MOTORSPORT: Two young drivers who have it all going for them in motor racing next year are Patrick Hogan (Dublin) and Emmett Queenan (Roscommon).

Hogan (19) emerged victorious from a two-driver shoot-out at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northampton to decide the winner of the Johnny Herbert Search For A Star competition worth in excess of €100,000.

Hogan successfully completed four rounds of the competition held over the last couple of months to go to a tie-decider with Scottish driver Paul Wilson (18).

Remarkably, Hogan has only 13 Formula Vee races to his credit and no karting experience. By contrast his Scottish rival has scored multiple victories in 10 years of karting.

"Both Patrick and Paul are on their way to the top, I'm sure," said former Formula One and Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert. "To reach the final, each of these young drivers has been through the toughest evaluation process we could create."

Over the coming months Hogan will prepare for his fully paid season in the British Avon Junior Formula Ford Zetec Championship in a fitness and coaching programme with the Johnny Herbert Experience. His professional racing career gets under way at Mondello Park next Easter Monday when the Irish circuit hosts the first two rounds of the British series, along with the two opening races of the prestigious British Touring Car Championship.

Queenan (17) from Frenchpark is the winner of the Formula Ireland Scholarship, which gives the Co Roscommon driver the use of a Formula Ireland racing car valued at €35,000 for the 2003 Irish season.

Motor sport fixtures over the Christmas holiday period include the Dublin and District Motor Cycle Club's St Stephen's Day Fancy Dress Trial in aid of Wireless For The Blind. Carlow Car Club have a capacity entry for the Mondello Park Rallysprint on Sunday, December 29th.

Brendan Lynch's fascinating book Triumph of The Red Devil (foreword by Stirling Moss) covers the famous 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup motor race in Ireland, which was won by the Belgian Camille Jenatzy (nicknamed The Red Devil) driving a Mercedes.

The book is a wonderful record of this historical event and is illustrated with very interesting photographs from that pioneering era in international motor racing. It retails at €24.50 and would make an ideal Christmas present for motoring enthusiasts.