From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
DUNBOYNE - LAST OF THE ROAD CIRCUITS: Today, the Co Meath village of Dunboyne is a bustling, rapidly expanding centre of population where daily the roads in its environs are thronged with Dublin commuter traffic. But in the late 1950s when the Leinster Motor Club began to search for an alternative road circuit to their established 8.4 mile Wicklow circuit, things were very different. Dunboyne was then a sleepy little village along the Dublin/Meath border, where, in truth, not a lot happened.
In that heyday of Irish road circuits, Dunboyne was about to be catapulted into the forefront of Irish motor racing. At Dunboyne, the officials of the Leinster Motor Club found a four-mile triangular circuit that provided a fast and difficult challenge to drivers, and for the next nine seasons it was to be the major race meeting - along with the annual Phoenix Park motor races - in the Irish motor racing calendar.
The circuit itself was, to say the least, daunting. Leaving aside the first event there in 1958 when the lap ran clockwise, all subsequent races ran anti-clockwise from the start in the village towards the first of two humpback railway bridges. After the first bridge it was a quick blast down to Loughsallagh Corner, where the cars turned left on to the main Dublin to Navan road. The best piece of road followed as far as the next left turn at Sheaf-of-Wheat, where the cars turned left back towards the village of Dunboyne. Almost immediately they were faced with the second of the two humpback bridges and having negotiated this it was another quick dash down towards the main street of the village where a fast left around the shops and pubs took them over the start/finish line and on to another lap.
Dangerous it certainly was in an era when rather less attention was paid to safety than is now the case, and when risks were accepted as part of the natural order of motor racing. Nevertheless, drivers loved it and amongst the many famous names who competed here were John Watson, Richard Attwood, John Love, Chris Summers, Paddy Hopkirk, John Rhodes and Alec Poole.
In 1960 such was the popularity of the event that as well as the famous Leinster Trophy and Dunboyne Trophy races, a new event - the Holmpatrick Trophy - was created to provide an additional handicap race.
The dangers of the Dunboyne circuit were highlighted in 1964, when Englishman Bill Rigg crashed his Lotus Elite between the first of the two humpback bridges and Loughsallagh Corner and was killed. The following year Jack Pearce's 4.7 litre Kincraft collided with Scotsman Adam Wylie's Brabham which struck a pole, killing Wylie instantly.
Worse was to follow the next day when Welshman Tony David's Lotus 22 collided with a pole close to Loughsallagh Corner, again with fatal consequences. The organising club did its best to minimise the dangers by the introduction of a chicane and other safety measures, but in 1966 Dubliner Kenny McArdle rolled his Jaguar E-type and became the circuit's fourth and last victim.
In the light of these tragedies, the Leinster Motor club wisely abandoned the Dunboyne Circuit in 1967 and moved the Leinster Trophy race to Bishopscourt, an airfield circuit in Northern Ireland before returning south the following year to the new purpose-built Mondello Park circuit near Naas.
With the end of Dunboyne and the opening of Mondello Park the era of significant road circuits in Irish motor racing ended forever.