Irish motorsport will have a new look in 2000 with a major reshuffle of the rally dates plus the overdue dropping of the Circuit of Ireland. The rally was a poor shadow of its former self with a much shorter road route than the traditional event with its stopover in Killarney at Easter. The event had run its course and there will be no regrets.
On the racing scene there will be further track and spectator improvements at Mondello, plus a major spring cleaning to take the tired and dowdy look off the place. New pits complex will be ready for a round of the British Touring Car Championship in August.
Northern Ireland will have the usual races at Kirkistown. The potential of this ex-airfield circuit on the Ards peninsula was never developed, and Kirkistown is in dire need of more than mere painting and decorating to bring it in line with other modern sporting facilities.
The proposed Belfast City Speed Festival next August, to feature a speed sprint in the grounds of Stormont (including the main avenue), is hoped to bring bigger motor racing back to the North.
Proposals for a new V8 saloon class in Irish racing have got off to a rather fraught start with a slagging match between Michael Clune's V8 Supercar Series supporters and established RT2000 class led by RaceTec director and double Phoenix Park race winner John Morris.
Motorsport Ireland will surely have to approve the proposed V8 Supercar Series if sufficient cars materialise and they comply fully with all the stringent safety regulations.
Meanwhile, the fate of Formula Opel has not yet been decided. It would seem the policy of the more they ignore it the more it will go away is being applied. It's an easier option than revamping a class that desperately needs its potential to be realised as Ireland's premiership.
Dublin driver Dermot Carnegie recently clinched the British Rallycross Championship, for the third time. At the age of 55 he starts a new rallycross campaign at Mondello Park on Sunday at the wheel of his Ford Escort Cosworth, which he will replace in early 2000 with a new purpose built rallycross Focus.
Saturday - 43rd Irish Experts' Motorcycle Trial, Ballinagee Wood, Wicklow Gap, 11.0 a.m; Navigation Trial, start Glencar Inn, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, 9.0 p.m.
Sunday - Stage Rally, Bellingham Castle, Castlebellingham/Black Mountain near Cooley, Co Louth, 9.o p.m; Rallycross, Mondello Prk, 10.45 a.m; Motocross, Blarney, Co Cork, 12.0 p.m; Autocross, Kilfinny, Adare, Co Limerick, 12.30 p.m.
