILITY TRIALS: First held in 1906, the Irish Automobile Club Reliability Trials were the great Irish motor sporting events of their day. Teams of cars entered by the major manufacturers vied with each other for the various prizes, but the real reward was to be able to advertise success in the event. In that less cynical age, the endorsement of a win in the Irish event was directly translatable into sales.
Successes were widely advertised and the Irish and Scottish Reliability Trials were regarded as the sternest possible test of a car by the public of Britain and Ireland. Small wonder then that in the weeks leading up to the Irish event in either May or June, the streets of Dublin buzzed with the activities of the "works" teams gathering for the event. Cars were tested, publicity photographs taken, fuel consumption calculations were carried out and the level of activity made it impossible for Dubliners to be unaware of the up-coming event.
The route could be relied upon to severely test competitors and cars. Lasting between four and six days, it was not uncommon for the competitors to traverse from Dublin to one end of the island and then to the other end before returning to finish at Dublin.
Usually, there were several speed trials along the route together with a number of hillclimbs. Hollywood and Ballinaslaughter were particular favourites of the organisers. Those who had run "non-stop", that is to say without a forced stop because of a mechanical problem, and who had been reasonably fast on the speed sections, could expect an award and all that would go with that.
However, the real winners were the public, because the Irish Reliability Trials made a very real contribution to car development and to the continuing quest for reliability in day-to-day use.
The years between 1906 and 1909 were the great years of the Irish trials and, although the event was revived as a light car reliability trial in 1914, entries were far fewer than in the earlier years and the event failed to regain its importance.
ENTER THE "BUG-EYE": In 1958, some 45 years ago, the new Austin Healy Sprite, "a simple car at modest cost", was introduced to the motoring public. Few could have anticipated how beloved this two-seater sports car would become to a generation of enthusiasts.
No faster than most saloons of the day, it was stripped of all unnecessary equipment, leaving only the essentials. Fitted with the BMC A-series engine of 948 cc - then fitted to the Morris Minor and Austin A35 - it carried twin SU carburettors and in that form produced all of 43 bhp at 5,200 rpm.
The vast majority of parts came from the BMC "parts-bin" and gave the Sprite a maximum speed of some 80 mph, and a 0 to 50 mph acceleration time of 14 seconds. Hardly heady stuff!
Yet the Sprite's combination of a clever and stylish body together with excellent handling and performance that always seemed better than the actual figures would suggest, endeared the newcomer to a generation.
Some of that affection undoubtedly arose from the car's "cheeky" appearance. This came about through the placing of the headlights in an unusual position close together on the bonnet, giving rise to the "Bug Eye" nickname.
This unusual positioning of the headlights had been made necessary by the need to conform with American laws regarding minimum headlight height - the US was a key market for the car.
Interestingly, designer Donald Healy originally intended the headlights to be flush with the bodywork, being raised by a simple - and cheap - mechanism. Perhaps fortunately, this was rejected by BMC on cost grounds and the Sprite kept its distinctive and endearing personality.